A Crucial Element of Democracy

This is a blog by Robert Gutierrez ...
While often taken for granted, civics education plays a crucial role in a democracy like ours. This Blog is dedicated to enticing its readers into taking an active role in the formulation of the civics curriculum found in their local schools. In order to do this, the Blog is offering a newer way to look at civics education, a newer construct - liberated federalism or federation theory. Daniel Elazar defines federalism as "the mode of political organization that unites separate polities within an overarching political system by distributing power among general and constituent governments in a manner designed to protect the existence and authority of both." It depends on its citizens acting in certain ways which Elazar calls federalism's processes. Federation theory, as applied to civics curriculum, has a set of aims. They are:
*Teach a view of government as a supra federated institution of society in which collective interests of the commonwealth are protected and advanced.
*Teach the philosophical basis of government's role as guardian of the grand partnership of citizens at both levels of individuals and associations of political and social intercourse.
*Convey the need of government to engender levels of support promoting a general sense of obligation and duty toward agreed upon goals and processes aimed at advancing the common betterment.
*Establish and justify a political morality which includes a process to assess whether that morality meets the needs of changing times while holding true to federalist values.
*Emphasize the integrity of the individual both in terms of liberty and equity in which each citizen is a member of a compacted arrangement and whose role is legally, politically, and socially congruent with the spirit of the Bill of Rights.
*Find a balance between a respect for national expertise and an encouragement of local, unsophisticated participation in policy decision-making and implementation.
Your input, as to the content of this Blog, is encouraged through this Blog directly or the Blog's email address: gravitascivics@gmail.com .
NOTE: This blog has led to the publication of a book. The title of that book is TOWARD A FEDERATED NATION: IMPLEMENTING NATIONAL CIVICS STANDARDS and it is available through Amazon in both ebook and paperback versions.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

EVALUATING A CONSUMER GOVERNMENT COURSE

 

In this posting, there is one more concern this blog addresses regarding a proposed approach to civics education.  For interested readers, they are encouraged to look up the posting, “A Practical Turn” (March 19, 2024).  It is there that one finds the beginning of this effort.  It can be found through the citation here,[1] or, along with subsequent postings, by using the archive feature of this blog.  In total, those postings provide a rationale for the course of study being proposed. 

As for the remaining concern, i.e., what this posting addresses, that would be the evaluation of the course itself – curriculum evaluation.  To evaluate this course of study several aspects are reviewed.  This evaluation scheme categorizes those factors according to a procedural model of evaluation devised by Lawrence Halprin.[2]  The model is entitled the RSVP Cycle and seems more appropriate here than usual curriculum models because what is needed is not the evaluation of a school wide curriculum, but of a course of study.

While dated, this model is still well regarded.[3]  The letters R, S, V, P refer to the categories of concerns or criteria Halprin says are present in ideal procedural relationships during the performance of a multidisciplinary event.  Because of the decision-making emphasis of this course, such a model promises to be useful and is open-ended to concerns of the environment in which this course of study would be utilized.

The categories are:

R = resources upon which a course can draw.

1.    Does this course operate within and take advantage of physical limitations?

2.    Does this course operate within financial constraints?

3.    Does this course respect societal, institutional, cultural expectations?

S = sources evaluating preparation processes leading to implementation.

1.    Are the roles of participants defined and sensitive to their needs and dispositions?

2.    Are the curriculum goals and objectives accepted by significant others?

3.    Are time allocations reasonable for completion of tasks?

4.    Are communication preparations adequate for acquiring needed information?

V = valuaction (coined term) which analyzes the consequences of actions (decisions) taken.

1.    Are all predicted outcomes accounted for in the progression of the course?

2.    Are values incorporated at decision points clearly stated and understood?

3.    Are the two above concerns given adequate priority in terms of their utility?

P = performance, that is evaluation of actual behaviors during the process.

1.    Are specified behaviors appropriate to meet curricular and instructional objectives?

2.    Are behaviors and processes efficient?

3.    Are processes flexible enough to meet reasonable unplanned changes?

It is suggested here that if this course were to take on any level of implementation among schools, that, for each implementation, this model be considered to develop evaluative instrument specifically suitable to that implementation, both on a summative and formative basis.  This process should be done by school site curricular administrators. 

A couple of things should be kept in mind.  One, this course is offered as a transition stage toward an approach that is communal, a course guided by a liberated federalism construct.  And two, if this course, with administrative approval, is only being utilized by a particular teacher – not a school or school district –these ideas are suggested to assist that teacher.  That is, they should not be considered a “must do” list of required criteria.  And with that, the rationale for a consumer government course of study is complete.

[Note:  Due to medical reasons, this blogger is ceasing the blog’s Tuesday-Friday posting schedule.  He anticipates he will, from time to time, issue new postings.  He also wishes to thank readers for their readership.]



[2] Lawrence Halprin, The RSVP Cycles:  Creative Processes in the Human Environment (New York, NY:  George Braziller, Inc., 1970).

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