:11 2 5 1111- 1=.11 MIINMP 2 2 MIIMEMD- 111U 11111-1-4-1111L-..it DOCUBEIT SESONE ED 055 368 08 EA 003 872 Reed, William H. AUTHOR Development in the TITLE Coordination of Organic CIrriculum Public Schools of Boulder, Colorado.Final Report. INsTITUTION Boulder valley School District RE-2,Boulder, Colo. SPoNS AGENCY National Center for Educational Researchand Development (DHEW/CE), Washington, D.C. BUREAU NO BR-8-0225 PUB DATE Aug 71 GRANT 0EG-0-8-080225-2671(085) NOTE 168?. EDRS PRICE NF-10.65 HC-$6.58 DESCRIPTORS Behavioral Objectives; Change Agents;Curriculun Design; Curriculum Development;Curriculum Planning; English Curriculum; ProgramAdministration; Reading Instruction; Secondary Education; SelfActualisation; Social Studies; Student CenteredCurriculum; Vocational Education IDENTIFIERS Boulder; ColorAdo; Learning Packages ABSTRACT This document describes theefforts of program administrators to implement an organiccurriculum in a Boulder, Colorado, ;sigh school. The chief programadministrator coordinated efforts to develop instructionalmaterials and a curricular program in Enllish, reading, and socialstudies based on the needs and expetiences of local students. Organiccurriculum is a learner- rather than a teacher-centered courseof study utiLixing learning packages specifying behavioralobjectives. Appendixes present learning packages for a 10th gradeEnglish program and for writing behavioral objectives. (RA) I DE.RA/RIVEPET EDUCATION OF HEALTH WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCAJO0A1 THS DOCUMINT HAS miry RIPRO OUC(O ISACILYAs AICIII/E0 FROM T.41 PI ASOF4 ORORGANiZATION NATING IT POINTS ORIG OF VIIW OR ORIN 10145 STAY( 000 P401 PFICESSARiLv PPISI NIT OFFICIAL CA Tr0.1 POS,Flord oFF 'CIE OF tOu OR POLICY FINAL REPORT Project No. 8-0225 Grant No. OEG-0-8-080225-2671(085) COORDINATION OF ORGANIC CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BOULDER, COLORADO William H. Reed Boulder Valley School District Boulder, Colorado 80302 August 1971 The research reported herein was performed pursuant to a grant with the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Contractors undertaking such projects under Government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their professional judgment in the conduct of the project.Points of view or opinions stated do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Office of Education position or policy. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Office of Education Bureau of Research TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Backg ound 1 1.2 ine Objectives for the ES '70 Coordinator 2 1.3 Functions 3 1.4 Organization of the Report 4 SECTION 2 - METHODS 4 2.1 Behavioral Objectives 4 2.2 Instructional Materials and Media 5 2.3 Training Programs 5 2.4 Analysis of the 9-through-12 Curriculum 6 2.5 Relatthnships and Communications with th. Community 6 2.6 Tasks and Roles of Community Elements 7 2.7 Program Try-out 8 SECTION 3 - RESULTS 8 3.1 Behavioral Objectives 8 3.2 Instructional Materials and Media 9 3.3 Training Programs 10 3.4 Analysis of the 9-through-12 Curriculum 11 3.5 Relationships and Communications with the Community 11 3.6 Tasks and Roles of Community Elements 12 3.7 Program Try-out 13 3.71 Time-Sharing Computer Terminals 14 3.72 Introduction to Secondary English 14 3.73Short, Concept Courses in American History, Current World Affairs, and Soviet Studies 15 3.74Applied Social Studies 15 3.75Food Services 16 SECTION 4 - CONCLUSIONS 16 4.1 Behavioral Objectives 1.` 16 4.2 Instructional Materials and Media 17 4.3 Training Programs 17 4.4 Analysis of the 9-through-12 Curriculum 18 4.5 Relationships and Communications with the Community. 1F, 4.6 Tasks and Roles of Community Elements 18 4.7 Program Try-out 19 APPENDIX A APPENDIX B SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Background In May 1967, the superintendents of fifteen school districts,representa- tives from thcir respective state departments ofeducation, and a contingent from the U.S. Office of Education Bureau of Research(Division of Vocational and Comprehensive Education Research) met at the NovaSchool in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to explore the feasibility of forming a uniquelocal- state-federal consortium committed to researching, developing,piloting, and evaluating a learner-oriented secondary school curriculumrelevant in content and method to today's high school student.Initial impetus for the program was provided by the paper "Designing anOrganic Curriculum, " November 1966, by Robert M. Morgan and David S. Bushnell.(Appendix A) The so-called organic curriculum seeks to integratetraditional academic learnings, vocational skill training, and self-actualizationlearnings more completely than does the conventionalsecondary curriculum. The concept of the organic curriculum was inspired partlyby 'die Office of Educa- tion statistics which revealed that the 1965 college graduatingclass represented only about twenty percent of all the young people who began schoolsixteen years earlier and that eight out of ten youngpeople in 1965 were candidates for jobs requiring less than a bachelor's degree but a highlevel of job skill. Despite this statistical evidence, traditional high school programscontinue, in ways both subtle and brutal, to force students to chooseeither college preparatory or vocational courscs of study.These dichotomous curricular emphases persist despite the fact that young job-seekers arefaced with a continuing shift from production-orientcd to service-orientedoccupational opportunities, which require a broad base of problem-solving,communication, and self-actualizing skills.Too many students now leave high school--even college programswith no job-entry skills; others leaveafter taking rigidly confining vocational-technical courses which prepare themfor one job but not for the ten to twenty jobs they will hold in their working lifetimes. At the Fort Lauderdale meeting, the superintendentsagreed to employ local coordinators who would be given full-time assignments as"change agents" in each district's pilot high school.The Bureau of Research (DVCER) agreed to provide funds to support these local coordinatorsthrough the beginning stages of what was intended to be a five-year projectof research, development, demonstration, evaluation, and revision of thecurriculum, instructional methods, and management techniques in thepilot high schools. William H. Reed, author of this report, wasappointed local ES'70 Coordinator in August 1967 and continued in that positionuntil April 26, 1971. Between January 1970 and the present time he has beenBoulder High School Assistant Principal as well as ES'70 Project Coordinator. 3 This report describes some of the programsthat were initiated by the ES '70 Coordinator in Boulder High School inthc Boulder Valley School District. The fact that the program began as afive-year development effort but was cut short because of changes ofpersonnel and policies for educational research in the OE Bureau of Researchresulted in some programs being begun which appcar truncated orabbreviated in the report.That the ES '70 Coordinator was specifically charged with creating aclimate for change as well as actual change in educational practicesand attitudes resulted in some programs being initiated where theinnovative spark gleamed brightest in departments or individuals. As a result, theeffort must be viewed as the final report after three years of an intendedfive-year project.The funding that was initially expected for the project was neverrealized; the result was that most of the effort to develop programs and tochange administrative practices was carried out by local funding. The ES '70 Coordinator was located inBoulder High School--one of six high schools in the Boulder ValleyDistrict.Boulder High School is a traditional comprehensive high school in theshadow of the University of Colorado. The high school still bears theburden of having once been a university preparatory school, although itsclientele now is typically comprehensive. 1. 2 The objectives for the ES '70 Coordinator were asfollows (1) Delimit the general purposes of the organiccurriculum to the Boulder Valley School District.These general purposes were as follows: (a) Integrate academic and vocational learningby appropriately employing vocational preparation as one ofthe princ:7pal vehicles for the inculcation of basic learidngskills.In this way learning could be made morepalatable to many students whc otherwise have difficulty seeing thevalue of general education. (b) Expose the student to an understanding of the"real world" through a series of experiences which capitalize onthe desire of youth to investigate for himself. (c) Train the student in a core of generalizableskills related to a cluster of occupations rather thanjust those related to one specialized occupation. (d) Orient students to the attitudes and habitswhich go with successful job performance and successfulliving. (e) Provide a background for the prospective worker by helping him to understand how he fits within the economic and civic institutions of our country. (1) Make students aware that learning is life-oriented and need not, indeed must not, stop with his exit fromformal education. (g) Help students cope with a changing world of work through developing career strategies which can lead to anadequate level of income and responsibility. (h) Create within the student a sense of self-reliance and awareness which leads him to seek out appropriatecareers with realistic aspiration levels. (2) Deal with a variety of complex questions which mayarise from a radical