Leading Curriculum Development, Oct/2008

"A book that every practitioner should own. The author has managed to describe the complex process of curriculum development in plain English."
--John Lundt, Professor of Educational Leadership University of Montana

Develop a curriculum that can transform an ordinary school into a school of excellence! Curriculum development, an essential part of educational leadership, helps schools establish purpose, define activities, and guide decision making. This thought-provoking how-to resource helps leaders make sound choices and develop constructive policies as they guide a school team through this critical school improvement effort. Written by an expert in the field, this handbook introduces educational leaders to dynamic curriculum leadership and a curriculum development process that leads to highly successful school programs. The author demonstrates how administrators can adapt curriculum to meet their school's changing needs, incorporate emerging technologies, and reflect new and creative ways of thinking about education. The book walks educational leaders through the process, showing them how to:

1. Move beyond maintenance and management to address short- and long-term school reform
2. Create a school curriculum team
3. Establish a regular curriculum cycle of analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation
4. Develop a path for curriculum improvement

Filled with case studies, sample challenges and solutions, planning sheets, and more, Leading Curriculum Development is a much-needed guide for designing academic programs that lead to excellence in student achievement.

About The Author:
Jon Wiles is a highly experienced educator who has provided curriculum leadership to schools and educational agencies for over thirty years. His specialty is the creation and implementation of curriculum plans. Wiles’s work as an educational consultant has taken him to hundreds of agencies in more than forty states and a dozen foreign nations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Wiles is the author or coauthor of twelve widely used books addressing curriculum and educational leadership. His text, Curriculum Development: A Guide to Practice (Seventh Edition), has been used for nearly thirty years in colleges and universities throughout the world to train curriculum leaders. Other areas of publication by Wiles include teacher training, administration, school supervision, theory of change, politics of education, middle grades education, and technology.