Journey “Back Over the Line”: Critical Pedagogies of Curriculum Evaluation

Abstract

Background: We re-trace our liberatory journey in developing a Critical Framework of Review to evaluate K-12 Filipina/x/o American curricula. Our framework is rooted in our positionality and epistemology as Filipina educational scholars engaged in confronting oppression that impacts our community. It responds to the need for evaluation methods grounded in culturally responsive and critical pedagogies. Purpose: The purpose is to provide a critical and cultural method of evaluation to assess curriculum and pedagogy of, by, and about our communities. Setting: The research takes place in the Filipinx/a/o American community in the United States. The authors are from three academic institutions in California, Hawai‘i and the Philippines. Intervention: Our Critical Framework of Review attempts to counter the predominance of Eurocentric, male, objective, and uncritical models of curricula evaluation. Research design: This research deconstructs how we developed and applied our framework, which was used to evaluate thirty-three Filipina/x/o American K-12 curricula in critical content, critical instruction, and critical impact, by asking 20 questions that reflected critical and cultural theories and pedagogies. Data collection and analysis: We asked: Who and what informed our evaluation framework? How was it developed? How do we use it? How could our framework be further applied? We referenced diverse scholars and used critical race, feminist, indigenous, and deolonizing pedagogies as guidelines to establish our evaluation framework and standards. Findings: The framework is an example of standards-based and responsive-based evaluation with a checklist of indicators to evaluate curricula for culture, race, positionality, and social justice. Although created for Filipina/x/o, the framework can be used to evaluate curriculum for other marginalized groups. Keywords: critical pedagogy; critical evaluation; framework of review; curriculum; curriculum evaluation