Cherry Hill Essential Curriculum It was not too long ago when every teacher kept a copy of the district curriculum on the bookshelf of his/her classroom. Often based on a textbook or basal reader, this curriculum outlined the specific scope and sequence as well as the materials to be used. District committees spent long hours creating “the curriculum,” and it was expected that teachers would ensure that it was “covered.” These documents were very good at telling teachers what to teach, but they lacked the specifics on what children were supposed to learn. Today, teachers in schools across this country are involved in backwards unit design, as they strive to reach deeper levels of understanding with children and help them make interdisciplinary and real life connections. Teachers working at the district level have created the standards and benchmarks for what all students need to know and be able to do, but more and more, the meaningful curriculum work is happening at the building level. As we continue to work on the Cherry Hill Essential Curriculum, we recognize that teachers and administrators are looking for curriculum guidance from the district committees. And while it might be easy to just hand out a structured scope and sequence, we know that teachers need more flexibility as they work to ensure each child meets all of the standards. We know that teachers and administrators working closely with essential questions and curriculum will lead to better learning experiences. Teachers will design units that take the skills and content outlined in the benchmarks into greater depth. It is important as a district that all our teachers and administrators become skilled with curriculum, performance assessments, unit design, and mapping. As educational leaders, it is important that we build the capacity in teachers for creating deep, meaningful curriculum. Teachers need to know how to design curriculum and assessment so that they can make thoughtful responses to the diagnostic information that they glean from assessment data. As they become more skillful in designing curriculum, instruction and assessments, they will also be able to plan successfully for different performance capabilities in their students. Standards and Benchmarks The standards and benchmarks for the Cherry Hill Essential Curriculum are created at the district level, and they outline specifically what students should know and be able to do. All curriculum documents will cross reference the life skills standards so that we can also define who we want our students to be. Created from state, national, and international documents, the Cherry Hill standards are broad statements of the rigorous expectations we have for each and every child. In order to judge progress toward these standards, benchmarks describe the specific content and skills students need to master at each grade level in order to meet each standard. Teachers and administrators should spend significant time analyzing these benchmarks, and they should serve as the basis for evaluating student progress. Unit Design In order to help students meet the standards and benchmarks, teachers design units of study to create deep and meaningful learning experiences that require students to be able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the work in which they are engaged. The units consist of essential questions that determine the critical focus for learning, the content and skills to be learned, the assessments that will determine if students are meeting benchmarks and reaching deeper levels of thinking, and the learning activities that will support
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Cherry Hill Essential Curriculum It was not too long ago when every teacher kept a copy of the district curriculum on the bookshelf of his/her classroom. Often based on a textbook or basal reader, this curriculum outlined the specific scope and sequence as well as the materials to be used. District committees spent long hours creating “the curriculum,” and it was expected that teachers would ensure that it was “covered.” These documents were very good at telling teachers what to teach, but they lacked the specifics on what children were supposed to learn. Today, teachers in schools across this country are involved in backwards unit design, as they strive to reach deeper levels of understanding with children and help them make interdisciplinary and real life connections. Teachers working at the district level have created the standards and benchmarks for what all students need to know and be able to do, but more and more, the meaningful curriculum work is happening at the building level. As we continue to work on the Cherry Hill Essential Curriculum, we recognize that teachers and administrators are looking for curriculum guidance from the district committees. And while it might be easy to just hand out a structured scope and sequence, we know that teachers need more flexibility as they work to ensure each child meets all of the standards. We know that teachers and administrators working closely with essential questions and curriculum will lead to better learning experiences. Teachers will design units that take the skills and content outlined in the benchmarks into greater depth. It is important as a district that all our teachers and administrators become skilled with curriculum, performance assessments, unit design, and mapping. As educational leaders, it is important that we build the capacity in teachers for creating deep, meaningful curriculum. Teachers need to know how to design curriculum and assessment so that they can make thoughtful responses to the diagnostic information that they glean from assessment data. As they become more skillful in designing curriculum, instruction and assessments, they will also be able to plan successfully for different performance capabilities in their students. Standards and Benchmarks The standards and benchmarks for the Cherry Hill Essential Curriculum are created at the district level, and they outline specifically what students should know and be able to do. All curriculum documents will cross reference the life skills standards so that we can also define who we want our students to be. Created from state, national, and international documents, the Cherry Hill standards are broad statements of the rigorous expectations we have for each and every child. In order to judge progress toward these standards, benchmarks describe the specific content and skills students need to master at each grade level in order to meet each standard. Teachers and administrators should spend significant time analyzing these benchmarks, and they should serve as the basis for evaluating student progress. Unit Design In order to help students meet the standards and benchmarks, teachers design units of study to create deep and meaningful learning experiences that require students to be able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the work in which they are engaged. The units consist of essential questions that determine the critical focus for learning, the content and skills to be learned, the assessments that will determine if students are meeting benchmarks and reaching deeper levels of thinking, and the learning activities that will support
students in their progress. Units can be created by individual teachers, teams of teachers in the same building, or by teachers across buildings. Once a teacher or group of teachers revises the unit based on critical feedback, the unit is entered into a database to be shared with colleagues. Curriculum Maps Curriculum mapping serves as a tool for teachers to flesh out the curriculum into a scope and sequence based on the needs of the students the teacher is working with for that school year. Maps will include essential questions as well as the content and skills to focus on for each period of time (e.g., month, marking period). Curriculum maps help teachers plan out the year’s instruction so that students can meet the standards through a series of units that offer students deep learning experiences. Sample or “mentor” maps will be available as guidance for teachers. Although the sample or mentor map provides a rich example of how one teacher organizes scope and sequence, it should serve only as an example. The most significant part of mapping is making certain that the teacher maps the curriculum in relation to assessment data about the students in his or her classroom. Data Because of the many sources of data, it is important for each building as well as the district to create systems for collecting, analyzing, and using data to inform decision making with instructional and programmatic issues. Teachers need to examine student work and assessment data to make appropriate adjustments in their units and lessons. In addition, buildings need to provide a system of feedback on the quality of units for teachers. As teachers begin to revise their work, we will create a district wide database of quality units that will create a meaningful curriculum. Together, we will establish criteria that will help us to judge the quality of the units.
The Unit as the Center of Meaningful Curriculum and Professional Development Whenever teachers create curriculum at the district level on a committee or at the building level through the development of units, they undoubtedly grow as a learner. The following elements of curriculum design will examine the opportunities for professional growth as teachers work collaboratively to create curriculum. Standards and Benchmarks One of the most powerful methods of professional development is curriculum writing. In order to decide what is most important for students to know and be able to do, teachers need to familiarize themselves with the latest research in the field. Through the examination of international, national, and state documents, teachers become immersed in the subject matter and work to decide what is appropriate for the students of Cherry Hill in order to provide each of them with a preeminent education. This conversation with other educators broadens their minds to other ways of thinking, and as they create documents for all teachers to use, they must strive for both quality and clarity. Analysis of standards and benchmarks should not be limited to district curriculum committees. It is important for teachers and administrators to examine standards documents on a regular basis. It is simply not sufficient to create learning experiences and then “align” them to a benchmark or standard that intuitively matches. Instead, it is through critical discussion of what is required of students by the standards and benchmarks that teachers are prepared to create effective units of study. A discussion of one standard or even a few benchmarks can lead to an effective learning experience for educators, but any
professional development experience should center on standards and benchmarks. For example, when teachers were trained in the elements of genre study, each teacher brought the essential curriculum which they referred to frequently in order to maintain consistent focus on student learning. Too often, we pay lip service to the standards and benchmarks by jotting them down haphazardly on lesson plans or hanging them on walls as meaningless decorations. Our standards documents should be a consistent companion as we learn and grow together as educators. If standards are not significantly impacting our practice, then we have not become a standards based school district. Examining these documents closely is critical to professional growth and effective curriculum development. Essential Questions Strong essential questions bring focus and strength to a unit of study. Unlike our usual concern with the breadth of content, essential questions allow learners to focus on deep and significant issues. When teachers work collaboratively to create essential questions for a unit of study, they actively debate what is important and relevant. Because this thinking is done at the beginning of unit design, essential questions can provide the focus for the assessments and learning experiences. Some models of curriculum argue that essential questions should be created by district level committees. We feel that when teachers create essential questions for their units, we allow teachers the important conversation about what is truly essential. The outcomes remain consistent because of the benchmarks, but teachers can tailor units to the interests and abilities of their students. Essential questions and the units they guide will be revised when we examine student work, analyze assessment data, and review units district wide. With a little training, teachers can easily learn to write good questions for educational study. It is an important professional development exercise to look carefully at the quality of essential questions to see if they achieve the depth we wish for our students. When teachers analyze student work, they should ask if this work rigorously grapples with the essential questions. One of the strengths of essential questions is that they can bring together many disciplines of study into one focused unit. An important pitfall to avoid is that sometimes essential questions can drift too far from what we really want students to learn. When we write questions that focus on the ideas an author presents in a novel, for example, it is critical to remember that as teachers of literature, we need to focus on the author’s crafting techniques that made this rich discussion possible. In other words, in our attempt to reach deeper understanding, we need to remember the major tenets of the disciplines. In this context, we have looked at essential questions as a focus for a unit of study, but certainly teachers and students have found many uses for essential questions. They can also bring focus to a particular lesson or discussion, and students can learn to use essential questions to focus their own inquiry projects. Our ultimate aim is that by providing rich models of high quality questions, students will learn how to ask high quality questions themselves. Assessments One of the areas of greatest divergence that backwards unit design has from traditional planning is with assessment. By thinking of assessments based on what it is the benchmarks suggest students should know and be able to do, teachers determine what constitutes effective evidence that students have met the benchmarks and answered the essential questions of the unit. Teachers can then make the goals transparent to the learner and design learning activities to support students as they work toward these goals. “Teaching to the test” can now connote a very deep and meaningful learning experience.
Along the way, teachers may have several, formative assessments to evaluate student progress. The results of these assessments should inform instruction. That is, the teacher should learn as much as the students do from formative assessments. Teachers may need to re-teach certain concepts and offer supports to prepare students for the summative assessment at the end of the unit. In the cases of both formative and summative assessments, a teacher should collect data and analyze it in order to improve instruction. When planning a unit of study, it is important for teachers to consider approaches for students who master the material more quickly than expected and for students who may need multiple opportunities to re-learn material. It is our responsibility as educators to thoroughly challenge and support each child. The opportunities for professional development with areas of assessment seem endless. Certainly, the creation of effective assessments, whether they be traditional or performance based, is challenging and requires both training and time for reflection. Educators need to think deeply about the purpose of assessment. Teachers also need professional development in terms of collecting, analyzing, and using assessment data. Some of the most powerful learning experiences occur when adults collectively analyze student work. Did students reach the levels of learning we had in mind when we designed the unit? Another area of assessment that requires extensive professional development is with rubrics. Even teachers that are masters at creating clear expectations through rubrics need to revisit and revise them when they complete a unit. Rubrics, like units, are always a work in progress. Student input into the creation and revision of units can be another positive learning experience. Once seen as solely a measure of student learning, assessments have become a powerful force for teachers to alter their practice in order to enhance student achievement. The power of backward unit design will not be fully realized unless teachers think deeply about assessments during the planning stage rather than at the end of a unit. Ultimately, the goal is for students to participate in the evaluation process: becoming aware of his or her progress, knowing what helps them learn best, and becoming increasingly more accurate in self-evaluation.
A New Responsibility for All The more we know about effective teaching and learning, the more difficult the challenge seems. Because of this, one shot training sessions have lost their relevance in today’s educational world. We need to build the capacity in each other to think critically and deeply about our work with children and with each other. Teachers can no longer just enact curriculum; they need to help create meaningful curriculum and consistently study and reflect on their craft with colleagues. Administrators can no longer just manage buildings; they need to become educational leaders who provide teachers with time and support for valuable curriculum and professional development. Central office can no longer just manage a district; they need to create systems and support structures that empower and build capacity in building level educators. We all have a responsibility to change and grow to meet the constant challenges of our profession. The road to effective unit design is complicated, yet it can provide a focus to our curriculum and professional development. Standards based education forces us to change as educators. We all have a role in this process, and we will need to work collaboratively in order to successfully navigate the barriers and meet our challenges.
Cherry HillCherry HillCurriculum and Professional Curriculum and Professional
DevelopmentDevelopment
“Perfect
Together”
District Created CurriculumDistrict Created Curriculum
•Created at Central Office
•Told teachers “What to Teach”
•Often based on textbook or basal reader
•Structured “Scope & Sequence”
•Teacher’s Job: “Cover!”
Cherry Hill CurriculumCherry Hill Curriculum
Handed DownHanded Down Jointly CreatedJointly Created
RigidRigid FlexibleFlexible
StagnantStagnant LivingLiving
TeachingTeaching LearningLearning
CoverageCoverage DepthDepth
“Scope & Sequence”“Scope & Sequence” “Maps” and “Units”“Maps” and “Units”
C.H. Standards & BenchmarksC.H. Standards & BenchmarksWhat Students Should Know What Students Should Be Able to Do
What Students Should Be
Created from State, National, and Created from State, National, and International DocumentsInternational DocumentsBenchmarks: Specific Content and Skills Benchmarks: Specific Content and Skills for each grade levelfor each grade levelLife Skills Standards are referenced in all Life Skills Standards are referenced in all curriculacurriculaCreated through the lens of a taxonomyCreated through the lens of a taxonomy
Units of StudyUnits of Study
Essential QuestionsEssential QuestionsContent and SkillsContent and SkillsAssessmentsAssessmentsLessonsLessons
Systematic Improvement:Systematic Improvement:Units are ALWAYS a Work in ProgressUnits are ALWAYS a Work in Progress
Sources of Feedback:Sources of Feedback:–– Critical Friends GroupCritical Friends Group–– Critical Review by a colleague or supervisorCritical Review by a colleague or supervisor–– Examination of Student WorkExamination of Student Work–– Examination of Assessment DataExamination of Assessment Data–– Direct Feedback from StudentsDirect Feedback from Students
Collaborative DistrictCollaborative District
District WideReviewsBuilding Goals
ClusterMeetings
Shared DatabaseTechPaths
Walkthrough Participation
Curriculum MapsCurriculum Maps
Tool for teachers Tool for teachers Includes many of the same elements of Includes many of the same elements of the Unit Plan, but is not as specificthe Unit Plan, but is not as specific“Mentor Maps” “Mentor Maps” Changes year to yearChanges year to yearBased on assessment dataBased on assessment data
Data and AssessmentData and AssessmentBuilding LevelBuilding Level
Each building must establish a system for Each building must establish a system for collecting, analyzing, and using datacollecting, analyzing, and using dataEach building must create a system of Each building must create a system of feedback on the quality of Unitsfeedback on the quality of UnitsCollaboratively Examine Student WorkCollaboratively Examine Student WorkCollaboratively Examine Assessment DataCollaboratively Examine Assessment DataImplementation of ChanceryImplementation of ChanceryImplementation of TechPathsImplementation of TechPaths
Data and AssessmentData and AssessmentDistrict LevelDistrict Level
Systematic collection and analysis of data Systematic collection and analysis of data from state and district wide assessmentsfrom state and district wide assessmentsImplementation of ChanceryImplementation of ChanceryImplementation of TechPathsImplementation of TechPathsSet Benchmarks for State AssessmentsSet Benchmarks for State Assessments
District AssessmentsDistrict Assessments(Any test the district mandates)(Any test the district mandates)
Pre/Post Writing, DLA’s, Quarterly Pre/Post Writing, DLA’s, Quarterly Math/LA assessments, Running Math/LA assessments, Running Records, NJPASS, Summative Records, NJPASS, Summative Assessments for Curriculum, etc. Assessments for Curriculum, etc.
Building AssessmentsBuilding Assessments(All other assessments)(All other assessments)
Example: While the district Example: While the district offers summative writing offers summative writing assessments, the building assessments, the building may want to give some may want to give some formative writing formative writing assessments.assessments.
Curriculum and AssessmentCurriculum and AssessmentDistrictDistrict BuildingBuilding
Standards & Standards & BenchmarksBenchmarksMentor MapsMentor MapsSample UnitsSample UnitsState and District State and District AssessmentsAssessmentsCommon RubricsCommon Rubrics
Units of StudyUnits of Study–– Assessments and Assessments and
Year of the Unit: The SequelYear of the Unit: The Sequel
Year of the Unit
Cherry Hill
“I have never seen curriculum and
professional development come
together so beautifully!”
The Unit as the Center for The Unit as the Center for Meaningful Curriculum and Meaningful Curriculum and Professional DevelopmentProfessional Development
Formative and Summative
AssessmentsEssential Questions
Writing andRevising Units
Analyzing DataStandards & Benchmarks
Examining Student Work
Opportunities for Learning:Opportunities for Learning:Standards and BenchmarksStandards and Benchmarks
Curriculum WritingCurriculum Writing–– Close Examination of State, National, and Close Examination of State, National, and
International DocumentsInternational Documents–– Review Current ResearchReview Current Research–– Focus on Higher Order ThinkingFocus on Higher Order Thinking–– Collection/Creation of ResourcesCollection/Creation of Resources–– Focus on quality and clarityFocus on quality and clarity
Opportunities for Learning:Opportunities for Learning:Standards and BenchmarksStandards and Benchmarks
Building Level DiscussionBuilding Level DiscussionExamine standards/benchmarks on a regular basisExamine standards/benchmarks on a regular basisNarrowed discussion of a few benchmarksNarrowed discussion of a few benchmarksUtilize curriculum documents during inUtilize curriculum documents during in--service and service and
observation conferencesobservation conferences
Avoid perfunctory alignment and meaningless Avoid perfunctory alignment and meaningless display! display!
Opportunities for Learning:Opportunities for Learning:Essential QuestionsEssential Questions
Collaborative Creation leads to active Collaborative Creation leads to active debate what is important and relevantdebate what is important and relevant
Good questions lead to strong unitsGood questions lead to strong units
Essential questions should be revised like Essential questions should be revised like any good work in progressany good work in progress
Opportunities for Learning:Opportunities for Learning:Essential QuestionsEssential Questions
Power and Pitfalls:Power and Pitfalls:
Essential Questions can help make Essential Questions can help make meaningful interdisciplinary connectionsmeaningful interdisciplinary connections
Don’t forget the major tenets of the Don’t forget the major tenets of the discipline! discipline!
Essential Questions: Essential Questions: Keep the End in Mind!Keep the End in Mind!
“Our ultimate aim is that by “Our ultimate aim is that by providing rich models of high providing rich models of high quality questions, students will quality questions, students will learn how to ask high quality learn how to ask high quality questions themselves.questions themselves.””
Opportunities for Learning:Opportunities for Learning:AssessmentAssessment
What concepts under the umbrella of assessment would be good topics for professional development?
Key PointsKey Points for Assessmentfor Assessment
Rubrics and Assessments are always Rubrics and Assessments are always works in progressworks in progressAssessments inform ALL learnersAssessments inform ALL learnersWhat do we do with the data?What do we do with the data?Power of Unit design comes from Power of Unit design comes from designing assessment during planning designing assessment during planning stagestage
Assessments: Assessments: Keep the End in Mind!Keep the End in Mind!
Ultimately, the goal is for students to Ultimately, the goal is for students to participate in the evaluation process: participate in the evaluation process: becoming aware of their own becoming aware of their own progressprogressknowing what helps them learn bestknowing what helps them learn bestbecoming increasingly more accurate becoming increasingly more accurate
in selfin self--evaluationevaluation
A New Responsibility For AllA New Responsibility For All
A New Responsibility For AllA New Responsibility For All
Teachers can no longer just enact Teachers can no longer just enact curriculum…curriculum…
Create meaningful curriculumCreate meaningful curriculumConsistently study and reflect on their craftConsistently study and reflect on their craft
A New Responsibility For AllA New Responsibility For All
Administrators can no longer just manage Administrators can no longer just manage buildings…buildings…
Become Educational LeadersBecome Educational LeadersProvide time and support for curriculum Provide time and support for curriculum and professional developmentand professional development
A New Responsibility For AllA New Responsibility For All
Central Office can no longer just manage a Central Office can no longer just manage a district…district…
Create systems and support structures Create systems and support structures that empower and build capacitythat empower and build capacity
Working TogetherWorking Together
We all have a responsibility to change and We all have a responsibility to change and grow to meet the constant challenges of grow to meet the constant challenges of our profession. our profession. We all have a role in this process, and we We all have a role in this process, and we will need to work collaboratively in order to will need to work collaboratively in order to successfully navigate the barriers and successfully navigate the barriers and meet our challenges. meet our challenges.
