K-12 Curriculum Development

Curriculum is written by state government, local school districts, individual teachers, non-profit organizations, and other groups which offer lessons and academic materials for teachers and students.  The written curriculum is designed to outline what students should know and be able to do and to support student achievement.  Teachers and organizations have spent thousands of hours developing curriculum, only to have it sit on the shelf in a classroom or misinterpreted.  What can teachers do to support student achievement?  How can teachers and administrators monitor the written and taught curriculum to ensure alignment?  The following curriculum types are important for teachers to understand as they reflect on curriculum, instruction and assessment.

I.    Intended
       The intended curriculum consists of the written curriculum or plans that have
       been predetermined prior to the class.

II.   Enriched
       The enriched curriculum is when teachers enhance the curriculum or develop
       opportunities for acceleration for students who have mastered the written
       curriculum.  Enriched curriculum involves providing multiple opportunities for
       students to engage in key concepts and skills at their readiness level.

III.  Watered-Down   
        Some teachers offer the enriched curriculum to the students who are
        prepared for acceleration and the watered-down curriculum to the students
        who have demonstrated low growth or who do not understand the key
        concepts and skills identified in the unit.

IV.   Received
        Many teachers and administrators fail to monitor the received curriculum. 
        The received curriculum is what an individual student receives.  If one
        student receives the enriched curriculum and another student receives the
        watered-down curriculum, then each student's chance for success will be
        drastically different.  View Opportunity to Learn.

Conclusion:
All students should receive a guaranteed and viable curriculum (Marzano).  If the received curriculum varies from one class to the next, then it will be difficult for teachers at the next grade level to build on prior knowledge and understandings.  One of the goals of teaching is to ensure close alignment between the intended, taught, assessed, and received curricula.

Questions to Consider:

1.  Does your school have a guaranteed and viable curriculum?

2.  How is the intended curriculum different from the received curriculum?

3.  Do teachers implement the written curriculum/intended curriculum or do
     teachers create curriculum in isolation?

4.  Ask yourself, would I want my son or daughter to experience the
     watered-down curriculum and miss out on parts of the district's
     intended curriculum?
 
         What the best and wisest parent wants for his or her own child, 
                  that must the community want, for all of its children.

         John Dewey
         As cited by Gene Carter, Executive Director ASCD
         ASCD Education Update - December 2006, p. 2

5.  What mechanism does your school have in place to monitor the received
     curriculum?

    One of the tasks of curriculum leadership is to use the right methods to
    bring the written, the taught, the supported, and the tested curriculums
    into closer alignment, so that the learned curriculum is maximized.

                                                 -  Allan Glatthorn, Curriculum Renewal (1987), p. 4