ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the paradox of curriculum policy through the conceptual lens of the institutions, ideas, and interests that shape policies in this area. It seeks to understand the factors that make curriculum-focused policies so appealing to policymakers while also creating the conditions that make realizing their intended goals elusive. The chapter focuses on recent federal and state standards-based reform (SBR) policies, and examines their evolution and likely future trajectories. The institutional design of United States (US) K-12 education partly explains the paradox of curriculum policy. Federalism has long been a defining element of education policies that reach across more than one governmental level. Since the advent of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the federal government has interacted with its state and local counterparts primarily through the formal institutions that enact and administer policy at each level.
