Ralph W. Tyler

General Statement on Evaluation

In perceiving the appropriate place of evaluation in modern education, consideration must be given to the purposes which a program of evaluation may serve. At present the purposes most commonly emphasized in schools and colleges are the grading of students, their grouping and promotion, reports to parents, and financial reports to the board of education or to the board of trustees. A comprehensive program of evaluation should serve a broader range of purposes than these. One important purpose of evaluation is to make a periodic check on the effectiveness of the educational institution, and thus to indicate the points at which improvements in the program are necessary. Another important purpose of evaluation which is frequently not recog nized is to validate the hypotheses upon which the educational institution operates. A school or college organizes its curriculum on the basis of a plan which seems to the staff to be satisfactory, but in reality we do not yet know enough about curriculum construction to be sure that a given plan will work satisfactorily in a particular community. On that account, the curriculum of each school or college is based upon hypotheses, that is, the best judgments the staff can make on the basis of information it has. In some cases these hypotheses are not valid, and the educational institution 492

A Study of the Factors Influencing the Difficulty of Reading Materials for Adults of Limited Reading Ability

T NHE progress of adult education depends to a large degree upon the development of reading materials which are adapted to the abilities of adults who are limited in their skill in reading. Present materials are inadequate in this respect. Librarians have often maintained that much of the material available for adults of limited reading ability is too difficult. Furthermore, there are no scientific techniques by means of which to make an accurate estimate of the reading difficulty of books and pamphlets on the library shelves. The inevitable result is the fact that adults of limited reading abilities do only a slight amount of reading of non-fiction materials. The inadequacy of appropriate materials constitutes one major cause of this deficiency. This situation can be improved through the development of methods by which the easier reading materials can be identified and which would serve to guide writers in preparing materials which can be understood by adults of limited reading ability. In other words, investigations are needed to discover the characteristics within the reading materials themselves which affect their ease of comprehension. A critical analysis of the widely varying results of previous studies indicates the impossibility of determining the factors in the reading materials which make them understandable unless the investigations separate the influence of factors within the reading material from those outside. The readers interest in the topic treated in the reading matter, his ability to read, the kind of comprehension appropriate to the purposes of the reading matter, and the difficulty of the ideas developed in the reading matter are all factors which greatly affect his comprehension of the material read but are distinct from the characteristics involved in the materials themselves which may be changed so as to make these ideas

The Curriculum-Then and Now

Any effort to review the past half-centurys development of the school curriculum in the United States encounters a confusing complexity. To bring my task into manageable size, I have chosen to focus attention on the development of curriculum theory, with occasional comments on the ways in which courses of study and curriculum guides diverge from the accepted rationale and with still fewer comments on the discrepancies between teaching practices and curriculum theory. To simplify this complex review still further, I shall examine each of three major aspects of the curriculum in turn: the formulation of educational objectives, the selection of learning experiences, and the organization of learning experiences. Although evaluation of the effectiveness of the curriculum is commonly included as an aspect of the curriculum itself, I shall not discuss it here.

A Rationale for Program Evaluation

There are two closely related rationales, each of which is often referred to as the Tyler Rationale. One was developed specifically for evaluation activities and was first published in 1934 under the title Constructing Achievement Tests. 1 The other evolved from my work as director of evaluation for the Eight-Year Study. It was a general rationale for curriculum development and was first published in 1945 as a mimeographed syllabus for my course at the University of Chicago, entitled Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. This was later picked up by the University of Chicago Press and published as a book in 1949.2 Each of these statements was formulated as an outgrowth of particular circumstances and is intended to furnish a defensible and orderly procedure to deal with such situations.

The Knowledge Explosion: Implications for Secondary Education∗

∗ Address delivered before the Illinois Association of Secondary School Principals, October, 1964, at the University of Illinois.

Leadership Role of the School Administrator in Curriculum and Instruction

aspects of his work as planning buildings, securing financial support, and conducting public relations programs than he is in giving leadership to curriculum and instruction. Whether or not this is true, some administrators certainly are confused about the role of administration in relation to instruction. There are administrators who give no attention to the educational program. They are busy with their boards of education, with their building problems, or with some other aspect of their work, and they show no concern for instructional leadership. What is done about instruction in these schools

Sound Credit for Military Experience

M ANY men and women in the armed forces are making substantial additions to their educational development as a result of their military experiences. While in the Army or the Navy they find three types of opportunity for educational growth, namely, the various training programs and the. off-duty educational program which are described elsewhere in this volume, and the many informal experiences likely to widen their horizons. The total effect,of these educative agencies is great for many thousands of the members of the armed forces and is considerable for several millions more. When men and women now in the services return to civilian life many will want to continue their education. Many others will want some symbol as evidence of their educational attainment because of the value of such a credential in job placement and for social prestige. During the last war many educational institutions granted blanket credit for military service. This proved unsatisfactory for the student as well as for the educational institution and the public. Many students were given as much as a year of advanced standing without evidence of competence. A large number failed in school or college when they attempted to go on at this advanced level. The schools and col-

Specific contributions of research to education

The author demonstrates the value of basic research in education by tracing the evolution in methods of teaching reading over the past several decades. Mr. Tyler is director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California.

The Responsibility of the School for the Improvement of American Life

THE relation of school and community is not a static condition. Throughout the history of Western civilization this relationship has fluctuated. At times centers of education have been near the market place, in the halls of government, and in the shade of vineyards. At other times institutions of learning have retreated to ivory towers far from the bustle and the turmoil of the lay community. Even in recent times we have seen movements both to relate the school more closely to life and to sever such connection. In the United States, although education is recognized as a major function of the state, the responsibility of the school to and for the community has not been formulated in terms which are acceptable to all and which provide a basis for common practice. Statesmen and school men have for generations attempted to clarify this reciprocal re-

Next Steps in Improving Secondary Education

leges than in high schools. Barely forty years ago the conception of a comprehensive American high school serving all youth was first discussed in educational journals. Secondary schools, as we now know them, represent a tremendous advance which has been accomplished in one generation. However, the great strides that have been taken in the development of American secondary education should not blind us to the fact that there are important and difficult steps still ahead. In this article I shall attempt to identify and outline some of these important next steps. It is obvious, of course, that any discussion of next steps in American secondary education requires an oversimplification of the contemporary scene. In secondary schools, as in most other aspects of our life, there are wide variations. The best high schools have already taken many of the steps which will be mentioned. The worst schools are not much different from the 1870