What makes a curriculm effective?

A person feels a curriculum is effective if it is giving information and life skills that is worth knowing. The curriculum must be able to make the child a better adult. The curriculum must give an experience that will lead to new facts, ideas and experiences so new problems can be solved. For a curriculum to be effect, the child must make it their own. That means he must understand how this education is useful to him here and now as well as in the future. It must be presented in a logical order so that the child can see how the curriculum was derived. The student becomes aware of the process and not just information which can be forgotten. For a curriculum to be effective a student should be motivated to learn it and not have to ask. "Why do I have to have to learn this?" Finally I also believe a curriculum is effective if we are producing people who are capable of holding responsible jobs, make a living, who vote and understand democracy and who can help their children improve.

How this can be assessed is questionable. I don't believe that standardized tests are the ultimate in assessing curriculum. The new method on some standardized tests of students explaining how they got their answers shows promise. Students mastery of curriculum also needs other types of assessment like: discussions, projects, debates, long term assignments and essays. Also businesses input on whether the students graduating from school have sufficient skills for employment should also be considered. These methods of assessment would require a longer time and not as easily handled as achievement tests and five year processes.