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In 2002, author Dr. Rick Warren wrote The Purpose-Driven Life, which sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Warren wrote, the most basic questions every human faces in life are: Why am I here? What is my purpose? As another school year comes to an end, educators are faced with similar questions such as those posed by Dr. Warren.

According to Glatthorn (1994), “Curriculum alignment can be defined as a process of aligning the written curriculum (the one that appears in guides), the tested curriculum (the one that appears in tests), and the supported curriculum (the one that appears in textbooks and other resources) to make the taught curriculum (the one the teacher actually delivers) more effective” (p. 49). Glatthorn's definition of curriculum alignment helps educators answer the first question, 'Why am I here?'

What is purpose-driven curriculum and instruction? Tomlinson (2007) recently wrote, “a list of standards…is not a curriculum, nor is a textbook or a pacing guide. All those things provide us with guidance about what we must teach – but they are only the beginning of our roles as teachers” (p. xi).

Eight Questions Which Guide the Work of a Purpose-Driven School System:

1)       How does the Central Office communicate the district’s
      focus?

2)       How do we maintain a common focus across K-12
      schools?

3)       What does our school district do well?  How do we know?

4)       When are teachers given time to develop and reflect on a
      common curriculum?

5)       Does our district have a central location for local
      curriculum documents and other resources?   
 (i.e., three-ring binder, Intranet, Curriculum software, etc.)

6)       Does our district administer common assessments?

7)       Does our district define essential concepts, skills and
      understandings, or does each teacher make
      decisions about ‘what’ is taught?
      Note:  This question focuses on ‘what’ is taught,
                not ‘how’ it is taught.

8)       Is our district purpose-driven?  What evidence do we have
      to validate our answer?


References:

Glatthorn, A.A. (1994). Developing a quality curriculum. Alexandria, VA:
       Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C.A. (2007). Forward. In H.L. Erickson, Introduction to concept-
       based curriculum and instruction for the thinking classroom. (p. xi).
       Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Warren, R. (2002). The purpose-driven life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
        Publishing Company.
 


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