EQUIP

Standards Based Reform of Curriculum

The first step in Instructional Design is to translate state content standards into academic learning tasks to be completed by each student in every subject, K-12. Each ‘task’ involves one or more of the state content standards and is expressed as a Performance Indicator - - shortened by users as ‘PIs.’ Each ‘PI’ wraps together several academic skills and concepts into holistic applications of curriculum that parallel life experiences.

Unlike conventional objectives or a list of skills, Performance Indicators require students to use higher-level thinking to solve problems and to construct meaning for themselves. PIs are written at three levels of difficulty:

Level I - - knowledge-level or basic information;
Level II - - making inferences, generalizations, applications, and extensions of ideas, concepts, and skills used in class; and
Level III - - applying skills and concepts to solve new problems and construct new ‘products’ apart from those used in class. It typically requires 6 – 8 days ( or 36-48 clock hours ) to develop a set of K-12 Performance Indicators for one subject.

Because they represent the district’s compliance with the state standards, the PIs are used to monitor each student’s classroom performance. The Board of Education adopts the PIs as the official learning targets of the district, and they thus become the centerpiece of the district’s instructional program. As such, they determine the purchase of textbooks, the criteria for letter grades, the professional development of staff members, and what is reported to parents and other stakeholders. Collectively, the level of student mastery of the Performance Indicators for each subject indicates the quality of the school — its curriculum, the teaching that occurs in its classrooms, and the infrastructure to sustain a viable instructional program.

Continue to Step 2 - Curriculum Mapping

Using the Performance Indicators, teachers then develop Curriculum Maps — or year-long ‘academic trip-tiks.’ Although the precise format is customized to meet the unique needs of each district, the Maps typically contain the following elements:

the core content (topics, ideas, genres, media) that will be used to provide instruction for the Performance Indicators (clustered into appropriate ‘units’ for instruction)
general timeframes for each ‘cluster’ or ‘unit’
lead-up or enabling skills (that are requisite to mastery of the PIs)
process skills that describe the thinking students will do in mastering the PIs
technology applications
cross-content integration (where appropriate)
major assessments or products

The ERA staff reviews the Curriculum Maps developed by teachers and provides feedback to the developers(s); the Maps are produced for a client district and provided them on disks to expedite the revision process. Many Performance Indicators are taught more than once to provide students with multiple opportunities for mastery.

Some districts use the Performance Indicator teams to devise core grade level or course Maps for other teachers to adapt. Other clients prefer to train all teachers in a department to devise Maps for themselves. The training for Curriculum Mapping involves three days, and it typically takes 12 – 15 clock hours in addition to the training to actually complete each Map. By working in collaboration, Mapping teams complete the core Maps in less time. Districts must plan for ways to provide this time.

http://effectiveresources.org/Curriculum-Mapping/


Unit Planning

Using the Curriculum Maps, teachers develop Unit Plans — based on the experiential learning model and incorporating the “best practices” research — to deliver and assess classroom instruction.

The Unit Plan format is a simple two-page protocol that identifies

(1) the cluster of Performance Indicators comprising the unit (taken from the Curriculum Map); (2) motivation activities that draw students into the Unit, determine what they already know, make clear what they are expected to accomplish by the end of the Unit; and help each set personal learning goals;
(3) information activities through which students acquire the new knowledge and skills needed to master Performance Indicators for the Unit, including key vocabulary and content details; delivery strategies that are most likely to help students internalize the content; and the use of guided practice to reinforce concepts and skills, including the appropriate role of homework;
(4) assessment activities that measure student mastery using more traditional forms such as paper-pencil tests and quizzes; and
(5) culmination activities that require students to complete performance (or authentic) assessments which approximate real-life problem-solving or the construction of original products.

Each Unit Plan also includes facilitation strategies to increase student engagement, including reinforcement and recognition to validate accomplishments and encourage continued effort; variety in grouping patterns to increase students’ positive interdependence and to provide opportunity for the collaborative construction of new meaning; and the provision of continuous and substantive feedback to encourage self-monitoring.

Throughout their Unit Plans, teachers will also include learning constructs or ‘scaffolding’ shown in the research to increase student achievement; these include similarities and differences, various levels of questions, visual or graphic organizers, summarization and note-taking, the analysis of organizational patterns found in print materials; and varied levels of mental processing, such as is found in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

As teachers submit their Unit Plans, they receive constructive feedback by the ERA consultants. Once each Unit Plan is completed, it is input by the ERA staff. As with the Curriculum Maps, the Unit disks are returned to the client to expedite editing.
Some clients use the Performance Indicator teams to devise core grade level or course Unit Plans for other teachers to adapt. Other clients prefer to train all teachers in a department to devise Unit Plans for themselves, dividing the tasks among the teachers at that grade level or for that subject.

The training for Unit Planning involves 45 – 50 clock hours ( or 8 – 10 full days), typically begun with a 3- or 4-day series in August and completed in monthly after-school workshops during the course of the school year.

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 9:09 PM