Curriculum
Curriculum Coordinating Council
The Curriculum Coordinating Council is responsible for district-wide coordination of curriculum and implementation. The Council includes school administrators, department chairs, faculty, and a representative from the Board of Education Curriculum Committee. This Council works with the Assistant Superintendent to ensure that there are opportunities for integration of curriculum across subject areas and that the district has a long range and systemic plan for curriculum renewal. The Council also monitors the development and implementation of the K-12 subject areas' standards across grades and subjects and provides feedback to the Assistant Superintendent regarding the structures that support curriculum implementation.
Curriculum Vertical Teams:
Curriculum Vertical Teams are K-12 teams designed to accomplish district-wide curriculum coordination and articulation. They are structured to ensure that all schools and key leadership roles are represented and that teachers and administrators alike have a role in making curriculum decisions for their various disciplines. For example, the teams include principals, department chairs, and representatives from each of the district's schools. The teams engage in the following work:
- Analysis of issues in curriculum implementation: the teams' primary function is to analyze the effectiveness of the implementation of standards-based curriculum. The teams identify key issues and needs across the grade levels. The teams prioritize issues and determine whether action needs to be taken or projects initiated. The teams may recommend that ad hoc committees be established to accomplish particular tasks. The teams engage in problem solving to address critical needs and issues in their disciplines across grade levels and schools. Teams regularly analyze the standards, work on better aligning standards and curriculum, and assess the implementation.
- Ad Hoc committees are established to address the issues, challenges, or needs that were identified by the vertical team. This enables the appropriate and key individuals to be involved. Ad hoc committees may have short agendas, such as developing a particular grade level assessment, or may require longer term action, such as an in-depth analysis of a particular portion of a program. The purpose is to have a clear focus for the committee's work and for the committee to accomplish a specific task. Ad hoc committees also allow for broader teacher participation depending upon the nature of the issue at hand.
Curriculum Vertical Teams also identify and develop long range plans for curriculum implementation. Teams evaluate the standards, examining curriculum alignment issues, balancing of the standards across grades and levels, suggesting revisions to curriculum documents, identifying the need for writing new curriculum, and suggesting needed professional development. It is a cyclical process and as such, curriculum implementation must be constantly monitored and evaluated to ensure appropriate alignment and balance of the curriculum standards. These long range plans provide the template for continued re-visitation of the strength of the standards themselves. The teams monitor the status of the curriculum design and development and consider action steps to better strengthen the standards.
