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Abstract
Best practice in curriculum development and implementation requires that discipline-based standards or requirements embody both curricular and programme scopes and sequences. Ensuring these are present and aligned in course/programme content, activities and assessments to support student success requires formalised and systematised review and development processes. These processes are not always in play in higher education, however. Using a descriptive qualitative case study strategy, this article shares how policy outcomes within intermediate and superintendent certification, sixth-year and Ed.D. doctoral courses and programmes at a state university were reviewed, mapped and assessed using an evidence-based curriculum analysis model and tool that mapped standards and outcomes from course syllabus data. Strengths and weaknesses of this approach are discussed and it is suggested that the field might benefit from a curriculum mapping and analysis method that also considers content coverage. A Course-Level Content Scope and Sequence Mapping Tool, developed to map content scope and sequence alongside standards or outcomes mapping, is presented for consideration and testing. The ability to assess and improve curriculum is only as good as the conceptual frameworks, methods and tools available. This critical case study is one effort to advance the field by drawing attention to the importance of curricular content mapping. The study should be of interest to higher education staff, researchers and accreditors concerned with postsecondary programmes and their curricular scope and sequence coherence, quality and improvement.
Acknowledgements
This research was partially supported by Curriculum-Related Activities Grant from Southern Connecticut State University. Also, many thanks to Anne Pember and Paula Quenoy, doctoral students in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department of Southern Connecticut State University, for their exceptional research assistance and support.
Notes
2. The planned programme (i.e. the courses and course sequence for each programme) is evident in the list of courses reviewed in each table.
3. In July 2013, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) merged to form the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). This work was undertaken before the merger occurred.
4. Southern Connecticut State University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). For this research it was decided to map the Ed.D. programme using the NCATE/ELCC standards for comparability with the other EDL programmes.
5. The large table of this information is not included.
6. Additional analysis tables were constructed with any actual text and/or assignments pertaining to law or policy. These were not included in this article because of their length, but they did serve to deepen and reinforce the more cursory assessments of content determined through the first analytic passes of the syllabi.