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The Saylor and Alexander Curriculum Model

Anwaar Ahmad Gulzar 2 months ago

The Saylor and Alexander Curriculum Model

John Galen Saylor (1902-1998) was an American educator. He had

FulBright professorship for Finland in 1962. He was an authority
on curriculum, also supported a program of national assessment.

William Marvin Alexander (1912-1996), another American

educator, was known as the “Father of the American middle
school” movement. He was also an author of more than 250 books
and articles.

Galen Saylor and William Alexander (1974) viewed curriculum as

“a plan for providing sets of learning opportunities to achieve
broad educational goals and related specific objectives for an
identifiable population served by a single school center”.
Saylor-Alexander-Lewis Curriculum
Development Model

Saylor and his colleagues (1981) used an administrative approach

to curriculum development. They discuss and evaluate lesson
plans in terms of how ends and means relate to one another, how
important facts and figures are paid attention to, and how
activities or procedures flow from start to finish. Their conceptual
model of the curriculum development process, comprising four
stages, is shown as under.

1. Selection of Curriculum Goals and Objectives

According to this model, curriculum designers should start by

outlining the main educational objectives they want to achieve.
They recommend the use of the following four curriculum
domains, with each major goal representing one.

Personal Development
Social Competences
Continued Learning skills
Specialization

The selection of educational goals and objectives is influenced by

1. External forces, including legal requirements, research data,

professional associations, and state guidelines, and
2. Bases of curriculum, such as society, learners, and knowledge.

Curriculum developers then choose the combinations of

curriculum design, implementation strategies, and evaluation
procedures that are calculated to maximize the attainment of
goals; review feedback from the plan in effect through instruction;
and re-plan the elements of the curriculum as indicated by the
data.

2. Curriculum Design
Curriculum design involves decisions made by the responsible
curriculum planning group(s) for a particular school center and
student population. A broad framework, or curriculum design, is
created or chosen by curriculum planners for the learning
opportunities to be offered to students after they have gathered
and analyzed essential data, identified goals, and specified
objectives. Among their alternatives is a subject design utilizing
specific studies in the specified curriculum area, a scope and
sequence plan built around a selection of persistent topics or
themes, an analysis of the essential skills necessary for knowledge
and competence in the subject area, and a selection of problems
(in cooperation with students) related to the area of study. The
design plan ultimately anticipates the entire range of learning
opportunities for a specified population.

3. Curriculum Implementation

Curriculum implementation involves decisions regarding

instruction. Various teaching strategies are included in the
curriculum plan so that teachers have options. Instruction is thus
the implementation of the curriculum plan. There would be no
reason for developing curriculum plans if there was no
instruction. Curriculum plans, by their very nature, are efforts to
guide and direct the nature and character of learning
opportunities in which students participate. All curriculum
planning is worthless unless it influences the things that students
do in school. Saylor argues that curriculum planners must see
instruction and teaching as the summation of their efforts.

4. Curriculum Evaluation

Curriculum evaluation involves the process of evaluating expected

learning outcomes and the entire curriculum plan. Saylor and his
colleagues recognize both formative and summative evaluation.
Formative procedures are the feedback arrangements that enable
the curriculum planners to make adjustment and improvements at
every stage of the curriculum development process: goals and
objectives, curriculum development, and curriculum
implementation. The summative evaluation comes at the end of
the process and deals with the evaluation of the total curriculum
plan. This evaluation becomes feedback for curriculum developers
to use in deciding whether to continue, modify, or eliminate the
curriculum plan with another student population. The provision
for systematic feedback during each step in the curriculum system
—and from students in each instructional situation—constitutes a
major contribution to Saylor and associates administrative model
of curriculum development.

Significance of S-A-L Curriculum Model

Developing curriculum models provide a structure to

systematically and transparently map out the rationale for the use
of particular teaching, learning and assessment approaches in the
classroom and are regarded as an effective and essential
framework for successful teachers. Saylor and Alexander
curriculum model helps teachers to design their own instructional
plans based on the designed curriculum, evaluate and edit if
needed. This model works appropriately for each of the domain
mentioned above.

The S-A-L model is deductive; it moves from the general (e.g.,

assessing societal needs) to the particular (e.g., specifying
instructional objectives). Additionally, the model is linear; from
beginning to conclusion, it follows a specific order or series of
stages. However, linear models do not have to be constant sets of
actions. The model’s entrance points and interrelationships can be
decided upon by curriculum designers. The model is also
prescriptive; it makes recommendations for what should be done
and what many curriculum designers actually undertake.

In a nutshell, this curriculum model offers substitute modes along

with recommendations, fostering adaptability and greater
freedom for both teachers and students. It provides students
autonomy and establishes them as subject matter experts in what
they need to know. Additionally, it respects the learners’ social and
cultural backgrounds. However, it could also be challenging for
teachers to establish a good balance between students’ needs and
interests.

References

Saylor, J. G., & Alexander, W. M. (1974). Planning Curriculum for

Schools. Edition 3rd. NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Saylor, J. G., Alexander, W. M., & Lewis, A. J. (1981). Curriculum

Planning for Better Teaching and Learning. Edition 4th. NY: Holt-
Saunders.

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Categories: Curriculum Development

Tags: administrative model, curriculum, curriculum definition, curriculum

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