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Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction
The acclaimed classic shows educators how to set classroom objectives, select learning experiences, organize instruction, and evaluate progress.In 1949, a small book had a big impact on education. In just over one hundred pages, Ralph W. Tyler presented the concept that curriculum should be dynamic, a program under constant evaluation and revision. Curriculum had always been thought of as a static, set program, and in an era preoccupied with student testing, he offered the innovative idea that teachers and administrators should spend as much time evaluating their plans as they do assessing their students.Since then, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has been a standard reference for anyone working with curriculum development. Although not a strict how-to guide, the book shows how educators can critically approach curriculum planning, studying progress and retooling when needed. Its four sections focus on setting objectives, selecting learning experiences, organizing instruction, and evaluating progress. Readers will come away with a firm understanding of how to formulate educational objectives and how to analyze and adjust their plans so that students meet the objectives. Tyler also explains that curriculum planning is a continuous, cyclical process, an instrument of education that needs to be fine-tuned.This emphasis on thoughtful evaluation has kept Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction a relevant, trusted companion for over sixty years. And with school districts across the nation working feverishly to align their curriculum with Common Core standards, Tyler’s straightforward recommendations are sound and effective tools for educators working to create a curriculum that integrates national objectives with their students� needs.Praise for Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction“Tyler addresses the essential purposes of teaching in a way that still has relevance for contemporary students of education, and communicates to them how important and timeless the quality of the pupil-teacher interaction actually is.� —Times Higher Education (UK)
142 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 15, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
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October 1, 2024Read it for an assignment but still logging it on here 🫡
June 4, 2015
Straight-forward, comprehensive resource. Well written and easy to understand.
September 20, 2011
Reading Basic Principles was a bit like taking in a black-and-white movie. The camera work is steady; the actors are well defined; the plot is simple, if not just a bit familiar� Perhaps some of my familiarity with this script is due to the fact that this rationale for curriculum and instruction is very much the one imposed upon me as a teacher the past four years, right down to the terminology (“sequence,� “alignment,� etc.). This is not to say that I found Tyler’s vision of curriculum and instruction wholly bad. There was, however, an omnipresent sense of control, categorization, and order by teachers and administrators that characterized his view of the learning experience. I got the feeling that Tyler would consider my fifth-grade curriculum perfected if I could render twenty-two behavioral objectives alongside my twenty-seven content aspects � all of which I would evaluate, of course, with assessments, checklists, and questionnaires.
Throughout Basic Principles, the watchwords of efficiency and effectiveness lurk behind much of Tyler’s rationale. In Tyler’s vision of curriculum, learning is something to be made tangible, so that it can be chunked, divided up, and inserted into empty heads on an assembly-line and that the results can be analyzed and conclusions drawn. Certainly, Tyler’s rationales were important in their historical context as they helped close the door on rote memorization and provided a useful approach to organizing and unify a school’s curriculum and instructional methodology. That the model has endured nearly intact, some sixty years after its being written, is less an indictment of Tyler than it is of policymakers� and school administrators� inability to recognize the potential (and necessity) for other possibilities; in other words, to see the world in color.
Throughout Basic Principles, the watchwords of efficiency and effectiveness lurk behind much of Tyler’s rationale. In Tyler’s vision of curriculum, learning is something to be made tangible, so that it can be chunked, divided up, and inserted into empty heads on an assembly-line and that the results can be analyzed and conclusions drawn. Certainly, Tyler’s rationales were important in their historical context as they helped close the door on rote memorization and provided a useful approach to organizing and unify a school’s curriculum and instructional methodology. That the model has endured nearly intact, some sixty years after its being written, is less an indictment of Tyler than it is of policymakers� and school administrators� inability to recognize the potential (and necessity) for other possibilities; in other words, to see the world in color.
January 27, 2021
A book I wouldn't have read if it weren't an assignment. A good basis of principles, although a little dated. I suspect this is where Project Based Learning and the idea for Common Core objectives grew from. Super dry, with sometimes multiple pages of examples in a row.
March 11, 2021
I am amazed by everything that is here: student-centered instruction, development supports learning, constructivist concepts, importance of establishing transfer goals, educational contextualization, conspicuous teaching strategies, focused objectives, enduring understandings & bid ideas, strategic integration, judicious review, coherent curriculums, assessment supported by instruction, diverse assessment methods, the importance of formative assessments, the risk and flaws of teaching to the test, culturally responsive classrooms & schools...the list goes on. This was published in 1949. Why has it taken SO LONG for these concepts to be integrated into mainstream educational practices (in the U.S.)? And, frankly, they still aren't...
Great foundational read!
For those interested in reading these principles applied in more recently published books, see and .
Great foundational read!
For those interested in reading these principles applied in more recently published books, see and .
August 21, 2015
Kickin' it old school with the hardest working man in curriculum, the "Godfather of Curriculum" Ralph W. Tyler! Lots of goodies here for the professional or the curriculum fanboy.
April 17, 2020
Most certainly dated, but I never would have thought it was from 1949!
It was supremely annoying that there were no reference citations nor bibliography. He makes mention of some sources, but 70 years later you can't find most of them. That was by far my biggest complaint.
Beyond that, sure its dry, but it's really succinct. Very straight forward, easy to understand, and poignant. I really felt like I was reading a masterpiece for its time. Foundational groundwork for many of the other educational reference material that I have read. I already have ideas for how to use it.
It was supremely annoying that there were no reference citations nor bibliography. He makes mention of some sources, but 70 years later you can't find most of them. That was by far my biggest complaint.
Beyond that, sure its dry, but it's really succinct. Very straight forward, easy to understand, and poignant. I really felt like I was reading a masterpiece for its time. Foundational groundwork for many of the other educational reference material that I have read. I already have ideas for how to use it.
July 21, 2019
For a book written in 1949, there are some rather forward-thinking concepts presented here. Or maybe they are just forward-thinking in this era. Pretty straight-forward and easy to read. It provided some thoughts to ponder in regards to creating my own curriculum.
September 30, 2018
This book is a great read for educators at all levels. Knowing how to plan a course and evaluate students progress and performance is key to determining the effectiveness of the instruction.
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May 3, 2020B
September 1, 2020
This book was too confusing for me to understand.
March 24, 2022
How can I read
October 15, 2023
I read it because I had to. I was not all that interested in the topic. But I learned some things about the history and developmental theories of curriculum.
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January 23, 2024POV: When you’re in grad school but you’re still trying to hit your yearly reading goal. I refuse to give this a rating.
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September 24, 2024Master of Education core <3
February 28, 2017
Very clean, concise, and relevant to anyone in education or in educational program planning. This is one of the places to start if the field is new to you.
March 2, 2016
This is a really good book which affirmed my practices as a curriculum designer and developer in a graduate health sciences school. It provided a coherent view on curriculum alignment while elaborating on three major components of a curriculum: objectives, learning experiences, and assessment. I see this book more helpful if you are in the process of developing a brand new curriculum which focuses on a unique area or specialization. The reason behind my statement is that the majority of the book focuses on selecting and developing educational objectives. I can see certain critiques coming from other readers due to the emphasis on "behavioral objectives" But, I appreciate that the author was careful enough focusing on both cognitive and affective domains of learning when providing examples. Although the examples are provided at K-12 level, I still think the book can inspire great ideas applicable in higher education scenarios.
November 20, 2016
Pretty decent book as a whole. Tyler did a great job of using a simple easy-to-remember process which he then dug into and explored a fair bit. As a result, it's both comprehensive and practical, which can be a rare find. While I disagree with some of Tyler's pragmatic presuppositions and think he puts too much weight on constantly updating a curriculum, I appreciated this book overall as a whole. Unlike his pragmatic principles, Tyler’s method doesn’t need to be updated for different times.
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Good).
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Good).
November 13, 2015
A fairly simple, clear description of the the process of curriculum development and some of the key considerations thereof. The last chapter, on evaluation is particularly of interest to me this time, during my second read. As an advisor noted, nowhere does Tyler discuss ranking or even marking / grading in the chapter on evaluation.
June 25, 2014
Although not particularly striking in its language or intentional in its validation, this book quite obviously forms the foundation for a variety of modern approaches to curriculum development. I found it particularly helpful in helping me consider that not all objectives must be behaviorist in nature.
June 30, 2008
Tyler is the godfather of Curriculum, and this "paper" is often times hard to read. However, it really does describe the basics of curriclum design and really made me think long and hard about what we are doing in education today with the whole standards, testing, NCLB thing.
September 15, 2013
It's dry, but it's a professional paper so you really can't fault it for that. There are some fundamentally important ideas in this book and you can definitely see it's influence is still present in education today.
January 29, 2011
I read this for Dr. White's curriculum class at Rowan University. This would have been circa 1999. I do not recall much from it or the class, although I have positive memories of Dr. White himself.
July 14, 2015
Very concise and simple enough for covering essential questions about curriculum development. After reading this book, couples of technical texts must be read for real practices.
July 6, 2013
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January 31, 2019Good work
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