K-12 Curriculum Development

Time for a Tune-Up: Comprehensive Curriculum Evaluation
By Lisa H. Meyers
Principal Leadership - September 2005

"How important is a high-quality curriculum?  A school without a quality curriculum is like a car without an engine - neither goes anywhere.  One responsibility of a school administrator is to ensure that quality curriculum is designed, adopted, and implemented."
                                                                                                    - Lisa Meyers

Prior to this afternoon, I had not read this article.  This informative article provides educators with several key considerations for K-12 curriculum development, curriculum alignment, curriculum evaluation and renewal.  I highly recommend this article! 

For additional information related to curriculum evaluation and a curriculum audit, visit these K-12 Curriculum Development topics:

Curriculum Management Audit

Curriculum Clutter

Curriculum Development

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Time for a Tune-Up: Comprehensive Curriculum Evaluation

Curriculum development takes place at the state department of education, at the district or central office, in classrooms, at the coffee shop and within profit and non-profit organizations. Curriculum development requires reflection, debate, multiple perspectives and input from multiple stakeholders.  The attached document outlines the research of Ralph Tyler, Grant Wiggins, Jay McTighe, Larry Ainsworth, Douglas Reeves, Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, Lorin Anderson and other educators.  These educators each offer a criteria for developing and assessing curriculum.    

An essential act of our profession is the design of curriculum and learning experiences to meet specified purposes.
-  Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, Understanding by Design (1998), p. 7

What questions does your team use to assist with the development and assessment of K-12 curriculum?

According to Phi Delta Kappa, "The Curriculum Management Audit is a third-party examination of the curriculum design and delivery system of a school or school district. Both curriculum policy and the system in which curriculum functions are analyzed by the audit team. The report provides specific recommendations to improve those functions."

According to Wiggins and McTighe (2007), "The job is not to hope that optimal learning will occur, based on our curriculum and initial teaching.  The job is to ensure that learning occurs, and when it doesn't, to intervene in altering the syllabus and instruction decisively, quickly, and often" (p. 55).

Examples of Curriculum Management Audits:

Anchorage School District (Alaska)

Clover Park School District (Washington)  

San Bernardino City Unified School District (California)

Wake County Public School System (North Carolina)

Frequently Asked Questions About the WCPSS Curriculum Audit

If your school district has completed a Curriculum Management Audit, please share your thoughts. 

How did it help you improve your work as an educator? 

What were the benefits of the Curriculum Management Audit? 

Did you conduct the audit through Phi Delta Kappa or did you develop a different evaluation instrument for your school district's curriculum audit? 

If curriculum alignment is the goal in most school systems, then why do districts fail to conduct a Curriculum Management Audit? 

School districts must confront the brutal facts of their current reality in order to improve (Collins, 2001).

References:

Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: why some companies make the leap and others
         don't.  New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2007). Schooling by design: Mission, action, and
        achievement. Alexandria, VA: Assocition for Supervision and Curriculum
        Development.