Curriculum Leadership Institute

Pathways to School Improvement

E-Hints Related to Curriculum

Below is an archive of E-Hints related to curriculum. We welcome you to use them to clarify what your students should be learning in your classroom, or share them with a colleague who might benefit.

Thank you for ensuring that kids are learning what they should!

Curriculum Tip - Don't forget to collaborate. Not only with your grade-level teachers but also those below and above.

3 Ways to Avoid the Dreaded “Teacher Lottery”

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We’ve all heard it. Kids talking about their schedules like this, “Yes! I’m going to get an A in math this year because Ms. So-and-so is so easy!” Or, “Dangit, science is going to be so hard. I got Mr. Tough-stuff, and he doesn’t let anything slide.” As teachers, you never want to be considered the easy teacher, but you also don’t want to be the hard teacher that the students dread. But, what if there was no easy teacher or hard teacher, and all learning environments were equally fair? Here are three ways to even the playing field for your students so that the “teacher lottery” becomes less varied.

Set Clear Curricular Expectations

First things first, standards are not curriculum, and neither is a textbook! Depending on the state and content area, some standards are written to be very broad and general. Some are written for a grade band rather than a specific grade level. In many cases, a standard can be interpreted differently by different teachers. Additionally, standards are not organized into teachable units and may not include a level of emphasis or rigor. Textbooks, on the other hand, may include levels of emphasis and rigor, but may not reflect local priorities and may have more lessons than can be taught in one school year. In my Intro to Business class for example, my textbook included 28 chapters. But in any given year, I could only get through 13 of them with my students. The textbook that my school had adopted for that class included more than twice the amount information that I could teach my students.

The solution to both of these issues, is to develop a local curriculum that is organized into teachable units made up of learning targets that are written clearly (so all teachers interpret them the same way), are measurable (avoid verbs like understand, learn, etc.), and is appropriate for the amount of time that you have with your students. This way, the expectations are clear for both teachers and students.

Make End-of-Unit Assessments Common

When all teachers for the same course are using the same assessment to determine success, students are held to the same expectations. To further ensure that teachers are administering the common assessment fairly, include a set of “administration guidelines” as a cover sheet. Information that should be clarified in the Administration Guidelines includes:

  • the amount of time a student is allowed to complete the assessment (must the assessment be completed within a single class period so students cannot discuss answers when they gather after class?),
  • any materials they are allowed (are math students permitted to use a calculator, or language arts students a dictionary?),
  • the amount of assistance a teacher is allowed to give when a student has a question (may a teacher explain the definition of a word, or clarify directions?),
  • and the criteria for successful completion.

Please note that the Administration Guidelines as explained above are meant for general education students that are not on IEPs. Any student with an IEP must be given the modifications that are outlined within their IEP. Similarly, when administering common assessments to ELL students, consult their ELL teacher to determine appropriate accommodations.

Collaborate as a grade-level team

The big idea for all curriculum and assessment work is to improve classroom practices. By collaborating with your grade-level team, you’re able to share what worked and what didn’t. So, if something didn’t work in your lesson, ask a colleague who saw success to share what strategies they used. It’s OK to be vulnerable, and in fact, improving your teaching depends on it. Look for areas that you can improve and help those that can use your help to find more success in their classroom.

Students have enough to deal with without having to worry about which teacher they’re going to have. It will take a bit of work up front to complete the steps outlined above, but your school will be better for it. Your school doesn’t need easy teachers or hard teachers, they need good teachers.

Need some help with these things? Let us know!

Second Cycle Curriculum Writing

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Most school districts have a “cycle” for revising curriculum, so that each subject is reviewed every five to six years.  The first cycle takes the longest because the curriculum must be created – a Subject Area Committee (SAC) must make decisions about what is most important and what will be required of all students.  Subsequent cycles usually take less time because our starting point is the existing curriculum, which has been implemented and assessed for a period of time.  However, there are still several considerations to be made as a curriculum is reviewed anew.  We still need to consider state or national standards (which may have changed), and we need to gather teacher input.  Now, we also have curriculum for other subject areas, which may not have been completed when the target subject was first written.  The existence of these additional curricula allows us to look more thoroughly for cross-curricular support than we might have been able to do in the first cycle. 

Below are some recommended steps for a second (or subsequent) cycle of reviewing and revising curriculum. 

  1. Gather information about what currently exists.  
    • Complete a crosswalk from the old standards to the new to determine the amount of change that may have occurred since the previous cycle. Make note of these changes.
    • Survey teachers of the subject to determine concerns with the current curriculum or suggestions for improvement.
    • Review data of student performance to identify areas that need improvement and determine if the curriculum is sufficient.  (If it is determined that curriculum is not the root of the problem, then the SAC will need to consider instructional causes and identify possible professional development needs.)
    • Examine curricula that have been implemented in other subject areas to identify where cross-curricular connections might be improved, or assessment items (especially at the elementary level) can serve more than one curricular area, thereby reducing the number of assessments.
    • Identify courses that may need to be added, removed, or modified.  (For instance, the addition of a compluter applications course at elementary or middle level may make the existing entry-level high school computer applications course unnecessary.)
  2. Make any necessary course changes according to information gathered.
  3. Review and update the subject mission and purpose statements.
  4. Add, remove, or make changes to outcomes and components as warranted, and recode to align to updated state standards.
  5. Identify where common assessments are affected by the curriculum changes and make adjustments to the assessments.
  6. Request professional development where data indicate a need.
  7. Evaluate existing resources for their appropriateness to the revised curriculum, and request new or additional resources if needed.
  8. Present changes to the Curriculum Coordinating Council for approval and recommendation to the Board.

Districts that have used the CLI Model for the first cycle are accustomed to using large sheets of butcher paper on the wall, with color-coded strands for curriculum topics.  Most districts find this is not really necessary in a second cycle, since they are using the existing curriculum as the starting point.  However, some CLI districts have found it helpful to make large-size copies of their curriculum and cut it apart.  They then highlight outcomes and components in color by strand so they can track standards across grade levels.

Depending on the extent of revision necessary or the quality of the assessments in place, the tasks listed above may take one school year or more, if necessary.  Some SACs may find their task can be completed in less than a school year if there are few changes required. 

Does Your Local Curriculum Pass the “Local” Test?

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Examine any state standards document closely and you will find a statement similar to this one from the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, page 5:

“These standards do not dictate curriculum or teaching methods.”   

If all states and all content areas agree that you should not be using the state standards document as your curriculum, the first question you must answer is, how are your state standards being used within your district?  Has the local curriculum been developed?  Developing local curriculum can take many different forms.  Some districts buy a canned curriculum (which we would actually call a resource).  Some simply take the state standards and ask individual teachers or individual grade levels to identify which parts of the standards they will use in their classrooms.  Other districts have committees of teachers who actually go through a process to create local curriculum. 

Does your district truly have a local curriculum? Answer the following questions to see…

  • Does your staff use a curriculum document other than the state standards or a canned curriculum?
  • Is it clear when the document was created and by whom?
  • Is it clear who is responsible for using the document and where a copy can be obtained?
    • Is it on the district website or is a digital or hard copy K-12 version available in each building?
    • Do parents and board members have access to the document?
    • Are teachers encouraged to find and use the latest version to drive instruction (or are copies provided for them)?
    • If there are pre-K classes, do those teachers have a copy of the kindergarten curriculum?
    • Do Title I and Special Education teachers have copies of multiple grade levels?
  • Has the format of the local curriculum been explained, as well as differences in format from other subject documents?
    • Were all state-tested indicators included and marked in such a way as to be easily identified?
    • Were decisions made K-12 about which indicators (other than state-tested ones) to include at each grade level?
    • Were some district-only indicators written at the local level?
    • Are there appendix pages?
    • Has formatting such as the use of bold, underlined, and italic fonts been used consistently to enhance readability and understanding of the curriculum?
    • Is there a glossary?
    • Are there instructional examples?
  • Is each item listed in the curriculum considered “non-negotiable” for each grade level?
  • Are both the state-tested items and the non-state-tested items considered “non-negotiable”?
  • Is it an expectation that students will be assessed over each item?
  • Was there a “pilot” or implementation year for the new local curriculum?
    • Was emphasis placed on instruction of the new curriculum?
    • Was the curriculum considered in draft status until the end of the implementation year?
    • Was teacher feedback gathered throughout the year regarding the curriculum, materials needed, staff development needed, and classroom assessments used?
    • At the end of the year, was the curriculum updated and presented as a final document?
  • Is the local curriculum expected to guide instructional decisions and pacing?

Fidelity to the New Curriculum

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In scientific research, certain conditions need to be followed carefully in order to have reliable results.  Procedures are put in place to ensure variables are isolated because the influence of extraneous variables can greatly affect the outcome of an experiment in a favorable or negative way.  Implementing a new curriculum is similar to conducting a scientific investigation in that it is important to follow a set procedure.  Conditions need to be controlled, and progress needs to be carefully followed and monitored so the results are accurate.

Clarification: Curriculum is not the same as a textbook, textbook series, or program. Rather, it includes the unit outcomes and individual learning targets (components) that supplemental resources like textbooks or programs must align.

Focus on the Curriculum

With the external mandates of ever-higher expectations for student achievement, school officials are tempted to try a variety of methods, strategies, and programs to gain rapid results.  Sometimes a combination of programs is put into place with the hope of greater gains in student learning.  However, greater gains are not always the result, even when using research-based programs with proven success.  Instead, several variables are thrown into the mix with the lack of fidelity to one method or program.  A conglomeration approach doesn’t allow for educators to determine what really is making the difference. Furthermore, the mixture can even produce negative results. For example, it may seem like it would be helpful, but adding new resources or other instructional programs while implementing a new curriculum creates divided attention for the teachers.  When a new program is put into place at the same time as a new curriculum, it is hard for teachers to know what to “follow,” or how to merge the two, and it is impossible to determine which is truly affecting the results. If a new program is adopted within the district, it is recommended to pilot the program through another curricular area, or if that isn’t possible – to wait another year for adoption, until the new curriculum has been validated.

Supporting the Long-Range Plan

One of the first steps of action a Curriculum Coordinating Council (CCC) performs is developing a long-range plan for the district.  The CCC purposely staggers developing curriculum for the areas of math, language arts, social studies, and science so only one core area is implemented during a school year.  Not only does this help preserve the sanity of teachers responsible for multiple content areas, but it allows the new focus to be on one core area per year.

Also included on the long-range plan is the validation of the new draft curriculum. Throughout year two of the cycle, all teachers of the target subject are expected to frequently provide feedback to Subject Area Committee (SAC) members so needed changes can be made to the curriculum before it is adopted as a final product.  Teachers are specifically looking to see if students struggle with a particular outcome or component and if the pace proceeds as expected so the curriculum will be completed by the end of the year.  They should also note additional materials needed or professional training that would supplement instructional requirements within the curriculum. Collecting this information allows the SAC to make changes to the draft curriculum and request any necessary professional development training.  It also allows the committee members to help guide the selection of supporting resources, which takes place during year three of the long-range plan.

Assessing the Curriculum for Results

During the year a new curriculum is implemented, students may have some growing pains due to increases in expected knowledge or skills. Teachers may have to review some concepts to get students ready to learn or create stepping stones when skills are expected at earlier levels. The pains of the transition from the old to the new curriculum decrease in the following years. In the meantime, frequent checks of student understanding must take place not only to guide instruction but also to help validate the curriculum. Assessing student learning exclusively on the curriculum is critical.  If new resources or old assessments are utilized instead of tightly aligned assessments, results are invalid and we won’t know the true impact of the curriculum. Reliable results are needed before changes can be made and the curriculum approved as a final document.

By modeling the carefully placed steps of scientific study, a newly adopted curriculum can be implemented with validity and reliability.  Fidelity to the curriculum has to be the priority in order to gain the desired results.

Photo Credit: Louis Reed

Build-A-House: An Educational Analogy

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The processes of curriculum, instruction, and assessment schools should use to assure student learning might be compared to the steps of building a house. Let’s look at those steps and compare them to best practices in education… from what is established at the district-level, through all the stages of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, to what is mandated of schools by the state or other accrediting agencies.

1. You wouldn’t hand over your hard-earned money to a contractor and simply say, “Go build me a house.” You would decide ahead of time what kind of house you wanted, and, in general, what the finished house would be like. In other words, you would have a plan or blueprint that describes the overall building project.

Equivalent: The initial blueprint is like a district mission statement with student exit outcomes.

2. The next thing to be decided is all the elements of the plan and who will execute them, such as a plumber to do the plumbing, carpenters to do the carpentry, electricians for electricity and so forth.

Equivalent: The subjects for which there will be established curriculum need to be decided upon and are often listed in a district mission statement. Qualified teachers are needed to teach those subjects.

3. Let’s select one element of the house-building project (like one subject area) to use as our example. Let’s take plumbing, and follow it all the way through. The plumber would have to know, before beginning any actual work, specifically what the overall plumbing requirements are for this particular house.

Equivalent: The plumbing is like one subject – let’s use math as our example; the overall requirements are the Subject Mission Statement for math.

4. The plumbing job then would be divided into specific projects: the master bath, the half bath, the kitchen, and so forth. The plumber looks at the purpose of each room to determine its specific plumbing needs, and how each is related to the whole project.

Equivalent: Specific courses (algebra, geometry) and grade levels (3rd grade math, 4th grade math) of the subject are identified, and purposes (or focus areas) are determined for each, so that it’s clear where each fits in accomplishing the mission of the whole K-12 math subject area.

5. Before beginning work on a particular room, the plumber decides what must be accomplished to meet the plumbing needs for that room’s purpose. If working on a master bath, the things to be accomplished include putting pipes in the walls, a drain for the shower, installing fixtures, and so forth.

Equivalent: The “room” is like one particular grade level or course; the things to be accomplished are the high achievement unit outcomes for that grade level or course.

6. Now the plumber looks at each one of those things to be accomplished, and decides the details of actually doing it – the specific tasks or steps that need to be done. To put pipes in the walls, the workers will have to measure, drill holes, fit brackets, and so forth.

Equivalent: These are like the components – or smaller “steps” – of a high achievement unit outcome.

7. The plumber must decide how to approach the work. In what order will he do the steps? What techniques will he use for each task, and what tools will he need?

Equivalent: The teacher must plan instruction, including the order in which things will be done, strategies to use, and materials that will be needed.

8. The plumber must know ahead of time what his criteria are for quality. As each task is finished, he checks to see that it has been done properly before proceeding to the next step. Errors are corrected along the way – alternative parts or procedures are used where necessary, or work is redone for better quality. When all of the steps are successfully completed, the plumber checks to see that the plumbing does indeed work as it should.

Equivalent: Teachers set criteria for quality student work. Formative assessments are given throughout instruction. Students not succeeding receive corrective assistance; others participate in enrichments when appropriate. A summative assessment then tells whether the whole outcome has been met; again correctives and enrichments are used as necessary.

9. The plumber also adheres to building and environmental codes, keeps informed about quality materials and procedures, and provides owners with instruction on care and use of plumbing.

Equivalents: Standards and other mandates are met; staff development is pertinent and on-going.

Library Standards to Support Your Curriculum

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As we begin the month of April, the annual month celebrating contributions of school libraries and staff, Curriculum Leadership Institute would be remiss if we didn’t call attention to the American Association of School Library’s (AASL’s) newly released standards. After reading this E-Hint summary, you may appreciate visiting AASL’s website designed specifically to assist with the understanding and implementation of these standards: http://standards.aasl.org/.

The Framework for Learners is one of three sets of standards recently released and is designed with students in mind. (The other two sets of standards address the school librarian’s role and the function of the school library.) Within the Framework for Learners are four domains and six competencies. The domains are designed to be worked through as a progressive development scaffold by providing increasing challenges, somewhat akin to working through levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. The domains are: Think, Create, Share, and Grow with the six competencies being generally labeled as: Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore and Engage.  These domains and competencies are illustrated in a PDF summary of the framework to be found here. The AASL grants permission to distribute this PDF for educational purposes, so you may wish to disseminate it to your Subject Area Committee (SAC) groups in order for your groups to evaluate in what ways the library standards might be overlapped with, and enrich, content area standards.

Perhaps most importantly, it is always helpful to be reminded that libraries offer a valuable source of technology support and content enrichment, while offering rich opportunities for your students to grow in their research, synthesis, evaluation, and communication skills.  While the internet has greatly impacted the way in which information is accessed, it cannot replace the value of diverse and reliable content that is to be found in a school or public library. Unfortunately, the internet’s transitory nature and monetization often work against the open and free dissemination of accurate information that some of us had envisioned and idealized not so very long ago. For example, many schools and classrooms are sadly bidding their free Wikispaces farewell.  This once valuable harbor for information-gathering and sharing that began in 2005, states that it is not able to justify the cost to update its service to modern coding and infrastructure standards. Additionally, the loss of net neutrality is a concern for many librarians.

However, despite the grim outlook on the electronic frontier, the glut of advertisements filling our screens, and Wikipedia’s annual drive for donations, there is no chance that the Internet will cease to be a source for up-to-date information and communications. The latest media and library standards typically include the use of technology in the best ways possible, sorting, finding, and understanding information. Your state may in fact have its own library media and technology standards similar to those of Kansas.

Now is the time to look inward toward edifying our own use of technology, alternative resources, and information collections. While we look to protect and enhance our knowledge resources, beginning a conversation about the new library standards as a district could benefit the learning processes and outcomes of all students in all grade levels. If your district seeks the full and complete book of the new National School Library standards, the book may be purchased directly from their website.  Also available from the AASL site are free professional development webinars.

IMAGE CREDIT: Laëtitia Buscaylet