Tyler Rationale, The

The Tyler Rationale consists of four fundamental questions that first appeared during the late 1940s in Ralph W. Tyler's curriculum syllabus, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. This document is still in print and continues to sell thousands of copies each year. The questions of the Tyler Rationale include these: What educational purposes should the school seek to attain? What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes? How can these educational experiences be effectively organized? How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained? These questions rest on a conceptual foundation where educational purposes are defined by objectives that arise from three sourcesthe needs of the learner, expectations of society, and insights from content specialists. Because a program's educational ...