Professional Development & Consultation Learning, Teaching & Development Policy Development Keyword Search:   Comer Site Med center Site Yale Site     Comer School Development Program 55 College Street New Haven CT, 06510 (203) 737-1020 Tel. (203) 737-1023 Fax			Programs & Services Learning, Teaching & Development     • SDP Balanced Curriculum Process • Teachers Helping Teachers The SDP Balanced Curriculum Process Introduction: Balanced Curriculum Model: Role of School Teams: Role of the Principal: Time Needed: Introduction to the Balanced Curriculum Process This unique process helps teachers and administrators collaboratively and systematically weigh key factors, such as: the mandates of national, state and local standards and tests; their student's developmental abilities and needs; the textbooks and other resources available; and what the teachers themselves already know and do. Together they decide what is important and then proceed to balance, coordinate and align the curriculum. Utilizing Dr. Comer's Six Developmental Pathways and three guiding principles as an organizing framework, the Balanced Curriculum Process helps teachers maximize student achievement and the school's performance. Click here to enter the Balanced Curriculum Web Site. The Balanced Curriculum Model The Balanced Curriculum Model insures that instruction is aligned with standards and assessments, while providing each teacher a flexible framework. A description of the model is given below. Generate Units: The Balanced Curriculum process asks schools to come to a consensus about what is most important to teach and assess. The model used requires schools and/or grade levels to divide their Reading/Language Arts curriculum into units with beginning and end dates. Everyone agrees to teach these units. The process for selecting units and coming to consensus as a faculty on the units provides the content of the first workshop. An example of a year's units is given below. Decide on 2-5 Significant Tasks for Each Unit: The second workshop helps the school teams prepare for assisting their faculties in developing 2-5 significant tasks that all teachers teaching the course will teach. The significant tasks need to be designed so they take up 60% of the unit’s instructional time. Again, the team needs to help grade levels reach consensus on these powerful tasks. State standards and district assessments are also reviewed so the teachers can choose significant tasks aligned to these important outcomes. An example of significant tasks for a fifth grade unit are given below. Align the Significant Tasks with Standards and Standardized Tests: During the third workshop, the school team learns how to align their significant tasks. Research suggests that if a curriculum is aligned with standards and standardized tests, student achievement is likely to improve. (Indeed, in every school and district that implemented this process with us, student achievement improves.) Teams learn how to balance their curriculum so it meets students developmental needs as well as academic standards. Teams then return to the school to lead their teachers in making decisions in the best interest of studentsí development. For example, on the next page is a summary of how the Developmental Pathways were initially aligned to the significant tasks. Notice that there is no alignment to the ethical pathway. Teachers would then need to re-examine the significant tasks and modify them to include the ethical pathway. Develop Format and Content Assessments Aligned to Significant Tasks, Standards and Standardized Assessments: During the fourth workshop, school teams learn how to construct a format assessment and a content assessment. All who teach the course give a format assessment at the end of each unit. The format assessment provides students with practice on the format of standardized tests, a critical variable in enhancing student outcomes. The content assessment is given by all teachers to determine how well students perform on significant tasks and the standards aligned with the significant tasks. Insure the Balanced Curriculum is Taught, Assessed, Managed and Improved: During the fifth and final workshop, school teams learn how to assist others in the faculty to plan their instruction and assessment around the balanced curriculum. Research (and common sense) suggest that if the balanced curriculum is implemented and actually used, then student outcomes improve. The School Planning and Management Team provides oversight of the faculty's efforts and develops strategies to assist those who may experience difficulty. Grade level or course level meetings help the faculty to collaborate on instructional planning and implementation. They keep records of how the significant tasks and/or assessments can be improved the following year. Thus, the balanced curriculum process builds a schoolís capacity to continue improving the curriculum, instruction, assessment, and outcomes for students. For more information, see David A. Squires and Camille J. Cooper, "Curriculum Structure and Teacher Planning," in DYNAMIC INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP to Support Student Learning and Development, edited by Edward T. Joyner, Michael Ben-Avie, and James P. Comer (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2004), 39-57.
			Copyright © 2001 School Development Program, Yale Child Study Center. All rights reserved. Comments or suggestions to the site editor. Photos from the book "Child by Child: The Comer Process for Change in Education," are by Michael Jacobson-Hardy and Laura Brooks. Used by permission of Teachers College Press. Home URL: http://www.schooldevelopmentprogram.org/ Last modified: June 2007 (CS)