The Ford PAS and Ford NGL Thought Leader Series
This month's topic:
Curriculum: What Is It, and Why Do We Need It?
By Ilene Kantrov, Director, Center for Educational Resources and Outreach, Education Development Center, Inc.
In 2001, two of my colleagues and I at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC)1 were invited by Hayes Mizell, then a program officer at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, to make a presentation to a group of educational administrators, faculty at postsecondary institutions and executives at other foundations involved in education reform in the New York metropolitan area. The title of the presentation should be, Hayes instructed us beforehand, "Standards-based Curriculum: Don't Try Reform Without It."
At the time, the Clark Foundation was completing a funding initiative designed to improve middle grades education and, among other grants, had funded EDC to develop a series of guides for educators to help them in selecting quality curriculum materials that met the criteria of academic rigor, equity and developmental appropriateness.
Hayes explained that, over his years at the foundation, he had found that those involved in planning and implementing education reform tended to minimize, if not ignore, the role of curriculum, seeing it as marginal to achieving the broader goals of reform. Hayes thought that, because of EDC's expertise at developing innovative, research-based curriculum and supporting its use through professional development, we could help to inform our audience of the value and importance of well-designed curriculum.
In the years since, as we at EDC have continued to develop and support, as well as study, the implementation of standards-based curriculum, we have also continued to encounter confusion about our efforts to make curriculum a key component of educational improvement efforts. We find that misunderstandings about the role of curriculum in bringing about improvements in students' achievement involve the definition of curriculum, the role of curriculum in the classroom and beliefs about who should create curriculum (and curriculum materials).
What Is Curriculum?
One way to zero in on how we define curriculum is to identify what it is not. When we use the term curriculum, we don't mean the following:
Many people think about curriculum as being synonymous with the materials and/or the lesson or unit plans. It is true that many curricula—including the curriculum that EDC has developed in collaboration with Ford Motor Company Fund for the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (Ford PAS) program—include a set of materials and unit (module) and lesson plans.
However, when we talk about curriculum, what we mean is a coherent plan that links goals for learning (which typically comprise academic standards and, increasingly, as in the case of Ford PAS, workplace or 21st century skills standards) and the work that happens in the classroom. It is a course of study and a set of tools that guide teachers to enable students to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions they need for success in further education, employment and civic participation. Curriculum is thoughtful, deliberate and based on research about how kids learn.
The Ford PAS curriculum draws on research about how students learn in particular content domains and how they acquire the "habits of mind" characteristic of those domains. It also builds on research about how students develop the capacity to draw on knowledge and skills from different domains to solve real-world problems and the so-called metacognitive skills that enable them to "learn how to learn" within and across domains. And it includes a variety of assessments that are closely aligned with learning goals and focus on how well students can apply what they have learned.
What Is the Role of Curriculum in the Classroom?
A common belief about curriculum is that, as Susan Jo Russell (1994) wrote (in the context of discussing the role of curriculum in mathematics teachers' development), it "robs the teacher of her professional judgment" (p. 2). Only the teacher, in this view, knows her students' needs and learning styles sufficiently to provide the most appropriate instruction, which requires continual modifications that no "canned" curriculum can possibly provide. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the view that curriculum should be a detailed script for what a teacher should do in the classroom, and how and when she should do it. This perspective suggests that the teacher is incapable of sufficiently understanding either the subject or the pedagogy required to teach it in order to make curriculum decisions independently.
Our view is that high-quality curriculum provides teachers with a plan and a set of tools that enable them to best serve their students' needs and employ their professional judgment, while at the same time benefiting from the best research about both their subjects and how students learn. Such curriculum can guide teachers' classroom practice, as well as deepen their understanding of their disciplines and of effective pedagogy. Rather than detracting from their opportunity to apply the expertise derived from classroom experience and their knowledge of their students, it enables teachers to focus on understanding their students' strengths and needs and gearing their instruction to best support students' learning.
Who Should Create Curriculum?
Many teachers and others believe that teachers themselves are in the best position to create curriculum and curriculum materials—or at least to construct curriculum by drawing from a variety of existing materials. Our view is that high-quality, professionally developed curriculum enhances teachers' capacity to make the best use of the expertise they derive from classroom experience.
Our teams of curriculum developers include experienced classroom teachers, content experts, practitioners in relevant careers, researchers, writers and editors. These teams have the time and resources to draw on current research on content and pedagogy, as well as interview and/or survey educators, students, subject area specialists and industry experts (in the case of a curriculum like Ford PAS which integrates academic and career education), in order to create a coherent, project-based curriculum design that articulates learning goals focusing on "big ideas" and aligning with standards.
These development teams take the curriculum materials through an iterative process of multiple drafts, external review (by researchers and practitioners) and revision. We also pilot-test the materials, observing the curriculum in the classroom and collecting data from both teachers and students in pilot classrooms. We then revise, edit and copy-edit the curriculum. In addition, we are able to employ design professionals who help to configure and format the final products so they are user-friendly.
As a teacher using a middle grades mathematics curriculum funded by the National Science Foundation and designed by professional curriculum developers told us when we were developing Guiding Curriculum Decisions for Middle-Grades Mathematics (2001), "The more you look at how the curriculum developers have structured every single problem, the more you realize the thought that went into each problem to build toward understanding important ideas. Now that I have a comprehensive curriculum to follow, I have a better sense of where I'm going...It also helps a lot to know that the order of units suggested in the program is based on research about how kids learn math and a lot of field-test experience about what works well for students" (p. 35).
Finally, in partnership with our funders and collaborators, including classroom teachers, we are often able (as is the case with Ford PAS) to develop a robust, research-based professional development program that supports educators in implementing the curriculum effectively. And perhaps most important, we are able to assist in building their understanding of the principles (in this case, the Ford PAS Learning and Teaching Pillars, as described on the Ford PAS website, www.fordpas.org) on which the curriculum design is based.
The Ford PAS website also offers additional resources and networking opportunities to help teachers, administrators, students and community partners, including employers and postsecondary educators. With the combination of a set of carefully designed, coherent curriculum tools and professional development and other resources that help teachers understand the principles of the curriculum design, the Ford PAS program enables teachers to adapt the curriculum to most effectively support the learning of their students. The professional development also focuses on building teachers' capacity to apply the Ford PAS Pillars to other aspects of their practice.
The Power of Curriculum
The Ford PAS experience provides inspiring evidence of the potential of a high-quality curriculum, in the hands of skilled and dedicated teachers, to transform teaching and learning. According to a mathematics teacher using Ford PAS in Nashville, Tennessee, "Ford PAS is the 'broom' that is sweeping out the cobwebs in our educational environment. Through it, we see that our ancient mode of instruction does not prepare our students for tomorrow's workforce (or today's for that matter!)." Ultimately, of course, what matters most is student experience. Ariel, a student at Douglas Byrd High School, in Fayetteville, N.C., offered her assessment of the potential for a curriculum like the one at the heart of the Ford PAS program to educate and inspire students:
"Everything about [Ford PAS] seems to be helping me improve my studies and understand myself better...With the entrepreneurship classes, it's like, "Is this really something I want to do? Do I want to start my own business?" Or, "I don't have to just become a [regular] lawyer. I can become this kind of lawyer." [Ford PAS] opened my mind to the different things I can be...It's not just one road. You have many options you can choose."
References
Kantrov, I., and Goldsmith, L. T. (2001). Guiding Curriculum Decisions for Middle-Grades Mathematics. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Russell, S. J. (1994). "The Role of Curriculum in Teacher Development (OR, Won't Well-Prepared Teachers Make Up Their Own?) (OR, Curriculum: The Right Way, A Necessary Evil, A Handy Reference, or Partner?)" Paper presented at Reflecting on Our Work: NSF Teacher Enhancement in Mathematics K-6, Arlington, VA.
1 EDC is a 50-year-old nonprofit research and development company headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts (www.edc.org).
Previous Thought Leader Essays:
Earning respect for Career Academies — and keeping it
By Hans Meeder, President, Meeder Consulting Group
Supporting Career Academies is smart business, not charity
By Richard K. Delano, Ford Motor Company Fund Advisory Council
Outlining the financial benefits and positive outcomes of career academies and demonstrating how they more than justify the investments in building a career academy network.
By Richard K. Delano, Ford Motor Company Fund Advisory Council
Reinventing the Workforce and Bolstering the Economy through Career Academies and More Relevant High Schools
By Cheryl Carrier, Program Director, 21st Century Education Programs, Ford Motor Company Fund