When Students Choose Content: A Guide to Increasing Motivation, Autonomy, and Achievement.

When Students Choose Content: A Guide to Increasing Motivation, Autonomy, and Achievement. Passe, J. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc., 1996 ISBN 0-8039-6449-8 102 pp. $17.00

Decentralization of school decision making has become a `hot topic.' School community-based management, charter and independent public schools and a number of other reform efforts seek to return responsibility for local schools to the community, parents and teachers. While a student voice is sometimes represented in these efforts, more often, the most numerous and central actors, students, are left out. Jeff Passe presents rationale and practical suggestions for involving students in curricular decision making. To assist teachers in their transition from teacher-controlled to student-controlled and selected content, Passe provides a model and guidelines that are flexible and user friendly.

Jeff Passe currently teaches courses in curriculum and social studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has not confined himself to talking about teaching. From 1990 to 1992, Passe took his theories to a middle school classroom where he taught elective courses on current issues to eighth and ninth graders. This provided the perfect opportunity to test and refine ideas he had developed after ten years of teaching methods cources at the university level. Passe begins by providing examples of high, middle, and elementary school students involved in curricular decision making. These vignettes are very helpful in both illustrating the ideas that follow and providing concrete representation of abstract concepts. Next, he briefly explores theoretical and research foundations which support student involvement in curriculum planning. Examining the benefits to students in terms of increased autonomy and motivation, and improvement in learning and classroom behavior, he also links the ideas to current trends such as brain research, student diversity, constructivism and quality schools. Chapters 3 and 4 are the `how to' of involving students in curricular decision making. First, Passe walks the reader through a step by step guide beginning with "Step 1: Getting Permission" proceeding through to "Step 13: Reflect, Revise, and Publicize." Secondly, he illustrates the process by using himself as the teacher/model and details his own experience in a middle school current issues class. Chapter 5 gives teachers helpful tips on dealing with content requirements and other curricular goals. Here, Passe uses an example in chart form that shows North Carolina content goals and corresponding ways the student-chosen topics met them. He also provides a rationale for teachers to use when student choices may not lead to specific facts and information. Finally, the last chapter provides answers to frequently asked questions about student involvement in curriculum decision making in the areas of interdisciplinary curriculum, joint planning and teaching, specific subject concerns, content gaps, application beyond K-12 education and the role of the teacher.

The book's most important contribution to educational reform is the involvement of students in their own learning. Educators in gifted and talented programs have used curriculum models such as Joseph Renzulli's enrichment triad or John Feldhusen's three stage enrichment which both culminate in student selection of topics for independent study. More recently, talent development programs have also emphasized allowing students to explore interest areas and then pursue their own interests. Teachers in full inclusion classrooms, K - 12, will benefit greatly from the step by step guide which can help them better meet some of the needs of their gifted students within the class. Administrators will appreciate the attention to local, state and national guidelines for performance and content standards which may be fulfilled through student chosen curricula.

Passe's purpose "to explore the concept of student curricular decision making" was certainly achieved. The broader goal of enabling teachers and administrators to adapt classroom and school practices to include students in curricular decision making may not be attained without a more in-depth research foundation and convincing achievement data.

This concise guide is well organized, clear and timely. Hopefully, it will provide one model for implementation of more student-centered curriculum.

Reviewed by Nina Buchanan, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and a Contributing Editor of the Roeper Review.