Graduate School of Education

Principal Investigator(s)/Project Directors: Dr. Reba Page

Project Description: In the mid-1970s, a "public firestorm" engulfed the federally-sponsored curriculum development projects funded under the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Congress responded with hearings, and the National Institute of Education established a Curriculum Development Task Force and charged its "professional educators," who had long been excluded from the federal projects, with managing the "firestorm" and advising on federal curriculum policy. Eventually, Congress acted to curtail federal intervention in curriculum development.

The research project explores this dramatic case of curriculum politics to better understand the relationship among federal policy, professional expertise, and local values and the evolving federal role in curriculum. The historical case may also shed light on the contemporary scene in education by tracing how we got from there to here - from massive federal support for curriculum development in the late 1950s, to the public uproar and Congressional ban on federal intervention in the mid-70s, to a revival of federal intervention in curriculum a mere 20 years later, with National Curriculum Standards and No Child Left Behind. Even though the federal reach now extends into classrooms and the very heart of schooling, the public and professional response to its legitimacy and advisability has been muted. Examining the fiery mid-70s case may illuminate our present quiescence.