| Ralph Tyler (1949) conceived the composing of curriculum as an act of orderly decision-making. He provided a framework that identified the decisions (couched as questions) required for effective curriculum composition. These decisions addressed the four commonplaces of curriculum: goals, learning experiences, organization, and evaluation. It is recognized that curriculum differs according to the emphasis given to each commonplace.;Goodlad's (1966, 1979, 1984) five domains of curriculum (ideal, formal, perceived, operational, and experienced) made possible the comparison of curriculum commonplaces between each of the domains. This comparison afforded curriculum inquiry into the phenomenon slippage, defined by Goodlad as an inconsistency of ideas between curriculum domains. This study revealed inconsistencies underlying the commonplaces of two domains (ideal and formal) contained in contemporary curricula.;The study's first research question (What are the commonplaces noted curriculum theorists share with Tyler's Rationale for curriculum development?) concerned the construction of a data coding instrument. The study's second research question (How do contemporary models of district-adopted curricula reflect the commonplaces identified by Tyler and other curriculum theorists?) concerned the analysis of three formal contemporary curricula.;A literature review of noted curricular theorists (Applebee, Brandwein, Bruner, Egan, Eisner, Glatthorn, Goodlad, McTighe, Taba, Tomlinson, and Wiggins) identified commonplaces of ideal curriculum. A document review compared commonplaces of ideal curriculum to contemporary curricula using a two-dimensional coding chart. Results showed some consistency and some inconsistency between the ideas of noted curriculum theorists and their practice in contemporary formal curriculum.;This study's findings suggested four conclusions. First, its findings affirmed the seminal nature and abiding relevance of Tyler's Rationale for curriculum development and design. Second, curriculum commonplaces and criteria held to be important by noted curriculum theorists were identified. Third, the slippage discovered confirmed Goodlad's conception of curriculum domains. Fourth, the study developed a way to analyze slippage between the two domains of ideal curricula of noted curriculum theorists and contemporary formal curricula. |
