Curriculum Challenges in Schools

Defining Curriculum Challenges

The American Library Association defines a challenge as an attempt to remove or restrict access to materials, based upon objections of a person or group. Thus, a challenge is not just an expression of opinion, but goes further. A successful challenge would restrict or remove material from access by others not participating in the challenge.

Some complaints about school programs may be related to the performance of a particular teacher who uses unapproved materials or covers material beyond the approved scope of a class or grade. These are not curriculum challenges and are usually addressed as personnel issues following procedures outlined in employee contracts and personnel laws.

Usually curriculum challenges relate to some form of printed material, curriculum guidelines or handbooks, media, or pedagogical practice which is part of the approved curriculum of the school or district. The complaint is usually lodged by a parent of a student, but some have been made by other members of the public and even district employees.

The range of items challenged is quite varied, from James and the Giant Peach to The Catcher in the Rye.

[Page 224]Even J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels have been on the list of challenged materials.

Research about Challenges

There was a series of studies conducted that focused on gathering data about types of challenges. Between 1956 and 1958, Marjorie Fiske did an interview study that included school libraries in twenty-six California communities. A major finding was that libraries react in a precautionary way in book selection when highly charged and widely reported community conflicts are caused by challenges to books. A more recent study by Dianne McAfee-Hopkins surveyed school library/media specialists in secondary public schools between 1987 and 1990. The primary reasons for the complaints reported in this study were: lack of family values, sexuality of the material, and morality concerns.

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