Importance of Curriculum Evaluation

Values and Valuing The initial step in the process of evaluation is the act of valuing or expression of
values, which the evaluator holds. For example, it has been agreed in the past that the learning
outcome at the basic education level, which is to be evaluated, is the mastery of the three Rs. So,
whenever a group initiates evaluator it has definite beliefs about what is worth evaluating. At the
end of the process, value judgements are made about the impact of the process.

Adopting Goals In order to give the evaluation programme a definite direction, evaluators must
display a definite orientation to goals. An educational programme could have goals ranging from
getting information, comprehension, skill development, critical thinking, analysis etc. As soon as
gods are set, methods of evaluating achievement of these goals are also decided. This testing helps
to - (i) ascertain goal clarity and attainment and (ii) decide methods of evaluation likely to register
their attainment.

Continuity The process of evaluation is without exception placed at the end. This should not mean
that it features last in the educational process. Evaluation should be a continual and ongoing process
and should be carried out at every stage of the enterprise with skill and imagination.

Diagnosing Worth and Validity In order to be appropriate the curriculum evaluation should reflect
two characteristics -diagnostic worth and validity. Instruments of evaluation should be able to
diagnose specific aspects of the educational process and should be valid i.e. measure what they seek
to measure. In the context of curriculum evaluation validity implies the ability to measure the effects
of the curriculum on repeated occasions. Integration of Findings An important aspect of curriculum
evaluation is the integration of the results into a meaningful, comprehensive whole. Information left
in a diverse and unintegrated state serves no useful purpose. In order that the findings of evaluation
are meaningful, information should be organised and interpreted i.e. results should be integrated.
Progressing towards

Goal Attainment All evaluation seeks to ascertain its progress towards the goals. At the same time
one must know what, when and how progress is occurring? Doll (1996) has given the following
criteria of progress, which needs to be established - 1 . "Are we really moving towards our goals?
(Theme: perceptibility of movement) 2. How much movement is present? (Theme: Time and Space)
3. How fast is movement occumng? (Theme: rate) 4. What precisely can be said about directions of
movement? (Theme: directed and aberrant motion) I 5. How does the general movement we have
discovered relate to other movements toward change or improvement? (Theme: relevance within
the whole complex of improvement)." (Doll, 1996.)
Critical Appraisal of Existing Curriculum / Syllabus
Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A(Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D
Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V.(P.G) College, Roorkee, India

As per the modern thinking, education is a tri-polar process, in which on the one end
is the teacher, on the second is the student and on the third is the curriculum. The
most comprehensive concept of curriculum is given by those who conceive it to
include the total environment of the school. In fact, the curriculum has been
described as “the environment in motion.”

The curriculum includes all the learner’s experiences in or outside school which has
been devised to help him develop mentally, physically, emotionally, socially,
spiritually and morally.

Thus, the various subjects included for study in a curriculum are not intended merely
for study or rote learning but to convey experiences- of various kinds .Curriculum
does not mean only the academic subject traditionally taught it the school, but it
includes the totality of experiences that a pupil receives through the manifold
activities that go on in the school in the classroom, library laboratory, workshop,
playground and in the numerous informal contacts between teachers and pupils.

Curriculum is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. Curriculum is a means or

tool. Explaining the concept of curriculum as a tool of education, Cunningham
writes, “The curriculum is the tool in the hands of the artist (the teacher) to mould
his material (the pupil) according to his ideal (objective) in his studio (the school).”
Here the educator is compared to an artist and the curriculum as one of the
instruments of tools used by him to develop the student  according to, and in
conformity with the aims of education.

Evaluation of Curriculum
Formative Assessment:
Formative assessment made in a situation when the curriculum is answerable to the
public. Assessment in such a situation must ensure objectivity, credibility and
relevance. To ensure these, it-will follow the get standardized norms/ procedures of
lest construction, administration and interpretation. Informal assessment is
applicable to situations where an individual or a voluntary body is a curriculum to
obtain some information to fulfil some personal requirements. The informal
assessment also needs to be objective and reliable, but the evaluator is not bound to
satisfy about these qualities of his assessment. Hence, the process of assessment
need not follow the set procedures of evaluation.

Summative Assessment:
Formative assessment is concerned with identifying learner weaknesses in
attainment in order to help the learner and the teacher overcome/remedy.
Summative assessment aims at certifying and grading the attainment of the learner
at the end of a given course.
(i) Tests for formative assessment are given at regular and frequent intervals during a
course, while the tests for summative assessment are given at the end of a course or
at the end of a fairly long period, say a term or a semester or a year. In a course that
extends over six months, a test at the end of say, every fortnight will be a fomative
test, while the test at the end of the six months will be summative.

(ii) The level of generalisation sought by the items of a summative test will be must
higher compared to that sought by the items of a formative test. For instance, if the
items of a formative test check the ability to apply a given rule or principle to a given
unfamiliar situation, the items in a summative test may check the ability to apply one
or more to the appropriate rules/principles from among the many given in a variety
of situations.

(iii) The functions of formative and summative assessments are different in the
context of EOEP. Formative assessment includes tests and other forms of
measurement intended to give a measure or of success of the parts of a curriculum
even when the curriculum is. in the process of development. Summative evaluation
includes such forms of measurement that would give a measure of success of the
course as a whole.

Developmental Assessment:
Besides formative assessment and summative assessment in education, yet another
term is in use. It is ‘development assessment”. Used in the context of curriculum
development, it refers to the evaluation of the preliminary versions of curriculum
with representative sample of learners. It is generally treated as a part of the
curriculum development schedule. Formative assessment in this context refers to the
evaluation of a course made with larger group of learners. The purpose of such
assessment is not to help the process of curriculum development but to help the
activities of maintenance and revision of curriculum already developed.

Criteria for Curriculum Evaluation

The review about literature related to curriculum indicates that there are four major
criteria for assessing the workability of the curriculum.

1.Subject-Content.
Various subjects are included in the curriculum, such as-Hindi, English, Sanskrit,
History, Geography, Social Science, Physical Sciences, Bio-science, Home science,
Maths,Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Physical education, Art, and Drawing etc.
The structure of content of these subjects is determined for the curriculum
development.

2. Experiences.
The curriculum provides the following type of experiences to the students, social,
historical, geographical (time and place sense), physical, political, civics senses,
religious, spiritual and reactive experiences, expression of ideas facts and events.

3. Skills.
Curriculum provides the situations for developing skills or psychomotor actives-
languages reading, writing, speaking, observations, perception, use of different type,
instrument in the workshops and field works, communications skills, craft work, and
verbal and non-verbal communication skills. It is related to psychomotor objectives.

4. Attitude and Values.

Curriculum provides the experiences for developing affective domain of the learners.
The feeling, beliefs, attitudes and values are developed. It develops self-confidence,
honesty, sensitivity sincerity, morality, objectivity, character and adjustment.

Related to cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains, the factors are given due
weight age in good curriculum.

Critical Appraisal of Existing Syllabus

The concept of curriculum is very wide and extensive. It includes all those
experiences which a student gets in the aegis of the school. It includes all educational
and co-curricular activities inside and outside the classroom. The curriculum can be
understood in the form of activity and experience.

Curriculum is the organized form of subject-matter, specially prepared to

experiences and activities which provide the student with the knowledge and the skill
he will require in facing the various situations of real life.

The term ‘syllabus’ is often used in the sense of the term ‘curriculum’. In fact, the
matter for an intellectual subject is called content. When this content is organised in
view of teaching in the classroom, this is called syllabus.

Thus, the syllabus presents the definite know ledge regarding the amount of
knowledge to be given to students during the course of teaching of different subjects;
while the curriculum demolish which educational activities, the teacher would
complete the needs of the syllabus. In other words, the syllabus determines the
content to teaching, while the curriculum determines the methods of teaching for
imparting it.

Teaching can be made more effective if a science teacher is fully satisfied with the
curriculum which he has to teach. Also, he should know its utility. It can be possible
only when he studies the prevalent syllabus critically. It should be fully clear to him
that each subject has certain specific aims which students have to achieve. A teacher
should examine these aims and how they can be achieved on the basis of the present
syllabus.

From this view, the prevalent syllabus can be placed under the following bases for its
critical study:

Syllabus in Relation to Objectives:

The syllabus is a means to attain the objectives. If aims and means are not in
consonance, then the desirable outcomes would only be a pipedream. The utility of
the syllabus depends on the fact whether the topics included in it are helpful in the
realization of the concerned teaching objectives. In this context, it would be
necessary to evaluate the syllabus. The following table can be used

Selection of Organization of Syllabus:

The selection of syllabus is the second most important test on the basis of which
critical analysis should be conducted. The details of syllabus organisation can be used
in the following table beneficially:
Comprehensiveness of Syllabus:
The selection of the syllabus should be as per the level of students. So, the subject
matter included in the topics should be neither floating nor deep.
Comprehensiveness is a qualitative concept. So, it will have to be evaluated in a relative
manner. For it, a rating scale will have to be used. If common analysis has to be conducted,
then the three-point rating scale should be used, and if more intensive study has to be
carried out, then five-point rating scale should be desirable.
Data in the above table can be given numerical value in order to calculate
comprehensiveness of the syllabus, (for it, all tallies of most comprehensive should
be multiplied by 5, very comprehensive by 4, comprehensive by 3, less
comprehensive by 2 and not comprehensive by 1, and thus calculate relative
comprehensiveness.

Theoretical, Practical or Both:

Both theoretical and practical aspects of science are equally important. If the syllabus
is only theoretical, it would make the syllabus bookish and abstract. Due to this, the
content in different topics would have to be analysed to see how much theoretical
aspect it contains and what practical possibilities exist in it. This can be analysed
objectively as follows :
Examination-centred:
For both students and teachers, the importance of a topic is determined on the basis
of its importance in the examinations. The amount of emphasis of a topic varies with
the value of the topic from examination viewpoint for both teachers and students. It
has influenced to such extent that the number of marks allotted for each topic are
given in the syllabus itself. The analysis of examination effect can be done by the
following table :
Child-centred:
The syllabus should not only be meant for common students, but it should have due
provisions for talented and backward students also. The syllabus should be analyzed
from this viewpoint also.

The focal point of the syllabus should be the student. The syllabus should be selected
keeping in view the age, previous knowledge, interest, aptitude, needs etc. of
students. It should be found out the importance given to these factors in the syllabus.
It would only the be possible to evaluate its utility for students.

Correlation:
Because a student attains knowledge as a whole unit, so the importance of science
being related with other subjects, its influence or. other subjects and influence of
other subjects on it cannot be ignored. Therefore, it should be known whether the
form of syllabus is partial or not, which can be done on the basis of the following
table :

Interpretation of Evaluation Results

Evaluation results are interpreted in various ways from different said prints and for
different purposes such as guidance, performance .etc.

For Future Education:

The syllabuses for the secondary level and higher education should be inter-
connected, so that continuity of knowledge can be maintained. The syllabus should
be analyzed on this basis by which it can be ascertained which topics can form the
basis for future higher education, so that the capability of the syllabus in view of its
can be evaluated.

Although no one, and no teacher, can predict the future with any certainty, people in
leadership capacities such as teachers are required to make guesses about the
probable future and plan appropriately. Teachers therefore need to plan their
curriculum according to the more likely future their students face while at the same
time acknowledging that the students have a future. The competent leader cannot
plan according to past successes, as if doing so will force the past to remain with him.
The most competent leader and manager, in fact, is not even satisfied with thoughts
of the future, but is never satisfied, always sure that whatever is being done can be
improved.