Ralph W. Tyler: biography and contributions of this American educator

Ralph W. Tyler has been considered one of the most important educators in the United States of the 20th centuryThanks to his work and research within the field of education in his country, highlighting his curricular model that will be explained in this article.

Tyler's curricular model has been defined by the author of it as a rational method that has been nourished by other disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, sociology, economics and organization in order to find the foundations that can be provided based on applied science to the field of education.

This curricular model sought to develop a study program in schools in a functional way and in accordance with the demands of the students, thus as well as the center, in order to prepare the students in the best possible way for their future university stage and also for their stage adult

Here you will find a biography biography of Ralph W. Tyler, with which to know his long career dedicated to the field of education.

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Brief biography of Ralph W. Tyler

Ralph W. Tyler was born in the city of Chicago (United States) on April 22, 1902. His father, William A. Tyler was a reverend.

He graduated from Donuts University (Nebraska) and later, in 1923, managed to obtain his master's degree from the University of Nebraska. In 1927, Tyler earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago.

While he was earning his doctorate he worked teaching at the University of Nebraska (1922-1927) and, later, Tyler he was hired as a professor at the University of North Carolina, where he taught for 2 years.

I work as a professor and researcher at Ohio State University

After completing his teaching job in North Carolina, Tyler was transferred to teach education classes at Ohio State University and combining it with his work as an associate researcher at the University's Office of Educational Research, where he worked for a decade.

In 1934, he published a work entitled "Constructing Achievement Tests".

Presentation of the "eight-year study"

Tyler had specialized in a method to measure the application of education, and it is that before arriving at the University of Chicago for his doctorate he had directed "the eight-year study" that was used to measure the degree to which students were able to retain the information that teachers provided when imparting their lessons.

With this study, it was possible to check which students learned best by going at their own pace and which ones were gifted learners who could retain a greater amount of information, making it easier for them to learn more ease.

Tyler came to meet with the rector of the University of Chicago to explain his method in order to implant it at the university and, despite the fact that the university was betting on a classic education model, prevailing at that time, the rector decided to risk and hire Tyler as Chief Examiner and Examination Board Chairperson, as well as Professor of Education and Chair of the Department of education. Then Tyler accepted and returned to Chicago in order to implant his study at the University of Chicago.

He went on to publish a work entitled "Appraisal and Record of Student Progress", with the collaboration of E.R. Smith in 1942.

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Dean of Social Sciences

In 1946, Tyler was appointed Acting Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, and two years later he was officially appointed Dean. During his stage as dean he managed to streamline the committees between the different departments of the university and promoted the implementation of interdisciplinary studies in the faculty.

Likewise, Tyler also became involved in university life, contributing to a radio program in Chicago, where he participated in a round table to talk about education. In addition, during that time he was in charge of periodically publishing the results that he was obtaining from his research in the field of education.

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His contributions to education in the mid-20th century

In 1943, Tyler was hired to work as the officer director of the examining staff for the United States Armed Forces. During that stage that lasted 11 years, Tyler he was in charge of administering a series of tests that managed to measure the effectiveness of the training programs of the military academies. In 1949, he published a work that he titled "Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction."

In 1953, Tyler stopped working at the University of Chicago to embark on new projects in California. There he founded the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, of which he was also director. In order to make this new project a reality, he obtained funding from the Ford Foundation.

In the 1960s, Tyler embarked on a project with several colleagues on the National Assessment of Education for Progress, tasked with measuring the country's educational achievement.

In 1965, he collaborated in the elaboration of the Law of Primary and Secondary Education, and in 1967, he concluded his work as director of the center that he had founded in 1953, with the help of the Ford Foundation.

In 1976, he managed to publish a work entitled "Perspectives on American Education." Also noteworthy is his work published in 1986 for the International Journal of Education entitled "Changing Concepts of Educational Assessment."

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Last years and death

Throughout the 80s, He continually traveled from California to the University of Massachusetts to teach and serve as an advisor to the Coalition for School Improvement. His test style was widely known throughout the country and even in several countries abroad, coming to be renamed "Tyler Raciónale".

His method had at first been rejected as being unorthodox by advocate for the need for both parents and teachers to be involved at all levels of school reforms.

The main purpose of the curricular method that Tyler enacted throughout his life was to students learn to defend themselves and function appropriately as citizens within the society.

Notably, Tyler he came to advise six presidents of the United States during his long career as a researcher of teaching methods and a forerunner of his curricular model.

On February 18, 1994, Ralph W. Tyler passed away from cancer that he could not overcome, at the age of 92.

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The Ralph W. Tyle

The Taylerian curricular model arose out of his "eight-year study", which was based on a progressive education model. and he had been very influential in both his teaching and research work throughout his entire career.

Building on his model, Ralph W. Tyler researched the curricula of various schools for many years, making a prediction about future success that could lead to have each student during their academic stage at the university based on their relationship with the curricular skills during their stage in education secondary.

After concluding his study on the curricular model he dedicated himself to investigating what would be the guidelines that each student should follow, based on his own abilities, in order to achieve a good academic trajectory during his time as a high school student. Following these investigations and the conclusions that he developed, in 1949, he published a book that he titled "Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction."

According to Tyler's research, to choose the most appropriate curricular model for each secondary school, you must first answer the following four questions:

• What educational objectives does the school intend for its students to achieve?
• What teaching method will students require in order to achieve their goals?
• What teaching resources will the school use to help its students?
• How can we evaluate whether the students have achieved their objectives?

In addition, Tyler believed that a good educational curriculum model should cover three fundamental needs, as we will briefly explain below.

In the first place, a good curricular model should cover the learning needs that each student individual possesses, according to their own interests, their personal development and their ability to learn.

Second, a curriculum model, used correctly, should focus on teach students based on the values ​​and needs of the society in which they live, as well as the principles that drive it.

Third, a properly implemented curriculum model should teach its students a number of knowledge that may later be applicable. In other words, that it focuses on giving a type of information to its students that can then be applicable, giving an importance similar to the practical part of the subjects as to the theoretical part, which facilitates a consolidation of knowledge acquired.

In this way, a good curricular model would be one that could adequately answer the four previous questions, and that also takes into account these three fundamental needs.