Step 1: Gather a large quantity of curriculum samples
Don’t throw away those packets of postcards that appear in every church’s mailbox! Instead, send off for the myriad free samples offered. Ask publishers if you can receive curricula on 30- or 60-day trial, or if they have samples of past quarters they will send you for evaluation. Purchase sampler kits if your budget allows. The more curriculum samples you have to work with, the less likely you will wonder if you’ve overlooked the very option your congregation would most prefer. (And the samples you gather now will make good supplemental resources for special sessions, substitute teachers, and the teacher resource library later.)
Step 2: Discuss your priorities
While you’re gathering samples, also gather information about the congregation’s highest priorities for its curricular materials. CRC Publications, in their booklet, Measuring the Materials, lists nine important aspects of curricula: Biblical Interpretation; Doctrine/Creeds/Church; The Christian Life; Educational Philosophy; Teaching Methods; Ease of Use; Home Involvement; Aesthetics; and Sociological Concerns. Ask your Christian education committee members and/or your teachers to rank each of these aspects from one to nine in order of importance for them individually. Then compare notes with one another, and talk about the differences in your rankings. Before you actually review any curriculum resources, you need to arrive at a consensus about your priorities, or you will find yourselves repeating the curriculum selection process again just one or two years later. The greatest cause of dissatisfaction with curriculum is a lack of clarity about how well it represents the congregation’s priorities.
Step 3: Conduct a first screening of curriculum samples
Lay samples of at least 10-12 different curricula out on tables. Give all committee members and/or teachers a notepad and ask them to browse through the samples, jotting down their first impression of how well each one meets the priorities you have developed. Have them “star” any samples they find particularly appealing and would like to look at in more detail. Allow at least half an hour for people to browse and take notes. Then call the group together, hold up each curriculum in turn, and ask people for their comments on that particular resource. Set curricula with several positive comments apart from the others.
Usually, this initial assessment process reduces the number of curricula of interest to 3-4 options. Often, one curriculum from each of three general categories will make the final cut:
• Biblical literacy-oriented curricula (focused primarily on teaching most of the stories of the Bible over a 3-4 year cycle)
• Worship/Experience-oriented curricula (emphasizing worship rituals, storytelling and art as ways of meeting God)
• Piety-oriented curricula (concerned primarily with how persons live a moral life)
A fourth category of curricula, lectionary- based resources, are often a combination of all three categories, although they may favor one aspect over another.
Step 4: Do a careful screening of the 3-4 samples you’ve selected
This can be done in one evening or over the course of three or four meetings, depending on your timeframe and group stamina. Use an assessment tool that contains specific criteria related to your top priorities – you can create your own or request my Curriculum Evaluation Form – and set up a grid so that you can make notes on each curriculum in side-by-side columns. Naming your criteria ahead of time helps to focus and standardize the assessment process and prevents the “packaging” from deceiving you about the appropriateness of the content. Side-by-side note taking makes it easier to see how curricula compare with one another. Allow at least 45 minutes for assessing the first curriculum, as you will be learning how to work through a curriculum and get the information you need. Subsequent assessments should take only 30 minutes each.
KAREN-MARIE YUST has been assistant professor of Christian Education at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Ind. She is an ordained minister of both the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Send your comment on this report to The Outlook
Please include your full name, hometown and state.
