Evaluating a Civil Rights Curriculum Unit With Saylor Model
This paper applies the Saylor, Alexander, and Lewis (1981) curriculum evaluation model to a lesson unit titled "Civil Rights Movement Beginnings in the 20th Century," designed for grades 5–8 students in a Chicago parochial school. The evaluation examines the unit's goals, instructional segments, evaluative instruments, and total program value. Key components analyzed include a collaborative biographical encyclopedia project and a rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. The paper finds the unit largely successful in meeting civic, academic, and student-centered objectives, while offering targeted recommendations for deepening critical discussion and connecting historical content to students' contemporary community experiences.
- Introduction: Justifies applying Saylor model to civil rights unit
- Curriculum Unit and Evaluation of Instruction: Overview of unit goals and instructional approach
- Evaluation of Specific Segments: Analysis of encyclopedia project and King speech lesson
- Recommendations: Suggestions for extending critical discussion components
- Evaluative Instruments: Assessment criteria and student investment strategies
- Evaluation of Total Program: Holistic judgment of unit's educational value
- Conclusion: Proposals for ongoing civil rights dialogue activities
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper applies a named theoretical framework — the Saylor, Alexander, and Lewis (1981) model — consistently throughout the evaluation, giving each section a clear analytical anchor.
- It balances genuine praise with specific, constructive recommendations, demonstrating evaluative nuance rather than wholesale endorsement or rejection.
- The discussion of how the unit serves multiple stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, and society) reflects an understanding of curriculum evaluation as a multi-dimensional process.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied curriculum evaluation: taking an existing lesson plan and systematically judging it against an established model's criteria. The writer moves through the model's categories — goals, instruction, specific segments, evaluative instruments, and total program — in sequence, showing how a theoretical framework translates into concrete judgments about pedagogical effectiveness.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by justifying the choice of the Saylor, Alexander, and Lewis model for a civil rights unit, then evaluates instruction at the unit level before drilling into two specific lesson segments. A recommendations section addresses minor gaps, followed by analysis of evaluative instruments and total program value. A brief conclusion proposes ongoing extension activities. This mirrors the model's own evaluation sequence, making the structure both logical and discipline-appropriate.
Introduction
One of the distinguishing features of the Saylor, Alexander, and Lewis (1981) model of curriculum evaluation is that it requires a curriculum unit to have merit for society as well as for the individual classroom or school. This model is therefore a particularly appropriate framework for evaluating a unit on civil rights. The curriculum unit chosen for evaluation — designed as a series of exercises for students of American government and history — is specifically titled "Civil Rights Movement Beginnings in the 20th Century" (Marsh, 2005).
The lesson plan made a strong commitment to reforming the social good of the larger context of society, as well as preparing children for the challenges of a society where African-American contributions, past and present, have not always been recognized. The authorship component of the unit also gave students a sense of empowerment — the ability to rewrite history to include forgotten figures. In doing so, society benefits as well, since important, overlooked periods of African-American history can be recovered and infused into current civic discourse.
Saylor, Alexander, and Lewis evaluate each lesson plan according to the lesson's goals, subgoals, and objectives; the program of education in its totality as well as its specificity in relation to certain skills; and the instruction and evaluation process. The model analyzes the success of the lesson in relation to the groups being served — students and society — as well as the lesson plan's designers, that is, teachers. The comprehensive and multimedia nature of the lesson on "Civil Rights Beginnings in the 20th Century" involves students in the learning process in a hands-on fashion that is superior in accomplishing the stated factual and technical goals of the unit. It also includes modification elements for special circumstances, such as older students or special education students. There is no specific critique to offer here, only suggestions to introduce further components that could enhance an already strong unit.
Works Cited
Marsh, Elaine. (2005). "Civil Rights Movement Beginnings in the 20th Century." Lesson Plan.
Saylor, J. Gaylen, William Alexander, and Arthur J. Lewis. (1981). Curriculum Planning for Better Teaching and Learning. Fourth Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
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