The American Curriculum: A Documentary History (Documentary Reference Collections)

At a time marked by strong demands for educational reform, the American school curriculum is a topic of special concern. This volume provides a comprehensive historical record of the evolution of the curriculum in America from the colonial period to the present day. The editors have compiled a collection of influential and representative documents in primary, secondary, and higher education in the United States. Each document is introduced by a short essay that discusses its historical context and significance. The result is a valuable chronicle of the development of the American school curriculum.

The work begins with an introductory piece that overviews the development of the curriculum and surveys the most important works on curriculum history. The introduction is followed by excerpts from 34 documents representative of the school curriculum from The Rules and Course of Study of Harvard College, 1642 to the 1983 report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. The essay that introduces each document closes with a brief bibliography, and the volume concludes with a more extensive list of sources for further reading. By consulting this reference, historians and educators can trace the development of the curriculum over the last 350 years.

GEORGE WILLIS is Professor of Education at the University of Rhode Island. An authority on curriculum history, he has written several books and his articles have appeared in Curriculum Inquiry, Curriculum Perspectives, Educational Leadership, and the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing.

WILLIAM H. SCHUBERT is Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Graduate Curriculum Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has published several books on curriculum development, and his more than 70 articles have appeared in such journals as Curriculum Studies and Educational Researcher.

ROBERT V. BULLOUGH, JR. is Professor of Educational Studies at the University of Utah. He has published numerous books and articles on public education, teachers, and curriculum development.

CRAIG KRIDEL is Curator of the McKissick Museum of Education at the University of South Carolina. Formerly, he was the Director of the Institute for the Advancement of the Arts in Education at Ohio State University.

JOHN T. HOLTON is Superintendent of the Appoquinimink School District in Delaware. A specialist in curriculum history, he was formerly an Associate Professor at Morehead State University.