K-12 Curriculum Development

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.