Annotated Bibliography of Resources for Educational Reform, Coherent Teaching Practice, and Improved Student Learning

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• Beane, J. A. (Ed.). (1995). Toward a coherent curriculum: The 1995 ASCD yearbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

In too many schools, curriculum is like a pile of jigsaw pieces without the pictureÑa disconnected, fragmented, incoherent collection. Many students feel that school experiences have no meaning in their lives, a fact that can be partially attributed to incoherence in the curriculum. In the introductory section in this edited book, Beane proposes that creating coherence is a matter of design, content, connections, and meaning. Developing coherent curriculum involves resolving tensions, as well. The authors of the chapters in the second section of the book describe attempts to create coherence in the curriculum, using both theoretical perspectives and school stories. Concepts discussed include curriculum integration, language across the curriculum, curriculum blocks (Project 2061), curriculum organized around culture, curriculum frameworks, and outcomes-based education. The final section includes commentaries on the search for coherence based on politics, philosophy, pedagogy, and history. The editor, in the final chapter, suggests that coherent curriculum is a two-way transaction: the individual making sense of what the school offers and the school offering something that can be made sense of and in such a way that making sense is possible. 

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