K-12 Curriculum Development

 
 
As we begin a new school year, teachers will develop lesson plans and units of study based on a curriculum.  Some school districts still allow each individual teacher to develop curriculum, while other districts have established a common curriculum.  According to English (2000), “curriculum is any document that exists in a school that defines the work of teachers by identifying the content to be taught and the methods to be used” (p.2).  

The following list will assist collaborative teams in identifying areas of strengths and weaknesses within a school as teachers and administrators continue to develop curriculum and assess student understanding of key concepts and skills.  A general awareness of each of the curriculum types listed below can assist teachers and administrators in increasing student understanding and raising student achievement.   

1. Written
The written curriculum specifies what is to be taught and is produced by the state, the school system, the school, and the classroom teacher.  The written curriculum will have little impact on student achievement unless it becomes the taught curriculum or more importantly a ‘guaranteed and viable’ curriculum (Marzano, 2003) which is agreed upon by a team of teachers.

2. Taught            
The taught curriculum is what teachers actually teach in the classroom.
Traditionally, the written curriculum (state and local documents) has not 
matched the taught curriculum among teachers within a school.  
Jacobs (1997) wrote, “If there are gaps among teachers within buildings, 
there are virtual Grand Canyons among buildings in a district" (p. 3).

3. Assessed
The assessed curriculum provides valuable feedback about each student’s
understanding of essential content, concepts and skills.  If the assessed
curriculum is not aligned with the written curriculum then teachers, students and parents will have a difficult time assessing the student understanding.

“The extent to which any test is useful in reteaching any given curriculum is 
the extent to which that test does indeed measures the curriculum in the first place" (English, 2000, p. 65).

4. Hidden
The hidden curriculum is the unintended curriculum.  “It defines what students learn from the physical environment, the policies, and the procedures of the school” (Glatthorn & Jailall, 2009, p. 110).

5. Learned            
The learned curriculum is what the students actually learn from the taught curriculum.  Common formative assessments assist educators in monitoring the written and taught curriculum while assessing student understanding.

“The gap between what is taught and what is learned—both intended and unintended—is large” (Cuban, 1992, p. 223).  Without ongoing assessment of the written and taught curricula, it is difficult to determine the learned curriculum.

6. Differentiated            
Differentiated instruction occurs when a teacher proactively plans varied approaches to what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and/or how they can express what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can as efficiently as possible (Tomlinson & Edison, 2003, p. 151).

“In differentiated classrooms, teachers provide specific ways for each individual to learn as deeply as possible and as quickly as possible, without assuming one student's road map for learning is identical to anyone else’s” (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 2).

7. Spiral           
Bruner (1960) wrote, “A curriculum as it develops should revisit this basic ideas repeatedly, building upon them until the student has grasped the full formal apparatus that goes with them” (p. 13).

Analyzing curriculum maps allows teachers and administrators to reflect upon the spiral curriculum.  Another strategy for analyzing the spiral curriculum is called vertical alignment.  

Sergiovanni (1990) wrote, “Schools have multiple and often conflicting purposes that make exact alignment of structure and purpose difficult, if not impossible” (p. 27).  Even though exact alignment is difficult to achieve, educators should spend each school year bringing curriculum into alignment and sharing what works with colleagues.  A mechanic attempts to align the tires on a car, so it will drive straight.  The role of an educator is to align curriculum and help students understand the guaranteed curriculum.

8. Concept-Based
Concept-based curriculum and instruction is emphasized by Lynn Erickson.  She states that teachers tend to focus on fact-based curriculum and isolated skills if key concepts are not identified.  “Teachers in thinking classrooms understand how to use concepts to integrate student thinking at a deeper level of understanding – a level where knowledge can be transferred to other situations and times” (Erickson, 2007, p. 22).  21st century curriculum and instruction calls for concept-based curriculum. 

According to Erickson ( 2007), concepts are timeless, universal, abstract and broad.  The conceptual transfer of knowledge includes the application of concepts or universal generalizations across time, cultures or situations
(p. 129).

9. Null
The null curriculum is that which is not taught in schools. Eisner (1994) suggested that what curriculum designers and/or teachers choose to leave out of the curriculum—the null curriculum—sends a covert message about what is to be valued (p. 96-97). “What children don’t learn is as important as what they do learn.  What the curriculum neglects is as important as what it teaches” (Eisner).
 
“Curriculum design has become 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” (Jacobs, 1997, p. 27).  Although educators must choose the essential, their choices about what is left out of the curriculum becomes the null curriculum.

10. Guaranteed and Viable
A guaranteed and viable curriculum was identified by Marzano (2003).  He described a guaranteed and viable curriculum as the number one factor for improving student achievement.  One of the challenges for school leaders is the fact that there is no way to guarantee that all teachers will teach the written curriculum once they close their classroom door (Glatthorn, 1987; English, 2000).  While this is a challenge and will remain a barrier in education, it should not prevent school leaders from aligning the curriculum in an effort to support student achievement for all students.

“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).  If educators develop a high-quality written curriculum, but fail to implement the curriculum then their work is the equivalent of motion masquerading as progress (Parker, 1991).

The written, taught, and assessed curricula are commonly referred to as “The Big Three”.  When teachers begin to focus on the other areas outlined in this article, they will gradually improve each student’s K-12 educational experience. 

Curriculum development is much more than a summer workshop, unpacking
standards, developing units of study aligned to state standards, or meeting once a week as a content-alike team.  If educators spend their time focusing on the ten areas listed in this article, they will be able to greatly impact each student and the written and taught curricula.

References:

Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education, Cambridge, MA: Harvard
      University Press.

Cuban, L. (1992). Curriculum stability and change. In Jackson, P. (Ed.),
      Handbook of research on curriculum (pp. 216-247). New York, NY:
      Macmillan.

Eisner, E. (1994). The educational imagination: On the design and evaluation
      of school programs, 3rd ed. New York, NY: Macmillan College Publishing.

English, F.W. (2000). Deciding what to teach and test. Thousand Oaks,
      California: Corwin Press.

Erickson, H.L. (2007). Concept-based curriculum and instruction for the
      thinking classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Glatthorn, A.A. (1987).Teacher autonomy vs. curricular anarchy. NASSP
      Bulletin, 71, 77-84.

Glatthorn, A.A., & Jailall, J.M. (2009). The principal as curriculum leader:
      Shaping what is taught and tested. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Jacobs, H.H. (1997). Mapping the big picture: Integrating curriculum and
      assessment K-12. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
      Curriculum Development.

Marzano, R.J. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into
      action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
      Development.

Parker, W. C. (1991). Renewing the social studies curriculum. Alexandria, VA:
      Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Sergiovanni, T.J. (1990). Value-added leadership: How to get extraordinary
      performance in schools. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the
      needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
      Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C., & Edison, C. (2003). Differentiation in practice: A resource
       guide for differentiating curriculum, Grades 5-9. Alexandria, VA:
      Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
 


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