Galena City School District - Frontiers of Learning in Alaska






	. Curriculum & Assessment Frequently Asked Qutestions CONTENTS Historical and Theoretical Backgrounds What is Curriculum? Who is responsible for Curriculum? What is the function of a curriculum? What is assessment? What are standards, frameworks, competencies and benchmarks? What is the current climate for curriculum & assessment in Alaska? What is the Galena Plan for Curriculum & Assessment? How will all of this help the children of Galena and those enrolled in Galena's unique programs around Alaska (PECS & IDEA)? Historical and Theoretical Backgrounds The purpose of this paper is to summarize the historical and theoretical backgrounds to curriculum development in general, and in Alaska in particular, and to present the Galena City School District's response to state and federal requirements. The Galena City School District's regular, charter and cyber-school programs are already outstanding and deserve recognition for the breakthrough education they are providing children. Ideally, the completion of a curriculum document and assessment system for each of these three programs will articulate and legitimize these innovative programs in the eyes of the Alaskan educational community. [return to top] What is Curriculum? Curriculum has two generally accepted meanings. The first meaning is very general and encompasses everything the school has to offer children educationally, teachers, textbooks, instructional plans--the whole program. The second definition is more narrow and technical and that is the sense which we will use today: a written document which outlines the instructional objectives and the sequence or order of those objectives which will be taught to children. The curriculum outlines and defines what is taught to children in school, the content of instruction. The curriculum of school is usually divided into subject areas: standard areas for curriculum include Language Arts and Reading, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. Additional areas often developed include Fine Arts, Foreign Languages, Career or Vocational Education, Physical Education, Health, and Technology. School Boards may take a variety of approaches to the power of their curriculum documents. A curriculum may be minimal and required or comprehensive and optional. That is, the curriculum may list a small number of objectives all of which must be taught by teachers, or it may have a very large and comprehensive listing of objectives from which teachers may select those objectives they think most necessary. Furthermore, curriculum might be open-ended or exclusionary (restrictive): that is, curriculum documents might list all the objectives which must be taught but open the way for teachers to teach additional objectives not listed as well, or the curriculum document may be "an all and only list" meaning all of these objectives must be taught and only these objectives may be taught. These are policy decisions to be made by the School Board. [return to top] Who is responsible for Curriculum? Curriculum documents are usually developed by educational staff after consultation with parents and community under the supervision of the superintendent and officially adopted by the School Board. By Alaska School Law and Regulation, the ultimate authority for the curriculum of a school district rests with the School Board. That is, in Alaska, by law, the School Board has the authority and responsibility to define exactly what is taught in its district. These are considered "plenary powers". This responsibility may be delegated by not abrogated. The concept of academic freedom does not conflict with this legal obligation and right of the school board to absolutely determine what is taught in a district. Academic freedom has no legal basis through statue, but have some power through case law primarily as supported by contractual clauses often included in teacher negotiated agreements. Teachers often but not always have the right to determine method or pedagogy (this is at the discretion of the board and administration), but do not have the right to determine content as content is the legal obligation of the school board in law and regulation. However, since in almost all cases, educational staff including teachers have input into the actual curriculum document, in actuality, while the board approves the curriculum, teacher usually create it. Once the board has approved curriculum, however, it becomes part of the district board policy and it is not the discretion of individual teachers to depart from it but rather their responsibility to carry it out. In recent years, since 1995, the state and federal government have become increasingly involved in the content of curriculum and have left less and less for the input of judgment of local staff. With the mandate that as of 2002 all Alaskan high school students must pass a state exam in writing, reading, and math to qualify for a diploma, the virtual content of the basic curriculum in those areas has passed into the purview of the state. [return to top] What is the function of a curriculum? The purpose of a curriculum document is to articulate the instructional content of the curriculum, not necessarily to set the teaching methodology or pedagogy used to deliver it although a school board may specify methodology as well. The first reason to have a curriculum is that school boards have a statutory obligation in Alaska to have written curriculum in at least reading and math. That is, there is a legal requirement to have curriculum. Furthermore, there is a requirement in Alaska via the federal Title 1 regulations that districts have a Local Improvement Plan which also implies the requirement for a written document outlining educational expectations. Equally important, it is educationally valuable for a school district to have a curriculum. The curriculum tells teachers what to teach in each subject at each grade level. Ideally it provides information for parents and children about what will e taught at each grade and the level of mastery expected. The written document which outlines the different skill and content within a subject for each grade level allows for "vertical articulation" which is the proper sequencing of subtopics and skills so that the skills build on each other from grade to grade. For example, children learn to subtract before they learn to divide; children read picture books before they learn to read books with multiple chapters. Skill subjects such as Math and Reading require more specific sequencing than Content subjects such as Social Studies and Science. However even content subjects require sequencing to ensure that students are not subjected to repetitive instruction from grade to grade and that certain topics are not left out. For example, in Social Studies it is necessary to define the different topics that will be covered in each grade. A typical sequence is that students in grade 4 will cover American History, in grade 5 geography of the western hemisphere, and world geography in grade 6 or some such sequence. Otherwise a student might bet triple doses of American history and no world geography. Sometimes curriculum decisions are that simple. The new fourth grade teacher needs to know that it is his responsibility to cover American history and that students will learn world geography at a different grade level. Along with curriculum sequence, curriculum decisions often include textbook selection. Usually textbooks are adopted by the school board at the recommendation of the administration to match a particular school district's curriculum and in most districts teachers all use the same textbook series in grades K-6 or K-8 depending on the school structure. Curriculum development and textbook adoption are typically done on a 5-7 year cycle. For example, in 1995 Language Arts Curriculum is adopted and textbooks for the district selected; in 1996 Math, in 1997 Social Studies, in 1998 Science, and then starting over again in 1999 Language Arts. This system of curriculum cycle and textbook adoption helps ensure proper sequencing from grade to grade and also saves money as an individual teachers coming in from other districts may not buy new textbooks but must use the adopted textbooks. It ensures continuity of approach for the children. In Galena at this time, there is neither a cycle of curriculum development nor a textbook adoption policy. I would recommend the board consider instituting both for educational as well as financial reasons. Ideally a curriculum is a working document which helps ensure that everyone engaged in the educational enterprise, teachers, parents, teachers, parents, students, and school board are all on the same page. A good curriculum should ensure that the content is balanced, so that for example, in science students learn scientific skills, life science, earth science, and physical science in appropriate proportions and that the skills are sequenced for both difficulty and developmental appropriateness. If the curriculum is followed, teachers from one grade to another and one level of school to another (i.e. primary to intermediate to middle school to high school) can count on students having spent time on the appropriate topics and in the proper sequence. Having the curriculum as a written document allows everyone to review and amend the plan, allows us to see if there are holes in the program or imbalance, if we have left anything out or emphasized anything too much. It helps teachers know what to teach and parents and children know what to expect. The decision about what to teach and when to teach it is neither trivial nor self-evident. Parents are often under the impression that there is a universally accepted set of skills and content in the basic subjects -- i.e. that "everyone knows what history or science should be taught." This is by no means the case. Rather there is considerable controversy in some cases such as the content of American history (Euro centric vs. multicultural) or reading methods (phonics versus whole language) or math skills (problem solving vs. times tables). Furthermore, where there is not outright political controversy, there is simply growth as the subject areas change due to fad or research or "improvements" brought about by the changes in society and educational research. thus it is important for a school board to articulate and put down on paper its unique goals and expectations. Ideally a good curriculum will reflect both the best ideas available at the national level on curriculum content from the major educational research organizations an the needs and expectations of the local community. the major sources of information about curriculum at the national level include the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Council of Teachers of Math, National Science teachers Association, National Council of Teachers of English, International Reading Association, and International Society for Technology in Education. Equally important is input about content and skills from the local community which would include at a minimum science related to local plants, animals and geology, local and state history and government, and local cultures. Additionally, a curriculum helps school staff stay on task. Principals may use the curriculum as a supervisory tool. Teachers are expected minimally to teach what is in the curriculum. Lesson plans and activities should reflect the curriculum. Parents, administrators, and school board can expect to see the curriculum reflected in the day to day school activities. If they do not, administrators can assist teachers in improving instruction by including the curriculum in their day to day activities. Finally, it is only by articulating the school's goals through the curriculum that the program can be assessed. Assessment involves measuring how close we have come to achieving stated school goals--unless a district has school goals articulated and listed in a curriculum, it is impossible to measure progress toward unarticulated goals. [return to top] What is assessment? Assessment is measurement of progress. Systematic assessment of the progress toward goals as outlined in the curriculum occurs at all levels of education. Teachers assess individual students on a daily, weekly, and quarterly as well as annual basis through grading of assignment, grade book marks, and report cards as well as standardized achievement tests. Principals assess individual teachers as required under Alaska law and by tradition. Administrators assess the progress of classrooms, schools, and programs primarily through standardized tests and other instruments developed to measure school progress. Most of teacher assessment is done by teacher made and textbook company tests and quizzes. Good teachers constantly do ask questions and monitor the quality and accuracy of student work so that they know on a minute by minute and day to day basis which students "are getting it" and which need more help. Formal assessment has two major forms: standardized tests and portfolio or authentic assessment. Portfolio assessment is the newer form and usually consists of a folder which demonstrates the quality of student work. Sometimes the teacher will specify everything which goes into the folder and sometimes the student will have input into what goes in. Good portfolio assessment will include student input and student reflections and evaluations. Portfolios provide a rich opportunity for students to demonstrate and reflect on their classroom performance. Portfolios are particularly effective in evaluation of project oriented instruction and the newer problem solving curricula. However, portfolio assessment is time-consuming and does not lend itself to aggregation of data. Each portfolio is unique and it is difficult to compare or standardize tests from class to class or school to school or district to district. That is, you can use portfolio assessment to see how well individual students are doing, but you can't use it to see how the whole class or whole school is doing in say, math computation or even problem solving. That is why the state assessment program essentially ignores portfolio assessment. The state assessment program focuses on standardized tests. Standardized tests like the CAT 5 used in Alaska and in Galena are national tests which allow for assessment of individual students, whole classrooms, whole schools, and whole districts. They are relatively inexpensive and take little time. You can get good information in reports from the publisher. Here's how they are constructed. The test publisher reviews curricula from different states and different school districts around the country. The publisher comes up with a list of instructional objectives which seem to be taught at a particular grade level in a subject in most states. A test which uses at least three test items for each objective is developed. Tests are "norm referenced." That is, the score you get on the test is based relatively on how well you did compared to other students your grade in the nation. These are not mastery tests but tests based on the average score. On a norm referenced test, 70% NPR (national percentile rank) is not the same as 70% correct. It means that your score was better than 70 students nationally and below the score of 30 students out of a 100. These scores are based on the bell curve. That means that 50% of the students will always score below average because that is what average means. Norm referenced tests do not provide any information about how much a student knows, only how well a student is doing relative to other students. It does not tell you if the student has learned enough or has mastered a subject. Norm referenced tests set no mastery standard other than average performance. There is no guarantee or agreement that average is adequate or meets a set standard. Norm referenced tests are based on the bell curve. They are inherently culturally biased but probably predict accurately how well a culturally different student will function in the mainstream culture including a high school or college. They do not necessarily reflect ability, but rather inform a student's knowledge in a subject. Furthermore, when you review how well a student has done on a norm referenced test you need to think about the norm for that test. A school achievement test like the CAT 5 uses the entire school population. College entrance tests use as the norm population only those students intending to go to college. So a score of 75th National Percentile rank on the CAT 5 might compare to the 50th NPR on the SAT or ACT. A 50th NPR on the ACT verbal won't get you into a competitive college, but 50% NPR on the graduate records or law boards might get you in. So you have to be very careful in looking at the test scores to think about the test itself and the meaning of the scores. [return to top] What are standards, frameworks, competencies and benchmarks? The concepts and definitions about curriculum development provided have been around for a long time in education, since mid-century and are widely accepted. Recently a reform in curriculum has been occurring at the national level. New terms and ideas emerge, promulgated by the various national organizations mentioned before, NCTE, NCTM, NSTA, and IRA. There has recently been a national movement to develop national standards or guidelines for student achievement in core academic and skills areas. Until this recent movement, curriculum development was primarily a state and local issue with some research support from the national organizations. This emphasis on local decision making, locally determined curriculum and local fiscal responsibility goes all the way back to the local school committees and village schools in the New England Colonial period. The Constitution does not even mention education and so responsibility for both financing and content of education has traditionally devolved to the states. But as the federal role in financing education has grown, it is no surprise that federal control over content would not be far behind. For many years, assessments of the state of American education have included comparisons with other first world nations. And it is often mentioned that our competitors have national curriculums. Among nations with roots in European culture and other first world countries like Japan, the United States was almost unique in its insistence that schooling was the responsibility and the content was under the control of the local community. Most nations of Europe and Japan have a national curriculum and nationally determined textbooks. It is no surprise that there has been a political response. The Educational Summit brought together by President Bush in the late 80's was the primary political impetus to the movement for national standards. In 1991 the NCTM was the first national organization to develop a national framework for Math Curriculum and to publish it. Other organizations have followed. Under pressure from the federal government through its massive Title 1 program, the largest federal $ entitlement for education, states have developed state frameworks based on the national frameworks and in conformance with them. Only in the area of Social Studies has there been a major political furor over the content and a consequent lack of consensus. A new vocabulary of curriculum has emerged. The term framework refers in this context to the entire structure of a national curriculum, the subject area document; so we talk about the NCTM Math Framework, or the Alaska Math Framework. The individual instructional goals within the frameworks are called standards. The idea behind a standard is that it articulates a level of competency that all students will master. As opposed to the norm referenced scores on a standardized test with percentile ranks, the important score is mastery of the standard and the percentage of students who have achieved that standard. Ideally all or most students will meet the standard. Thus under this new system you need to list the level of skill a student needs to achieve to meet the standard, that is the student competency and in this new terminology replaces the old student skill. Thus Frameworks are composed of standards, and student competencies or benchmarks list the specific student mastery level of the standard. Benchmarks are the assessment statements for standards as sills were the statements for instructional goals. Benchmarks and student competencies are basically terms for the same thing. [return to top] What is the current climate for curriculum and assessment in Alaska now? Amid an atmosphere of falling oil prices and retrenchment of state government expenses with the population and legislative power having firmly shifted to urban areas, there is enormous political pressure to reduce funding to rural education. Tandem with these changes have come the pressures at the federal level for states to conform to national curriculum frameworks and to require local school districts to adopt state frameworks and to be held accountable through required assessment. In order to receive state and federal funds, the districts in Alaska are now required to adopt state frameworks as base curriculum guides. Accountability for adhering and achieving these so-called "world class standards" is directly linked to the legislature directed state assessment process. Right now the state assessment or testing program is limited to the CAT 5 survey in reading and math. By the spring of 2000 this will shift to the new four benchmark tests, with a graduation test required for 12th graders to earn a state of Alaska diploma by the year 2003. Piloted in spring 1999 and required for all districts in spring 2000 will be the three benchmark tests for grades 3,6, and 8 and the graduation tests for 10-12 (students get 3 chances to take the graduation test). These benchmarks will be developed by McGraw Hill, the same company which publishes the CAT 5. In essence, whatever the State Department of Education may trumped about world class standards, Alaska school districts are going to be measured by how well they do on a standardized test developed by McGraw Hill. The content of these four tests will determine the core required curriculum in Language Arts and Mathematics for all students in the state. In summary, local districts are required by federal IASA regulations to adopt the Alaska Content Standards in all academic areas and in addition, local districts must ensure that students learn the skills covered on these three benchmark tests and the diploma exam in math and language skills. To a great extent then, the control of curriculum content has passed from the local districts to the State Department of Education. What's the real agenda here? Urban legislators make no pretense that their ultimate goal is to close down rural schools and divert funds to urban schools. The modification of the funding formula passed last spring began that process. The new tests will serve to accelerate the process and justify it. Since most students in rural Alaska are bicultural, bilingual, and poor, and since cultural difference and poverty are the single most important factors in lower school achievement as measured on standardized tests of any kind, how well do you think most rural students will do on the new benchmark tests? Test results will be used to justify further cuts to rural education and possibly to close or consolidate down REAAs and single site rural districts. Because Galena has started some extraordinary new programs, the PECS and IDEA schools, and because these new programs have grown possibly by taking some students from some larger urban districts and a larger slice of the funding pie, Galena has a particularly high profile amid the rural districts. It behooves this district to be prepared to demonstrate the fundamental quality of the programs it is offering. [return to top] What is the Galena Plan for Curriculum & Assessment? At meetings last spring, the board, staff, community and administration of Galena City School District determined to go forward with a curriculum development plan which would be both high quality educationally and deal the the "real politik" of Alaska. The plan is that the district would develop a curriculum which would include the best ideas provided through the national and state frameworks, and practically include as a core the instructional objectives of the standardized tests by which the district will be held accountable at the state level. During the academic year FY99 the Galena Schools developed a three part curriculum and assessment system which addresses the current state and federal requirement. It consists of sets of curriculum documents in each of four core academic areas: Language Arts & Reading, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. Each subject area curriculum (Language, Math, etc.) will comprise the following for each grade level or course (Grade 1 or Algebra): Curriculum & Assessment System Once these documents have been presented to and approved by the Galena School Board they will become a part of district policy. Teachers will be required to implement. Principals will supervise teachers and review lesson plans to ensure that these instructional skills are covered. New text materials will be reviewed and selected based on their match to the target curriculum competencies. Student assessment and report cards will be revised to reflect the new competencies and parents will receive quarterly feedback on how well students are doing at mastering the specific goals outlined in the Assessment Core. Classroom posters and other informational material for the parents and community will ensure that children, teachers, parents, and administration are all focused on the targeted skills. [return to top] How will all of this help the children of Galena and those enrolled in Galena's unique programs around Alaska (PECS & IDEA)? Students will benefit from a renewed focus on the core basics and from an assurance of continuity and sequence in the program they are provided. Furthermore, the infusion of quality standards from the national frameworks will update the program now offered for the next century. Niki McCurry, Ph.D. Curriculum & Assessment Consultant Fairbanks, Alaska June 4, 1999 [return to top]

Curriculum & Assessment Frequently Asked Qutestions