The 1860s was a time of intense development of the system of education in the Kharkov Educational District. The achievements were given a high assessment by the Administration, with the District's Trustee, Lieutenant General D.S. Levshin, going on to be later appointed in charge of the Moscow Educational District. However, to date there has been no dedicated research on D.S. Levshin's role in the management of education at the time. This paper seeks to fill this gap by exploring the activity of the District Administration in the area of curriculum development by way of circulars issued in the Kharkov Educational District in 1861. It was established that D.S. Levshin, working in association with well-known pedagogue N.A. Lavrovsky, advocated a shift from direct regulation and introduction of curricula from above to creation of an environment in which teachers are not afraid to display initiative and curricula are designed at the grassroots level. The major undertakings in the area at the time included the following: 1) overhaul of the school control system (with school inspectors encouraged to focus on a direct link between the curriculum and the student's academic progress, acting more as advisers rather than controllers); 2) introduction of teacher's congresses at which to consider issues associated with course content and delivery; 3) modification of the format of teachers' meetings (with such meetings turning into "teachers' colloquies" intended to inspire discussion about relevant issues concerning teaching and learning). These best practices aimed at building a democratic pedagogical environment remain perfectly relevant today.