Ralph Tyler's Eight-Year Study

Ralph Tyler finished up his work with the Eight-Year Study at the University of Chicago, where he was the head of their department of education (Finder, 2008). While there, he also became the examiner for the university and from 1948-1953, he was the dean of the Division of Social Sciences (Finder, 2008). While teaching at the University of Chicago, he wrote a syllabus for one of his classes called the Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (Finder, 2008). As Finder (2008) has noted, “In 1949 the University of Chicago Press published the syllabus as a book with the same title, and it has remained in print ever since” (Tyler, Ralph W. section, para. 7). This book has been one of the cornerstones as to how curriculum is developed ever …show more content…
When schools provide opportunities for students in a variety of subjects, they will be able to chose what they would like to study, thus being more interested in it. One thing that a school must look to help ensure student success is making sure that the students are motivated in what they are learning (Carter, 1974). Students also have to be able to have the materials and knowledge necessary through these different experiences to be successful (Parks, 2011). These experiences also need to tie in with the objectives of the institution, as indicated by question one. One important part in using Tyler’s Rationale in the planning process in curricula planning in a classroom is making sure to identify the abilities of the students (Koeller & Thompson, 1980). If something is too hard for students, they will not be successful and thus be unmotivated. On the flip side, if something is too easy, the level of engagement that is wanted will not be there, and no learning will end up taking …show more content…
There needs to be some sort of evaluation tool to know if students have mastered the concepts and objectives. Tyler stresses the importance of a change in behavior, as that shows if the behavioral objective is met (Parks, 2011). Tyler’s use of the world “evaluation” is interchangeable with the use of our modern word “assessment.” Tyler stressed the importance of having a variety of ways to evaluate an individual, so that you can help meet whatever their own needs are (Koeller & Thompson, 1980). This is also important in today’s lesson planning, as we want to use a lot of different assessment tools, including authentic assessments, so that we can help our students to be better critical thinkers and not favor one learning style over another. In Koeller and Thompson (1980) it was also observed that Tyler’s principles of evaluation included pre- and post-tests, the assessments must be valid and reliable, and the results must be used to help the school (p. 84-85). This directly ties in with the current trend of using data to drive instruction in the classroom. If what is being observed in the evaluations doesn’t help to ensure student success for all, then the purpose for having these assessments is