Remillard (2005)

Examining Key Concepts in Research on Teachers' Use of Mathematics Curricula

• Author: Janine Remillard
• Journal: Review of Educational Research
• Year: 2005
• Source: http://rer.sagepub.com/content/75/2/211, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3516049, http://www.gse.upenn.edu/~janiner/pdf/RemillardRER.9.01.03.pdf (preprint)

Abstract

Studies of teachers' use of mathematics curriculum materials are particularly timely given the current availability of reform-inspired curriculum materials and the increasingly widespread practice of mandating the use of a single curriculum to regulate mathematics teaching. A review of the research on mathematics curriculum use over the last 25 years reveals significant variation in findings and in theoretical foundations. The aim of this review is to examine the ways that central constructs of this body of research—such as curriculum use, teaching, and curriculum materials—are conceptualized and to consider the impact of various conceptualizations on knowledge in the field. Drawing on the literature, the author offers a framework for characterizing and studying teachers' interactions with curriculum materials.

Outline of Headings

• Distinguishing Between the Intended and the Enacted Curricula
• The Significance of Mathematics
• Methods of Selection and Analysis
• Multiple Meanings of Curriculum Use
  • Curriculum Use as Following or Subverting the Text
  • Curriculum Use as Drawing on the Text
  • Curriculum Use as Interpretation of Text
  • Curriculum Use as Participation With the Text
  • Implications for Studies of Curriculum Use
• Conceptions of Teaching with Respect to Curriculum
  • Teaching as Multidimensional
    • Remillard's Arenas of Curriculum Development
    • Sherin and Drake's Models of Curriculum Use
  • Individual Teacher Characteristics and Resources
• Conceptions of Curriculum Materials
  • Texts as Subjective Schemes
  • Texts as Objectively Given Structures
• The Teacher-Curriculum Relationship
• Framing Future Research
  • The Teacher
  • The Curriculum
  • The Planned and Enacted Curriculum
  • The Possibility of Teacher Learning Through Curriculum Use
• Implications for Policy and Practice

Summary

Remillard begins her review by noting two trends: the availability of research-based curriculum based on the 1989 NCTM Standards and the tendency for districts to mandate a single curriculum in response to accountability pressures. The combination of these trends resulted in many teachers using new, unfamiliar texts as part of a reform strategy, something that may have doomed the prior reforms of the New Math era (Berman & McLaughlin, 1978; Sarason, 1982; Stake & Easley, 1978). Therefore, for new reforms to be successful, there is a need to better understand the relationship between teachers and the curriculum they use. Studies of this relationship tend to show great variability, with some teachers embracing new curriculum and being faithful to curriculum guides while other teachers reject new texts and avoid external curriculum guidance.

For Remillard, curriculum use refers to "how individual teachers interact with, draw on, refer to, and are influenced by material resources designed to guide instruction" (p. 212). By "curriculum" or "curriculum materials," Remillard means the "printed, often published resources designed for use by teachers and students during instruction" (p. 213), although she admits that "curriculum" can have other meanings. Some refer to the "formal curriculum," the goals and activities outlined by school policies or designed in textbooks, while letting "intended curriculum" refer to teachers' goals and the "enacted" or "experienced" curriculum represents what actually happens in the classroom (Gehrke, Knapp, & Sirotnik, 1992). Research of the enacted curriculum (Connelly & Clandinin, 1986; Cornbleth, 1988; Posner, 1988; Snyder, Bolin, & Zumwalt, 1992) generally acknowledges the interaction of teacher and curriculum and the role each plays in the process of enactment. Remillard uses "enacted curriculum" to refer to this view of curriculum that assumes the teacher is a designer of curriculum, not simply one who transmits or implements a lesson.

Also

APA

Remillard, J. T. (2005). Examining key concepts in research on teachers' use of mathematics curricula. Review of Educational Research, 75(2), 211–246. doi:10.3102/00346543075002211

BibTeX

@article{Remillard2005,
author = {Remillard, Janine T.},
doi = {10.3102/00346543075002211},
journal = {Review of Educational Research},
keywords = {curriculum materials,curriculum use,mathematics,teaching,textbooks},
number = {2},
pages = {211--246},
title = {{Examining key concepts in research on teachers' use of mathematics curricula}},
url = {http://rer.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.3102/00346543075002211},
volume = {75},
year = {2005}
}