Contemporary Readings in Curriculum provides beginning teachers and educational leaders with a series of articles that can help them build their curriculum knowledge base. [This book] provides a historical context of the curriculum field, giving educators a solid foundation for curriculum knowledge; describes the political nature of curriculum and how we must be attentive to the increasingly diverse populations found in our schools; connects the readings to traditional course goals, providing practical applications of curriculum topics; covers cocurricular issues, which have become a major contemporary topic within school systems; enhances the articles with a strong pedagogical framework, including detailed Internet references, questions for each article, topic guides tying each article to course topics, and article abstracts for the instructor. --Publisher description.