Assessing What Matters Most 05/25/2009
 Recently, I addressed the need for K-12 educators to identify their purpose or their goals. Such goals must guide curriculum development and instruction. The next step after identifying curricular goals is to develop assessments which measure the received or understood curriculum. In a recent article, Popham (May 2009) wrote, "The time has come to do more than merely talk about desirable outcomes. It's time to measure them" (p. 86). Assessing Student Affect addresses the need to assess what educators have determined is important. This brief article shares how student affect and other learning goals can be measured. The next step may be revising the written and taught curriculum in order to ensure that your district's curriculum and instruction is meeting the intended purpose(s). We can hope that students learn the skills and concepts that will make them successful contributors to society. However, most educators agree that an end-of-grade or standardized test is not the most appropriate method for determining if learning goals have been achieved. How does your school measure what matters most? Reference: Popham, W.J. (2009). Assessing student affect. Educational Leadership, 66(8), 85-86. What is the Purpose of Your K-12 Curriculum? 05/13/2009
 Smedley said, "A speech without a purpose is like a journey without a destination" (as cited by Koegel, 2007, p. 34). The same can be said about curriculum development. A curriculum without a purpose is like a journey without a destination. Do the teachers and administrators in your school system have agreed upon learning outcomes for students at the end of each grade level? Do teachers and administrators have time scheduled throughout the school year to discuss which instructional strategies are working with certain grade levels or even with individual students? The list below contains several of the skills and understandings that most teachers and parents would agree students should develop during the K-12 experience(s). If a parent moved from another state or country and asked teachers in your school district which skills and understandings are taught in the seventh grade, would the parent receive the same answer from teachers at three different middle schools? Using the list below, add skills and understandings that you feel are missing. Are some of the identified skills more essential than others? Should some of the skills be taught in each grade, K-12? Should some of the skills be deemphasized due to the skills required by a changing workforce? Most importantly, what is the purpose for including each of these skills or understandings in the K-12 curriculum? Is your district's current curriculum meeting its intended purpose? What can be done to realign the district's curiculum in order to meet the agreed upon purposes during the 2009-2010 school year? 1. Citizenship 2. Geographic Awareness 3. Decoding Skills 4. 21st Century Learning Skills 5. Presentation Skills 6. Writing Skills 7. Problem Solving Skills 8. World Languages 9. Literacy Skills 10. Self-Awareness 11. Character Education 12. Healthful Living 13. Personal Financial Literacy 14. Apply Mathematics in a variety of settings 15. Communication Skills 16. The Arts 17. Career Development 18. Interview Skills 19. Critical Thinking Skills 20. How to Apply Skills and Understandings "All learners benefit from and should receive instruction that reflects clarity about purposes and priorities of content." - Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe References: Koegel, T.J. (2007). The exceptional presenter. Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group Press. Tomlinson, C.A., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. The Law of the Compass 05/10/2009
 In The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, Maxwell (2001) wrote, "Every team needs a vision to give it direction. A team without vision is, at worst, purposeless. At best, it is subject to the personal (and sometimes selfish) agendas of its various teammates. As the agendas work against each other, the team's energy and drive drain away" (p. 91). He describes this as the Law of the Compass. Curriculum Clutter 05/06/2009
 Curriculum clutter impacts student achievement. "When school staff have a more informed conception of curriculum, a teacher's daily decisions about how to deliver instruction not only affect student achievement in that classroom but also future student achievement, for it is assumed that students will be entering the next classroom prepared to handle a more sophisticated or more expansive level of work" (Zmuda, Kuklis & Kline, 2004, p. 122). Four Things That Make a Great Leader 05/04/2009
Stephen Covey suggests that there are four things that make a great leader. | AuthorSteven Weber is the Director of Secondary Instruction for Orange County Schools in Hillsborough, NC. Weber has served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and state department of education consultant in Arkansas and North Carolina. He consults school systems in aligning their curriculum and in unpacking curriculum standards.  ArchivesMarch 2010 CategoriesAll |
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