 Does your school system have an established method or strategies which assist teachers and administrators in determining the K-12 curriculum? Each year, parents send their children to school with the hopes that the teachers and the educational experiences offered will prepare students for the next grade level and for life in an ever changing, interdependent world. Should each teacher determine the curriculum? According to DuFour (2004), “Despite compelling evidence indicating that working collaboratively represents best practice, teachers in many schools continue to work in isolation. Even in schools that endorse the idea of collaboration, the staff's willingness to collaborate often stops at the classroom door” (p. 8). The following strategies will assist collaborative teams of professional educators in unwrapping state standards, prioritizing curriculum, aligning skills and concepts which spiral throughout the curriculum, and most importantly begin a conversation about the essential curriculum (a.k.a., Power Standards – See Ainsworth). Select one strategy and begin developing your plan for students. Strategies for Determining the K-12 Curriculum I. Unwrapping Standards: “Unwrapped standards provide clarity as to what students must know and be able to do. When teachers take the time to analyze each standard and identify essential concepts and skills, the result is more effective instructional planning, assessment, and student learning” (Ainsworth, 2003, p. 1). For the process, seeUnwrapping Standards: A Simple Process to Make Standards Manageable (Ainsworth, 2003) II. Curriculum Mapping: “Choosing important knowledge, sequencing it well, and getting it behind every classroom door in every grade” is an important part of ensuring that all students receive a rigorous and relevant education (Parker, 1991, p. 84). For the process, see Mapping the Big Picture: Integrating Curriculum and Assessment K-12 (Jacobs, 1997). See Using Curriculum Mapping and Assessment Data to Improve Learning (Kallick & Colosimo, 2009) III. Identify Declarative and Procedural Knowledge: Jane Pollock (2007) distinguished between declarative (content mastery) and procedural (skill mastery) knowledge. She wrote, “In a curriculum document, the statements of declarative knowledge (facts, concepts, generalizations and principles) are identified by the words understands or knows” (p. 35) that “serve as placeholders for active verbs, which translate into activities and experiences that help students organize declarative knowledge.” For procedural knowledge, a statement of student learning would begin with “a verb that describes the steps that need to be practiced to attain automaticity such as add, compose, sing, draw, or graph” (p. 36). The latter requires extensive repetition and practice. Does your school system’s curriculum clarify the difference between declarative and procedural knowledge which is guaranteed to be taught at each grade level? IV. Clarify Content Priorities: “Because we typically face more content than we can reasonably address, and because it is often presented as if everything were equally important for students, we are obliged to make choices and frame priorities” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 70). Planning Tool - See Figure 3.3 (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 71). V. Use Dr. Reeves’ Criteria for Identifying Power Standards: a) Endurance b) Leverage c) Readiness for the next level of learning Use the following question: What do your students need for success – in school (this year, next year, and so on), in life, and on your state tests” (Ainsworth, 2003, p. 14)? VI. Determine What You Won’t Teach: Jacobs reminds educators, “Given the limited time you have with your students, curriculum design has become more and more an issue of deciding what you won’t teach as well as what you will teach. You cannot do it all. As a designer, you must choose the essential” (as cited by Ainsworth, 2003, p. 12). Conclusion: Wiggins and McTighe (2005), wrote, “In the absence of a learning plan with clear goals, how likely is it that students will develop shared understandings on which future lessons might build” (p. 21)? If your school system does not have a common curriculum, select one of the strategies above and watch student achievement soar. References: Ainsworth, L. (2003). Power standards: Identifying the standards that matter the most. Englewood, CO: Lead + Learn Press. Ainsworth, L. (2003). Unwrapping the standards: A simple process to make standards manageable. Englewood, CO: Lead + Learn Press. DuFour, R.(2004, May). What is a professional learning community? Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6-11. Jacobs, H.H. (1997). Mapping the big picture: Integrating curriculum & Assessment K-12. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Kallick, B., & Colosimo, J. (2009). Using curriculum mapping and assessment data to improve learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Parker, W. C. (1991). Renewing the social studies curriculum. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Pollock, J. E. (2007). Improving student learning one teacher at a time. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design: Expanded 2nd edition. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Force Field Analysis 06/24/2009
 Do opposing forces prevent your school system from aligning the curriculum? Opposing forces include time, co-workers, competing district initiatives, changes in leadership, and the failure to define the purpose for curriculum alignment efforts. Educators are aware of the need for curriculum alignment, yet most school systems struggle with making curriculum alignment an ongoing process. A planning tool named the Force Field Analysis will provide your team with valuable data regarding the opposing forces which interfere with curriculum alignment efforts. The Force Field Analysis is a simple but powerful technique for building an understanding of the forces that will drive and resist a proposed change. The attached document provides a template for teachers and teacher teams. The Force Field Analysis can also be used for other educational goals which are difficult to achieve due to opposing forces. Additional information regarding this tool is available at: Force Field Analysis 
What Makes a Five-Tool Teacher? 06/13/2009
 Each year, Major League Baseball conducts a draft where the best amateur players in the world are drafted and offered professional contracts. This year's draft included high school graduates and college student-athletes. The number one draft pick was a player who can pitch 98-103 mph. During the draft, announcers shared each player's strengths and weaknesses, along with highlight videos of each player. According to the announcers and The Sporting News, a five tool player is what scouts search for when they watch amateur athletes. While it is rare to find a five-tool player, scouts use the five tools as a measuring stick to find the best baseball players in the world. As an educator and baseball fan, I asked myself, "What makes a five-tool teacher?" While there have been numerous books written on effective teaching, classroom management, and teaching for understanding, the purpose of this article is to develop a hypothetical tool which rates teachers similar to a scout rating baseball players.* The Five Tools: 1. The ability to develop positive relationships with diverse students 2. The ability to develop curriculum and provide instruction which supports the learning style of each student 3. The ability to create a positive and safe learning environment (a.k.a., Classroom management) 4. The ability to create differentiated instruction and assessment 5. The ability to collaborate with other professional educators * The five tools are qualities of good teachers and one could argue that a teacher with all five tools would be an asset to students and to a school system. However, the purpose of this article is to create a discussion, not to establish a research-based tool for recruiting and retaining highly-qualified teachers. Please feel free to add a comment or leave your own list outlining the Five Tools of a Professional Teacher. A New Day For Education in the United States 06/01/2009
 46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards The Washington Post By Maria Glod, Washington Post Staff Writer June 1, 2009 On June 1, forty-six states and the District of Columbia announced an effort to craft a single vision for what children should learn each year from kindergarten through high school graduation. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan was quoted in The Washington Post as saying, "This is the beginning of a new day for education in our country." Influential Organizations: National Governors Association Achieve - American Diploma Project Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Center for Civic Education Council of Chief State School Officers International Technology Education Association National Council for the Social Studies National Council of Teachers of English National Council of Teachers of Mathematics National Education Association National Science Teachers Association The American Federation of Teachers The Partnership for Twenty-First Century Learning Skills and others....... Important Documents: Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education Common Core Standards Initiative Why Is the Common Core Standards Initiatieve Important for the Country? Council of Chief State School Officers The Case for National Standards The Washington Post By Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers A Call for National Standards The American Federation of Teachers The Partnership’s Statement on President Barack Obama’s Education Plan The Partnership for Twenty-First Century Skills March 11, 2009 The Unfinished Work of the Standards Movement By Michael Cohen, President Achieve Governor Hunt Testifies Before U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor James B. Hunt Institue for Educational Leadership and Policy April 29, 2009 Additional information on National Standards may be found by clicking on National Standards. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the press release announcing the creation of Common Education Standards. | 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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