Before taking action or making recommendations, the curriculum committee must be aware of---or determine---the learning goals. For example, to adequately prepare for the 21st century, students must acquire and apply core knowledge and critical thinking skill sets that are essential in an information age, according to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). The curriculum committee can use this criteria to examine existing course offerings and to recommend courses that will help fulfill this learning objective.
Topics are studied, says the ASCD, because they are considered interesting and valuable by the teachers and students, not necessarily because they appear in a required course of study. Yet curriculum committees are tasked with prescribing academic requirements. Often the committee works toward integrating required and elective classes in an effort to help students see connections in an interdisciplinary curriculum.
Specific duties of a curriculum committee may include the following, as described by the College of Southern Idaho Curriculum Committee: approval of new courses; approval of major changes in an existing course; discontinuance of a course; review of new academic programs; review of general education offerings; consultation with convening groups on curricular issues; proposed revisions to general education criteria; resolving interdepartmental curricular problems and guarding against duplication of course offerings.