ISSN (Print): 2328-3734, ISSN (Online): 2328-3696, ISSN (CD-ROM): 2328-3688 American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences AIJRHASS 15-133; © 2015, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 121 Available online at http://www.iasir.net AIJRHASS is a refereed, indexed, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary and open access journal published by International Association of Scientific Innovation and Research (IASIR), USA (An Association Unifying the Sciences, Engineering, and Applied Research) Evaluating a Curriculum Using the Same Style and Strategy across Years: Lessons Gained from Tanzania Noel M. Makwinya Assistant Lecturer, Department of Education, Faculty of Science Sokoine University of Agriculture, P. O. Box 3038 Morogoro – Tanzania I. Introduction Relationship between summative and formative assessments has attracted scholar’s debate since long with the perception that the former influence the later. As the interaction between curriculum development and examination systems appeared to become complex, it seemed meaningful to examine the matter. Grounded on this point of view, this study attempted to study the influence of National summative examinations on teachers’ curriculum implementation practices. Defining curriculum, and understanding curriculum development process is perhaps most difficult exercise, for the term curriculum and its associated development processes have been approached differently ever since the field took form. Many books have been written defining the curriculum in narrower or broader terms. On the one hand, curriculum is defined broadly when it provides us with what “ought” to happen. In this regard, such definitions more often than not are prescriptive, taking the form of a plan, or some kind of expert-opinion about what is expected to take place in the course of study. An example of such definition is that provided by Bobbit (1918), who defined a curriculum as the entire range of experiences, both directed and undirected, concerned in unfolding the abilities of an individual. On the other hand, narrow curriculum definitions use descriptive terms. As such, such definitions go beyond the prescriptive terms as they force thought about the curriculum with regard to how things are in real in practice. Tanner and Tanner (1995) and Beigi, Keramati and Ahmadi (2011) are among scholars whose definition falls in this line. According to them, curriculum refers to a program of all experiences which the learner encounters under the direction of a school. From the above clarification, a curriculum can be conceptualized as a set of ideas, knowledge and skills that are considered useful for the society to develop and gain control of the on-going socio-economic challenges. This conceptualization shows that, regardless of a definition one will opt, curriculum is a property of the public and its development is both a technical and social process demanding a public consensus. Moreover, such definition shows that a curriculum is not static; rather, it is a continuous changing framework that highlights knowledge or value priority areas for that society. As a cyclic, on-going and intentional process, across the world, a curriculum has been practiced in four main phases: Planning (noting a problem and conducting need assessment), Designing (developing a draft curriculum), Try-out (testing the drafted curriculum) and Implementation (disseminating the curriculum across the country for use). At this point, it is important to note that, although some scholars (e.g., ACARA, 2009; Otunga & Nyandusi, 2010; Hussain, Dogar, Azeem, & Shakoor, 2011) include evaluation as a phase occurring at one point during curriculum development, a close look of this component shows that, it cuts across all phases from stakeholders’ need analysis, to try-out stage, and during and/or after implementation stages. Since evaluation touches every phase and stage of the curriculum development, and since it helps us to have a holistic Abstract: Policy and practice in relation to curriculum evaluation systems are under review in many countries. Previous studies have indicated that, public examination system used in many countries, especially those using pen and paper to evaluate students’ mastery of the curriculum objectives can provide us with illusions regarding how best a curriculum is implemented at school. In this study, Public examination conducted by the National Examination Council of Tanzania were studied to see whether, the type and structure of exams, and coverage of such exams do not affect teachers’ curriculum implementation practice. Through content analysis of Grade twelve (form four) Public examinations offered since the year 2010 to 2014; and following an interviewing with students in grade twelve, results showed that: “ what is measured” and “how it is consistently measured” through National summative examinations in Tanzania affect what is taught, what is assessed, and to a large extent, what is valued in the schooling process during curriculum implementation. Key world: Curriculum, Curriculum evaluation, Public examination, Tanzania.