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Curriculum development isn't just an administrative checklist—it's the backbone of effective instruction. On your exam, you're being tested on your understanding of systematic design principles, alignment theory, and continuous improvement models. The stages you'll encounter here demonstrate how educational planning moves from abstract needs to concrete learning experiences, and why skipping or rushing any phase undermines the entire system.
Think of curriculum development as a feedback loop, not a linear path. Each stage informs the others, and expert educators cycle back through them repeatedly. Don't just memorize the six stages in order—know what educational problem each stage solves, how stages connect to one another, and what happens when alignment breaks down. That's where FRQ points live.
Before any curriculum can be designed, developers must understand the gap between where learners are and where they need to be. This phase establishes the evidence base that justifies all subsequent decisions.
Compare: Needs Assessment vs. Evaluation—both rely on data collection, but needs assessment occurs before curriculum design while evaluation occurs after implementation. If an FRQ asks about data-driven curriculum decisions, clarify which phase you're discussing.
With needs identified, curriculum developers must translate findings into actionable direction. This phase answers two critical questions: What should learners achieve? and What content will get them there?
Compare: Goal Setting vs. Content Selection—goals define what learners should accomplish; content selection determines what material will help them get there. Misalignment between these stages is a common curriculum failure point and frequent exam topic.
This phase transforms content and goals into actual instructional experiences. The focus shifts from what to teach to how learners will engage with material. This is where learning theory meets practical application.
Compare: Content Selection vs. Learning Experience Design—content selection chooses what to teach, while learning experience design determines how students will interact with that content. Strong curriculum requires both to be intentionally planned.
Even the best-designed curriculum fails without thoughtful implementation. This phase addresses the human and logistical factors that determine whether curriculum reaches learners as intended.
Compare: Learning Experience Design vs. Implementation—design creates the blueprint; implementation builds the structure. A curriculum can be brilliantly designed but poorly implemented, or vice versa. Exam questions often ask you to diagnose where breakdown occurred.
Curriculum development never truly ends. This phase closes the feedback loop by measuring effectiveness and using findings to improve future iterations. This reflects the formative nature of curriculum work.
Compare: Needs Assessment vs. Evaluation—both gather data about learners, but needs assessment identifies initial gaps while evaluation measures whether the curriculum closed those gaps. This cyclical relationship is central to curriculum theory.
| Concept | Best Examples |
|---|---|
| Data-Driven Decision Making | Needs Assessment, Evaluation and Revision |
| Alignment Principles | Goal Setting, Content Selection, Learning Experience Design |
| Stakeholder Engagement | Goal Setting, Implementation, Evaluation |
| Systematic Planning | All six stages in sequence |
| Differentiation | Needs Assessment, Learning Experience Design |
| Continuous Improvement | Evaluation and Revision cycling back to Needs Assessment |
| Professional Capacity | Implementation (training and support) |
Which two stages both rely heavily on data collection, and how do their purposes differ?
A school implements a new math curriculum, but teachers weren't trained on the new instructional strategies. Which stage was neglected, and what consequences would you predict?
Compare and contrast Goal Setting and Learning Experience Design—what does each stage determine, and why must they be aligned?
If an FRQ describes a curriculum that covers excellent content but fails to improve student outcomes, which stages would you examine first and why?
Explain why curriculum development is described as cyclical rather than linear. Which stage creates the connection between the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next?