THE CURRICULUM RESEARCH FRAMEWORK: Supporting the Scientific Creation, Implementation, and Evaluation of Curricula

Curriculum development is often not a fully scientific endeavor. To address this concern when creating an early mathematics curriculum, we developed a framework for authoring and evaluating research-based curricula. The Curriculum Research Framework (CRF) incorporates broad theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as attention to social values and equity issues. We describe our application of the CRF to the Building Blocks curriculum, emphasizing lessons learned. We argue that those designing curricula should ensure their work is scientifically based and evaluated. Those studying existing curricula should understand how they were developed and validated (or not) and that a comprehensive evaluation program involves more than student outcomes. We use the CRF to draw implications for research in development and evaluation projects. For each phase of the framework, we discuss how publishable research and curriculum development might occur, as well as what opportunities there may be for evaluation research alone. In all cases, we list useful methods.