BALL y COHEN 1999 Materiales Curriculares
BALL y COHEN 1999 Materiales Curriculares
BALL y COHEN 1999 Materiales Curriculares
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Reform by the Book: What Is-or
Might Be-the Role of Curriculum Materials in
Teacher Learning and Instructional Reform?
DEBORAH LOEWENBERG BALL DAVID K. COHEN
Educational Researcher, Vol. 25, No. 9, pp. 6-8, 14ways (Schwille et al., 1983). One root of this is that our sys-
tem typically lacks strong curricular guidance. Conse-
quently, teachers' understanding of the material, their
Commercially published
nate teaching practice in the United Statescurriculum
(Goodlad, materials domi- beliefs about what is important, and their ideas about stu-
dents and the teacher's role all strongly shape their prac-
1984).1 Unlike frameworks, objectives, assessments, tice. In addition to this, although curriculum designers aim
and other mechanisms that seek to guide curriculum, in- to create particular kinds of learning experiences for stu-
structional materials are concrete and daily. They are the dents, they can anticipate only partially what particular
stuff of lessons and units, of what teachers and students children will bring to instruction and how easily they will
do. That centrality affords curricular materials a uniquely learn. Teachers necessarily select from and adapt materials
intimate connection to teaching. to suit their own students. This creates a gap between cur-
Not only are curriculum materials well-positioned to riculum developers' intentions for students and what actu-
influence individual teachers' work but, unlike many other ally happens in lessons. Developers' designs thus turn out
innovations, textbooks are already "scaled up" and part of to be ingredients in-not determinants of-the actual
the routine of schools. They have "reach" in the system. At curriculum.
the local level, text adoptions are the primary routine in A third reason is that educators often disparage text-
most districts for updating the curriculum every five to books, and many reform-oriented teachers repudiate them,
seven years (Carus, 1990). In our fragmented school sys- announcing disdainfully that they do not use texts. This
tem, textbooks are also one way that educators strive for a idealization of professional autonomy leads to the view
common curriculum across diverse settings. Despite their that good teachers do not follow textbooks, but instead
central role in the instructional system, however, curricu- make their own curriculum. Advocates of this view, which
lum materials have played an uneven role in practice. is consistent with American individualism, acclaim teach-
ers who create original materials and lessons. Textbooks,
Curriculum Materials as Agents of Instructional
and the commercial and political considerations that shape
Improvement
their production, are viewed as a conservative influence
The design and spread of curriculum material is one of the (Ben-Peretz, 1990). Curriculum materials are seen to con-
oldest strategies for attempting to influence classroom in- strain and control both knowledge and teaching (Apple &
struction. While many curricula have been designed for Jungck, 1990; Ball & Feiman-Nemser, 1988), limiting stu-
conventional teaching, reformers have often used instruc- dents' opportunities to learn (Elliott, 1990). Teachers who
tional materials as a means to shape what students learn invent lessons are said to be creative and imaginative. This
(Bruner, 1960; Dow, 1991). But critics argue that this strat- hostility to texts, and the idealized image of the individual
egy "de-skills" the professional work of teaching and professional, have inhibited careful consideration of the
severely limits local discretion over curriculum (Apple, constructive role that curriculum might play.
1990). Moreover, the strategy is often unsuccessful, for
teachers and parents regularly reject curricular innovations Relations of Textbooks, Teachers, and Teaching:
A Closer Look
(Dow, 1991; Sarason, 1982).
There are several reasons why curriculum materials One further reason why curriculum materials have not
have played an uneven role in practice. One is that cur- been very influential, despite their unique potential, is that
riculum developers and others often have failed to take
account of the teacher (Sarason, 1982; Schwille et al., 1983).
For example, although many innovative materials were DEBORAH LOEWENBERG BALL works at the School of Education,
developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, classroom use University of Michigan, 610 East University, Ann Arbor, MI
was spotty because innovators tended to overlook teach- 48109. Her specializations are teaching practice, teacher educa-
ers. They failed to appreciate teachers' need to learn in tion, and educational policy.
order to use new materials (Dow, 1991; Powell, Farrar, &
Cohen, 1985; Sarason, 1982). DAVID K. COHEN works at the School of Education, University
A second reason is that in the United States, at least, in-
of Michigan, 610 East University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. His
dividual teachers shape the curriculum in fundamental specialization is educational policy.
6 EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
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the relationship between textbooks and teachers has rarely would have to be designed to contribute more in each of
been taken up with much care or imagination. Developers the five domains above.
tend to assume that curriculum materials can operate Knowledge of students is a case in point. Though much
nearly independently on students (Dow, 1991), while crit- about students is particular to individuals, much is not.
ics assert that textbooks only corrupt teachers' profession- Teachers' guides could help teachers to learn how to listen
alism. Curriculum designers and teachers have little or no to and interpret what students say, and to anticipate what
regular conversations with one another (Ben-Peretz, 1990), learners may think about or do in response to instructional
and few analysts seem to have carefully analyzed the role activities. To do so, teachers' guides could offer examples
teachers play in creating curriculum. of a range of student work in the context of the material at
The perspective that we adopt here is that curriculum hand, and comment on the meaning of the work, instead of
materials could contribute to professional practice if they simply stating lamely that "answers will vary." Such infor-
were created with closer attention to processes of curricu- mation would not provide definite prediction of specific
lum enactment. Our perspective is premised on an under- student responses, but it would help teachers to be more
standing of the nature of teaching itself. While "cur- prepared for some of the uncertainties of teaching.
riculum" is often taken to refer strictly to the textbook or Teachers' guides could also support teachers' learning of
curriculum materials, the enacted curriculum is actually content. Having designed an instructional activity to rep-
jointly constructed by teachers, students, and materials in resent the content in a particularly promising way, curricu-
lum authors could discuss alternative representations of
particular contexts. Even close use of materials is a con-
the ideas and connections among them. They also could
struction of curriculum, even if it seems to be only a partial
reconstruction of received materials. Materials could beprobe and comment on specific subject-matter elements
evident in students' ideas, questions, responses, and writ-
designed to place teachers in the center of curriculum con-
struction and make teachers' learning central to effortsing.
to Teachers' guides might thus include small forays into
improve education, without requiring heroic assumptions the content itself. If they did, teachers might be better ori-
about each teacher's capacities as an original designerented
of to the possibilities of the material, and better able to
curriculum. hear their students' ideas (see Ball, in press).
As teachers enact curriculum in and with their classes, Curriculum materials could address the development of
they work across five intersecting domains. First, teacherscontent and community across time. Although they are
are influenced by what they think about their students,mapped by time-a day's lesson, a section, or a unit of sev-
about what students bring to instruction, students' proba- eral weeks-teachers' guides rarely help teachers to think
ble ideas about the content at hand, and about the trajecto- about the temporal dimensions of curriculum construc-
ries of their learning that content. Second, teachers work tion. Teachers' guides could, for instance, contribute to
with their own understanding of the material, which teachers' thinking about content and activities appropriate
shapes their interpretations of what the central ideas are, in September as they begin to construct the classroom cul-
how they hear, evaluate, and respond to students' ideas,ture and environment. Teachers' guides could also help
and how they decide how to focus and frame the material teachers to consider ways to relate units during the year.
for students. Third, teachers fashion the material for stu- Curriculum materials already focus on representation of
dents, choose tasks or models, and navigate instructionalthe content for instruction. But while they often offer care-
resources such as textbooks in order to design instruction. fully designed lessons, models, and activities, teacher's
Fourth is the intellectual and social environment of the guides rarely discuss the strengths and weaknesses of par-
ticular designs. The developers' pedagogical judgments
class. Teachers must keep their eye on the group, and on
the ways of knowing, interacting, and working that seem thus remain hidden from teachers as they adapt, omit, or
possible. This requires attention to patterns and norms of augment the materials. If materials included discussion of
discourse, the nature of tasks, and the roles played by the particular representations, teachers could more thought-
fully examine ways to present content and consider stu-
teacher and students. Finally, teachers are influenced by
their views of the broader community and policy contextsdents' understanding in tandem, and learn about both.
in which they work, and by the expressed ideas of parents, When the gap between materials and teaching is very
administrators, and professional organizations. They vari- wide-leaving to each practitioner to figure out how to
ously apprehend and interpret messages about goals for deal with students' thinking, how to probe the content at
instruction and about good teaching, and their interpreta- hand, and how to map instruction against the temporal
tions play a role in the way they shape the curriculum. rhythms of classroom life-teachers must invent or ignore
All curriculum enactment is entangled with work in a great deal. If they do try to invent and thus learn, they
each of these domains, though each may play a different must often learn alone, with few resources to assist them.
Curriculum guides could offer some help in depth while
part in different places and times. Improved curriculum
design would take account of teachers' work in each ofstill being appropriately humble about the complexities
these domains. they cannot address.
Improved Instruction
How Might Curriculum Materials Contribute More?
Curriculum materials are often part of an agenda for im-
Crossing Boundaries proved instruction, but the adoption of new materials is
Curriculum materials could only become central to teacher rarely seen as one component of a systemic approach to
professional development. New adoptions in schools or
learning if the traditional boundaries between texts' pre-
sentation of content and teachers' teaching were redrawn districts are often accompanied by concern over the fidelity
of implementation, which often leads to brief "training"
to make central the work of enacting curriculum. Materials
DECEMBER 1996 7
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for teachers. Sometimes trainers are publishers' represen- concrete examples of what student work might look like,
tatives who are more versed in sales and promotion than what reasoning might underlie students' work, and what
instruction. Even when the professional development that other teachers have done in similar situations. A teacher's
accompanies new texts is thoughtful, it is seen as an auxil- guide cannot judge whether a teacher should meet with an
iary support needed to ensure quality implementation, not individual student or move on, but it can offer concrete il-
as a site for professional development. The materials are lustrations of the nature of student understanding impor-
seen as offering resources for teachers' work with their tant at a given point, and how other teachers have reached
own students, and are not designed to entail or encourage this level. If curriculum design and development were
teachers' investigations of and work with the material. done with the enacted curriculum in view, it would be easy
This artificial division of responsibility restricts the pos- to see opportunities to use curriculum materials to assist
sibilities available, for curriculum materials could provide teachers' learning and practice.
common material for teachers' joint work on instructional
Conclusion
improvement. Teachers could be engaged with curriculum
materials in ways that generated learning if the materials We have proposed to redraw boundaries between teache
were integrated into a program of professional develop- and materials in the construction of curriculum. We see no
ment aimed at improving their capacity to teach. In that alternative if curriculum is to play a more constructive role
case, well-designed materials could be a resource for teach- in improving instruction, for the curriculum that counts is
ers' learning. Although there is much talk of the need for the curriculum that is enacted. If we want the intended cur-
professional development in support of curriculum use, riculum best to contribute to the enacted one, we must find
practitioners and policy-makers have little more than as- ways to design the first with the second clearly in view.
sumptions about what the focus, extent, and nature of such That cannot be done without framing curriculum use and
professional development could be. construction as activities that draw on teachers' under-
8 EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
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So, for want of funding, the research needed to plan and research infrastructure: A reply to Finn. Educational Researcher, 17(1),
9-12.
evaluate most programs for educational reform is not con-
Travers, R. M. W. (1983). How research has changed American schools: A
ducted, and when relevant research actually appears, the history from 1840 to the present. Kalamazoo, MI: Mythos Press.
evidence it generates often remains unknown to decision-
makers in education. This is absurd.
Manuscript received July 5, 1996
Revision received October 3, 1996
Education is not fundamentally different from other
fields of human endeavor. It is perfectly possible to con- Accepted October 9, 1996
duct research that bears on major decisions we need to
make concerning the organization, staffing, curricula, and
Continued from p. 2
teaching methods appropriate for America's schools.
When that research is conducted [and reviewed, and dis-
strategy he helped develop when he still work
seminated,] it can produce knowledge that helps us avoid
academy. What lessons can we learn from such in
serious and costly errors. But good research does not
colleagues? Why are some of us influential while
come cheap. It requires competent and highly-trained
not? Are there any trade-offs required or costs i
workers. It also requires forethought and planning, and it
packaging ideas in a manner which will "play"
always takes more time than decision makers would like.
But if America is to avoid the wasted dollars and dis- arenas?
14 EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
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