Curriculum Plan for Jayhawkville 1

Curriculum Plan for Jayhawkville

CT 802
Final Paper
Curriculum Plan for Jayhawkville 2

Curriculum planning is a dynamic and complex process with a lot of

factors that help determine decisions about curriculum. Standards are the

skeleton of all curriculums and when new standards are adopted, there needs to

be a process available to principals and teachers in order to implement the

curriculum into everyday school life. Jayhawkville needs a process that is clear

and easy to implement in order for teaching and learning in the district to be

more effective, as well as adopting new standards such as the Common Core

State Standards in order for all of our schools to be aligned and working together

in unison towards a common goal. The goal for this district is to “align

coursework, assessment, and professional development with an intent of

improving instruction and increasing individual student achievement”

(Glatthorn, 2015). The five-year planning cycle, the ADDIE design model, of

analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation will be used to

make sure that the school properly implements and stays up to date with

curriculum and what is best for our students (Glatthorn, 2016, p.191).

Curriculum planning is a unique process depending on what individual schools

need.

Jayhawkville is in need of a clear and transparent curriculum planning

process as well as new standards to ensure learning is successfully happening at

all levels across all schools. Right now, the schools in Jayhawkville are working as

individual entities rather than a cooperative school district. Most of the

structures and people are in place in order for the process to be properly

implemented, but some additional committees will need to be developed in

order for this to happen. Jawyhawkville is a large school district with 16

Elementary Schools, 7 Middle Schools, 4 High Schools, and 3 Alternative Schools.

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Since the school district is sizeable and the schools are spread out over four

zones, committees and structures need to be in place so that the same

information about what teachers are supposed to be implementing and allow

teachers to work together to give their expertise in the planning process. Susan

Holtz stated, “The success of any organization is contingent upon clear,

commonly defined goals. A well-articulated focus unleashes individual and

collective energy. And common focus clarifies understanding, accelerates

communication, and promotes persistence and collective purpose” (Marzano and

Schmoker, 1999). Not all of the schools in Jayhawkville are proficient or high

performing the district should want all of the schools to provide equal

opportunities for all students. Presently, all Jayhawkville schools have their own

mission statements rather than having one common goal for all of the students in

the district. It is key that the district works together to form common goals and

work together to move forward in order to ensure success for all parties

involved, especially our students. Students should have access to the best

curriculum and have more choices as they get older. As of right now, there is no

structure in place to fix this issue and in order to move forward successfully

committees must be developed to properly follow a curriculum planning process

so that we can provide all of our students, K-12, students in special education or

English as an additional language programs, the best education.

The Common Core State Standards will help the school district work

together towards a common goal for all of our students. “These learning goals

outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade.

The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high

school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and
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life, regardless of where they live” (Common Core State Standards Initiative).

There should be a need for all of the schools to be proficient and work toward

the common goal that all of students will be ready for the next chapter of their

lives after school. The Common Core State Standards provide the right tools to

get students where they need to be. Since some of the schools are not proficient,

it provides the problem that not all of the schools are aligned with one another.

Vertical alignment from bottom to top is crucial for student success. “When

vertical teams are most successful, the curricular changes they initiate create

support structures that make high achievement a reality for more students

because they institutionalize a continuum of knowledge and skills that build

from grade to grade” (Schlosser 2015). Vertical alignment is an essential part of

the process in order to make sure teachers have clearly communicated with one

another what they are teaching to ensure students will be successful and not

learning the same topics throughout the different grade levels. Having a clear set

of standards allows teachers in special education to know expectations for each

level and make modifications to these standards to best fit the needs of their

individual students. Adopting the Common Core State Standards would ensure

that the schools in the district are aligned and using an effective curriculum plan

that will also guarantee a better outcome for our students.

The curriculum planning process will be complex but with the right

members and structure, the process will work to make curriculum planning clear

and coherent so that all students will benefit. All members of the school

community will be involved with the process but each groups’ role will be unique

to the process. Each subject area will have its own committee with a group of

expert teachers and a mix of building administrators or leaders. For example, the
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Language Arts committee will be made up of a mix of teachers from grades Pre-K

to 12th grade with the reading specialist as the subject area leader and an

administrator as well. Each subject has a leader and that leader will meet with

the curriculum director to receive crucial information in order to know what

needs to be accomplished in these meetings. Leaders in schools, such as

principals, superintendents, and curriculum directors play a large role in the

curriculum planning process. These leaders or administrators need to monitor

instruction with walk-throughs and supervisory techniques (Reeves, 2009,

p.119). “But administrators can walk marathons through the hallways and

classrooms of a school and accomplish nothing if they do not begin with a clear

and consistent idea of what effective instruction looks like and have the ability to

communicate the elements of effective instruction in clear and unmistakable

terms” (Reeves, 2009, p.119). School leaders are the people that start the

conversation about any changes with curriculum and have the most power over

what is best for the school overall. But in order for them to be successful, school

leaders must work with their teachers to make these changes happen. The role of

the teachers is also crucial to the curriculum plan. Teachers are in the classrooms

and are working with various techniques and materials, in order for the students

to reach their full potentials. “Leaders and teachers must collaborate to find the

golden mean between instruction that is compliant but devoid of joy and

classroom practices that are fun but unsupported by research” (Reeves, 2009, p.

121). Students also play a role in the curriculum planning process because they

are the center of all of the decisions that school stakeholders make. Students are

the most important in the plan because they are receiving the education

provided by the school and all decisions are made with their best interest in
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mind. The parents’ role is supporting both their children in school and also

supporting the school itself and the decisions that the leaders and teachers make.

Community members also have a role in curriculum planning. The community

provides opportunities for students outside of the classroom and within the

community through extracurricular arts, STEM, civic, cultural or athletic

programs, service learning, apprenticeships, mentoring, and much more (Van

Roekel, 2008).

The most effective way to implement a new curriculum plan is to use a

research based design model that provides our district the structure necessary

to make decisions and provide our stakeholders with the information needed in

order to be successful. In this case, the curriculum plan will be modeled from the

ADDIE five-year design model of analysis, design, development, implementation,

and evaluation. It will be used to structure our conversations and decision-

making (Branch, 2009). The model is a five-year cycle that allows the district to

make decisions and move forward in implementing the new curriculum. Each

subject area will go through the cycle but at alternating start times in order to

focus on at least two or three at a time. It also prevents an overhaul of changes to

happen in the school district which could be confusing. At the end of the five

years, it will circle back to the beginning in order to start making improvements

and other necessary changes. New goals will then be set and the process will

start again. The first year is the visioning year. This is when the Language Arts

committee will review and revise the program philosophy to match the

Jayhawkville School District’s mission statement. The committee will agree on

PreK-12 standards, this case Common Core State Standards, and agree on

vertical alignment of these standards. Essential questions and enduring

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understandings will also be established. The committee will collect resources for

review and evaluation and make purchases of materials for the next school year.

The second year is for unit writing or revision year and also grade or course level

assessment writing. Differentiated strategies will be developed as well as

horizontal alignment. If professional development is needed then a plan will be

made in order to provide this for specific teachers. The committee will also agree

on common assessments, rubrics, or continuums as needed. Year three is an

implementing year in which the committee continues to revise unit maps, agree

on anchor work samples, design and implement formative and summative

assessments, and continue to brainstorm learning activities and strategies. The

fourth year begins the process of evaluating and modifying. The committee will

evaluate and assess IEP interventions, modifications, and enrichment for all

students as well as continuing to review and revise the unit level maps. The fifth

year continues the process of evaluating and modifying but the committee also

starts researching. In addition to review and revising unit level maps and

ensuring assessments and interventions are appropriate for all students, the

committee will research best practice and changes in the area of Language Arts.

With the new information acquired in the fifth year, the committee starts the

process again at year one using the information researched and the data from

the students in the previous years.

Many products will come out of the planning process that will be used to

communicate plans and also to communicate to teachers and other stakeholders

what needs to be implemented in order for this process to be successful. A

curriculum framework is the first product that the committee will complete. The

framework guides teachers on how to implement the content standards. It is an

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organized plan with standards and learning outcomes that defines the content

that will be learned. The framework bridges the gap between the standards and

teaching and learning. Curriculum maps will be created in order for teachers and

administrators to have clear expectations and knowledge of who is teaching

what and when. Curriculum maps in this case are the same as the unit level maps

discussed in the timeline. The classroom teachers will create the maps because

“The only professional person who knows what is taught in the classroom is the

teacher” (Jacobs, 1997). “The purpose is to collect authentic data about the

classroom and genuine information about what students actually experience—

not what others think they are supposed to be studying” (Jacobs, 1997).

Collecting this information through curriculum maps from the classroom

teachers is very important for alignment, to make edits for the following year,

and to reflect on what was done. “Teachers should look for repetitions, gaps,

meaningful assessments, matches with standards, potential areas for integration,

and timeliness” (Jacobs, 1997). Curriculum maps are an excellent source of data

collection from our teachers in order for the committee to make decisions to

enhance student learning. Another important product of this process is common

assessments. Assessment plays a large role in curriculum planning because it

gives a lot of information about both teaching and learning. “Common

assessments are used in a school or district to ensure that all teachers are

evaluating student performance in a more consistent, reliable, and effective

manner” (Hidden Curriculum, 2014). If part of the goal of curriculum planning is

to work together to align our schools, then common assessments play a big role

in this goal. These assessments encourage consistency in teaching and

assessment with teachers that teach the same content, whether it is in the same
Curriculum Plan for Jayhawkville 9

grade level, department, or content area (Hidden Curriculum, 2014). With these

assessments, teachers are able to compare results with other teachers. Common

assessments can be either formative or summative assessments (Hidden

Curriculum, 2014). Curriculum frameworks, curriculum maps, and common

assessments are the most important products that will be developed throughout

the curriculum planning process.

In order to keep the curriculum plan moving forward, professional

development and data collection are imperative to the ongoing curriculum

process. It is necessary to prepare teachers to implement the Common Core State

Standards as the new adopted curriculum and professional development will be

key in making sure teachers are ready. Even with a well thought out curriculum

plan, without proper training for teachers, Jayhawkville School District will not

be prepared for the change. Teachers must be informed and able to grow

professionally in order to make the necessary changes. Jayhawkville School

District needs to be creative when finding ways to provide meaningful

professional development to the staff. School leaders need to provide highly

engaging methods to make sure staff understands the Common Core State

Standards. Jayhawkville will provide this development through school day

professional development where an expert will come in to breakdown the

knowledge and skills needed to understand and implement the new standards.

Professional learning communities should be well planned out for the entire

school year to make sure that the work is moving toward with guidance (Clifton,

2013). Peer observations should be used for teachers to learn from one another

and see their peers in action. Coaching is another form of professional

development that provides teachers with an expert to go to within the school

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(Clifton, 2013). They will be able to provide high quality professional

development. Professional development is imperative to the success of adopting

the new standards and all of the options provided should be used in order to

ensure teachers are prepared and well trained.

Data collection is critical when improving the new adopted curriculum

because it makes teachers accountable and shows educators whether or not the

adopted curriculum is successful in the Jayhawkville School District. Teachers

will collect both formative and summative assessments for each subject area in

order to review student learning and the effectiveness of the new Common Core

State Standards. The subject area committee members will look at the data

provided from the classroom teachers as well as any standardized testing scores.

All of the data together should give a clear picture as to what learning looks like

in the Jayhawkville School District. The subject area leaders will compile all of

the data provided and share it with the curriculum director and later the entire

leadership team. It will be used to improve curriculum and instruction because it

will open a conversation with all the stakeholders about what is working and

what needs to be changed. Since this is done from bottom to top, all stakeholders

are able to reflect on the process of teaching and learning.

In conclusion, in order for this curriculum plan process to be successful

clear communication, collaboration, and open mindedness are imperative. All

stakeholders must be open to new ideas, be able to clearly communicate their

thoughts and be able to collaborate with a variety of people in order to

successfully adopt and implement a high-quality, standards-based curriculum.

Since this process is so complex and has many steps to it, patience and

willingness to take the process one step at a time will make a difference to the
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school district. This is not a process that happens in a short time, but one that

needs extra time in order to implement it properly involving as many

stakeholders as possible to make the entire school and community accountable

for its success. Jayhawkville School District schools should all be proficient after

going through this curriculum planning process and implementing the Common

Core State Standards.

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References

Branch R. M. (2009). Instructional design: The ADDIE approach (Vol. 722).

Springer Science & Business Media

Clifton, N. (Producer). 2013. Shifting from the Elephant in the Room to Ownership of
the Common Core State Standards: A Capacity-Building Implementation
Plan.

Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2017). What Parents Should Know.
Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/what-parents-should-know/

Glatthorn, A., Boschee, F., Whitehead, B., & Boschee, B. (2015). Curriculum
Leadership: Strategies for Development and Implementation. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education
reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum

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

Reeves, D. B. (2009). Leading change in your school: how to conquer myths, build
commitment, and get results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development.

Schloss, L. (2015, April). Transistion by Design: The Power of Vertical Teams.

AMLE Magazine.

Schmoker M. & Marzano R.J. (1999). Reading the Promise of Standards-Based

education. Educational Leadership. 56{[6]. 17-21. Retrieved from

Van Roekel, N. P. D. (2008). Parent, family, community involvement in education.

Policy Brief. Washington, DC: National Education Association.