what is the curriculum development process

7/28/2019 What is the Curriculum Development Process

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What is the Curriculum Development Process?Contribut ed by : Nancy A. Clarke and Shirley B. StowJune 2006 Charter School Monthl y

Plan the Work...Work the Plan!

In the April issue of the Charter School Monthly we sought to answer the question “What is curriculum?” Inthat article we defined curriculum as

“a written plan which drives instruction. It delineates the skills and concepts taught and evaluated toenhance student achievement. Composed of a content area philosophy, strands with definitions, programgoals, aligned scope and sequence, learner outcomes, and assessment tools, it is intentionally designed tomeet district, state, and national standards.”

Now, we will describe briefly how it is developed. We label this procedure as “Process =Products.”

You will recall that the written curriculum is only part of the widely published concept displayed as a triangle,as it relates to student learning. Teachers and instructional leaders meet to work on this process, using acurriculum development framework. This leads to the products in a given content area, for example,Reading, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, or Social Studies.

Writing Curriculum

When writing curriculum consider (a) principles of curriculum development, (b) stages of the writing process,(c) characteristics of technical writing, and (d) premises on which the process has been built. The principlesof curriculum development that need to be followed as the work progresses include these:

1. A consensus-seeking approach =working to reach agreement among the curriculum writers, or atleast a commitment that everyone will support the ideas discussed.

2. Balance =includes a mixture of simple and more complex skills/concepts.3. Teamwork =working in a collaborative manner.4. Less is more =focusing on the essential skills/concepts and not including the whole universe of

learning.5. Alignment =matching the skills/concepts to an external set of standards (e.g., the Arizona

Academic Standards) for a content area.6. Articulation =expressing coherence as one moves from one grade level to the next.7. Diversity =incorporating ideas from both sides of an issue.

Stages of the Curriculum Writing Process

Stages of the writing process also play a major role as the curriculum is written.

1. Pre-writing is the preparation time when a review of the educational environment is conducted(what the test data look like; what the research says should be considered). When this stage iscomplete, several components of a framework will have been written. (These are described later.)

2. Drafting is authoring a section of the framework. Early attempts are very tentative.3. Revising is deliberately reworking what has been written to improve the quality.

4. Editing is the refining process.5. Publishing is the dissemination of the products.

Characteristics of Technical Writing

Characteristics of technical writing are used so the materials are user-friendly. These include format so thateveryone has a common language to use with the guide; rules, which include how to write a givencomponent; consistency, which allows the writers/users to move from one content area to another and knowthe expectations; and repetition, which is very important to users when more than one content area guide isused by the teachers.



Premises on Which the Process Has Been Built

The curriculum writers work from these premises: this is a teacher-driven, grassroots approach; it stresseswhat ought to be taught, not what is taught; the curriculum is organized to display what is to be taught; noteverything that is taught at a grade level is included in the guide (only about 80 percent) but what is there isexpected to be taught; the guide will be approved by the board of directors once it is ready for publication;and the writers need to communicate the contents of the guide to all teachers, students, parents, and

community members.

Components of a Pre-K-12 Framework

Components of a pre-K12 framework that is used by the committee to structure its work include:

1. Philosophy is a set of beliefs about the content area. This statement serves as a communicationtool. Questions that help define philosophy include “What beliefs about this content area should beconsidered as a basis for curriculum development?” and “Why is this body of knowledgeworthwhile?”

2. The second component is strands, which are themes or natural classifications that flow through thepre-K-12 content area. Each theme needs a definition so everyone who uses the curriculum willhave the same understanding about it. Strand labels are found in the Arizona Academic Standards.

3. The third component is program goals; these are general intents within a strand toward whichstudents work. There are typically two or three program goals for each strand. These are notmeasurable but are visionary/guiding stars that are nonspecific. Each of these program goalsbegins with the word “to,” followed by one action verb. These are also found in the ArizonaAcademic Standards.

4. The scope and sequence grids are the part of the structure that drives the process and makes upthe next component to be written. It provides a map that shows how the learning builds from gradelevel to grade level. The list of skills is the scope within a program goal; these skills can be found inthe performance objectives of the Arizona Academic Standards. The sequence is establishedwhen decisions are made relating to “Who teaches what and to what extent?” A list of subskills/subconcepts, or pieces of learning that belong to each skill/concept, is developed. Theseprovide focus points when discussing the building of the learning (the articulation), serve as thesubsets of the learning, and are used in the learner outcome statements. (Components onethrough four are labeled as the pre-writing stage in the writing process for curriculum development.)

5. Learner outcomes, or statements describing exiting behavior, are written after the scope and

sequence has been defined. They are the nuts and bolts of the curriculum development framework. They clarify the intent, provide for assessment, present a focus, serve as an advance organizer,and allow for communication. The committee members need to think SMART (specific,measurable, attainable, relevant, trackable). These statements are a description of what you wantthe learner to exhibit to consider himself or herself competent.

6. Assessment techniques are used to determine what the student has achieved. An assessmenttechnique is based on the learner outcome that has been taught. There are several criterion-referenced techniques that can be used (e.g., multiple choice, matching, essay, performance,product, process, and personal communication). Quality techniques are planned in terms of specific, measurable outcomes that have a designated mastery, describe a student’s performancerelative to a standard, and diagnose student deficiencies. The assessment results can be used fordiagnosis, placement, and remediation.

Curriculum Development as the Big Picture

Curriculum development must be systemwide. It helps teachers see connections among the skills/conceptsand find resources. When teachers examine their own teaching/learning environment in the context of thewhole school, they can make decisions about what to teach based on the content of the curriculum guide.

When we facilitate the development process with charter schools, we provide draft copies of all componentsof the framework. As we work through the process, the curriculum documents become the committee’sproduct because they are personalized for the school, yet are aligned with the Arizona Academic Standards.

Funding for this endeavor comes from various sources, depending how the school’s financial resources aremanaged. Some sources for funding are grant awards, title monies, start-up funds, and general funds within

what is the curriculum development process

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