Creating Standards-Based Integrated Curriculum


Book Description

"The content is powerful. Seeing examples from all grade levels is important so that each reader, regardless of teaching level, can see that it can be done in his or her situation." a?Sue DeLay, Curriculum Resource Teacher, Oak Creek Franklin School District, WI "Contains real-life examples of integration, including examples of the author's own experience in the classroom, making the work much more appealing and credible for teachers." a?Mary Ann Kahl, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, National-Louis University "This is the first book I have read that lays out a big picture that I can buy into and explains how to look at accountability in a positive way." a?Jane Adair, Resource Specialist, Long Beach Polytechnic High School, CA Help your learners connect big questions to big understandings! In today's accountability-driven environment, educators strive to develop an integrated, relevant, and measurable curriculum while also presenting engaging subject matter that inspires student learning. In this completely revised edition of the classic text, Susan M. Drake provides a new approach to standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment that helps educators identify what students must know, do, and be. This invaluable resource also offers: A framework allowing for multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches to curriculum integration Sample models of integrated curriculum in action Practical suggestions to simplify curriculum alignment and integration Insights based on real classroom experience to connect the framework to the real world End-of-chapter discussion questions and suggested activities Discover how you can create an integrated, standards-based curriculum that inspires your students, and then watch them thrive.




Aligning and Balancing the Standards-Based Curriculum


Book Description

What the experts say about how the Balanced Curriculum process can tip the scales in favor of your students! "The work that Dr. Squires has done in moving the curriculum development process onto the Web has removed some of the tedium involved in crafting curriculum, making it ′user friendly′ and open to the kinds of ongoing changes that make the promise of continual renewal of curriculum a reality." From the Foreword by Fenwick W. English --R. Wendell Eaves Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "A coherent approach to curriculum, instruction, and assessment in the age of standards-driven education.... It will be an excellent contribution." --H. Lynn Erickson Author, Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction "I′m happy with the Balanced Curriculum process, my Board is happy, and my students are benefiting by it." --Philomena T. Pezzano, District Superintendent Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Public Schools "The book builds a bridge of confidence that will convince readers of both the ideas and of their own ability to succeed." --David W. Champagne, Professor Emeritus University of Pittsburgh "A wonderful and thorough explanation of the Balanced Curriculum." --Michelle Barnea, Educational Consultant Milburn, New Jersey Aligning and Balancing the Standards-Based Curriculum highlights the research, theory, method, practice, and implementation guidelines from a successful 15-year track record of schools already using the BalancedCurriculum.com Web site and its curriculum balancing process. Benefit from the invaluable insights, experience, and expertise of author David A. Squires, as he outlines curriculum innovations that include: Web-based solutions to simplify curriculum development and writing Professional development opportunities designed to achieve school and districtwide consensus on curriculum development Practical methods for ensuring that the curriculum is consistently reviewed, evaluated, enhanced, aligned, and rebalanced Full of field-tested practices, clear-sighted diagrams, sample lessons, assessments, and case studies, this comprehensive handbook shows how schools and districts all across the nation can use the Balanced Curriculum process to put their schools on the track to success.




Educating One and All


Book Description

In the movement toward standards-based education, an important question stands out: How will this reform affect the 10% of school-aged children who have disabilities and thus qualify for special education? In Educating One and All, an expert committee addresses how to reconcile common learning for all students with individualized education for "one"â€"the unique student. The book makes recommendations to states and communities that have adopted standards-based reform and that seek policies and practices to make reform consistent with the requirements of special education. The committee explores the ideas, implementation issues, and legislative initiatives behind the tradition of special education for people with disabilities. It investigates the policy and practice implications of the current reform movement toward high educational standards for all students. Educating One and All examines the curricula and expected outcomes of standards-based education and the educational experience of students with disabilitiesâ€"and identifies points of alignment between the two areas. The volume documents the diverse population of students with disabilities and their school experiences. Because approaches to assessment and accountability are key to standards-based reforms, the committee analyzes how assessment systems currently address students with disabilities, including testing accommodations. The book addresses legal and resource implications, as well as parental participation in children's education.




Aligning Your Curriculum to the Common Core State Standards


Book Description

Avoid "analysis paralysis" and just get started! Now that most states have adopted the new Common Core State Standards, the next major challenge is to simplify and implement them by 2014. That is why it is important to begin this work now. Joe Crawford, Milken Award-winning educator and author of Using Power Standards to Build an Aligned Curriculum, shares his proven process for building a viable local curriculum based on the CCSS. Readers will find: A system for creating local standards from the CCSS Methods for connecting the common, formative assessments to quarterly instructional objectives Ways to scaffold learning expectations Examples taken from districts where CCSS is currently implemented Included are helpful charts and graphs plus access to Internet-based software for mapping the CCSS to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Schools cannot continue to do what they have always done and expect a different result. This book explains how to facilitate learning for all students while taking advantage of the new culture, technology, and norms of today′s learning environment.




Mapping Comprehensive Units to the ELA Common Core Standards, K–5


Book Description

A GPS for connecting standards to lessons Translating the Common Core State Standards into an effective curriculum is at the top of many educators’ to-do list, and this book shows you how. This text familiarizes teachers and curriculum designers with the key points of the ELA core standards and demonstrates how to design effective curriculum units to align with them. The author provides practical and accessible tools for developing a map and for making the important connections among all unit map components, including differentiated instruction. Also included are: A rationale for each of the ELA common core standards An overview of the key benefits Reproducible templates and examples of unit curriculum maps




Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!


Book Description

Started by Dr. Seuss, finished by Jack Prelutsky, and illustrated by Lane Smith, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! is a joyous ode to individuality starring unsinkable teacher Miss Bonkers and the quirky Diffendoofer School (which must prove it has taught its students how to think--or have them sent to dreary Flobbertown). Included is an introduction by Dr. Seuss's longtime editor explaining how the book came to be and reproductions of Dr. Seuss's original pencil sketches and hand-printed notes for the book—a true find for all Seuss collectors! Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith pay homage to the Good Doctor in their own distinctive ways, the result of which is the union of three one-of-a-kind voices in a brand-new, completely original book that is greater than the sum of its parts. For all of us who will never forget our school days and that special teacher, here is a book to give and to get.




Visible Learning for Mathematics, Grades K-12


Book Description

Selected as the Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics winter book club book! Rich tasks, collaborative work, number talks, problem-based learning, direct instruction...with so many possible approaches, how do we know which ones work the best? In Visible Learning for Mathematics, six acclaimed educators assert it’s not about which one—it’s about when—and show you how to design high-impact instruction so all students demonstrate more than a year’s worth of mathematics learning for a year spent in school. That’s a high bar, but with the amazing K-12 framework here, you choose the right approach at the right time, depending upon where learners are within three phases of learning: surface, deep, and transfer. This results in "visible" learning because the effect is tangible. The framework is forged out of current research in mathematics combined with John Hattie’s synthesis of more than 15 years of education research involving 300 million students. Chapter by chapter, and equipped with video clips, planning tools, rubrics, and templates, you get the inside track on which instructional strategies to use at each phase of the learning cycle: Surface learning phase: When—through carefully constructed experiences—students explore new concepts and make connections to procedural skills and vocabulary that give shape to developing conceptual understandings. Deep learning phase: When—through the solving of rich high-cognitive tasks and rigorous discussion—students make connections among conceptual ideas, form mathematical generalizations, and apply and practice procedural skills with fluency. Transfer phase: When students can independently think through more complex mathematics, and can plan, investigate, and elaborate as they apply what they know to new mathematical situations. To equip students for higher-level mathematics learning, we have to be clear about where students are, where they need to go, and what it looks like when they get there. Visible Learning for Math brings about powerful, precision teaching for K-12 through intentionally designed guided, collaborative, and independent learning.




The Principal as Curriculum Leader


Book Description

Your best resource for curriculum leadership post-NCLB and beyond! Put quality curriculum front and center with this classic toolkit to savvy curriculum leadership for the 21st Century. Newly revised and updated case studies, research, and state and national curriculum and leadership standards complement a completely new section focused on emerging technologies. New features include up-to-date information on: Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, ESSA, CCSS and more District-level curriculum mapping, planning, and integration Facilitating professional growth, learning-centered scheduling, and leadership time management State curriculum frameworks, online assessments, SBAC, PARCC, and adaptive testing Learn what it really takes to structure, align, integrate and evaluate quality curriculum in the post-NCLB, ESSA and Common Core era. This nuts and bolts guide will help you navigate the new curriculum landscape with ease! "As principals, we so often get caught up in the day-to-day management of our schools. We must quit putting out fires and instead focus our attention on leading, specifically as curriculum leaders. The Principal as Curriculum Leader provides a clear framework with a plan of action to put you and your school on a path to student success." —Stephen Baker, Principal Smithfield-Selma High School, NC "The Principal as Curriculum Leader is a blueprint for principals to use when implementing curriculum reform. It brings clarity to the many trends, mandates, and guidelines that masquerade as simple solutions to complex issues. This book should be read and owned by every principal and curriculum leader." —Dr. Jerry V. Congleton, Former Superintendent Weldon City Schools




Common Formative Assessments


Book Description

Common formative assessments—the centerpiece of an integrated, standards-based system! Now you have powerful means to closely align curriculum, instruction, and assessment to the standards essential for student success. This timely resource presents the "big picture" of an integrated, standards-based instruction and assessment system, and offers guidelines for: Aligning school-based common formative assessments with district benchmarks and large-scale summative assessments Predicting likely student performance on subsequent assessments in time to make instructional modifications Implementing and sustaining common formative assessments within the school’s or district’s culture




Testing, Teaching, and Learning


Book Description

State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to "level the field" for disadvantaged students. Testing, Teaching, and Learning is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems. This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical "decision framework" for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement. Testing, Teaching, and Learning will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged studentsâ€"state and local administrators and classroom teachers.