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Curriculum Implementation Philosophy

Donna Meda

Grand Canyon University: EAD 520

February 3rd, 2021

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Curriculum Implementation Philosophy

A school leader must ensure that the staff is equipped with the appropriate curriculum in

order for students to achieve in their academics. It is important that the curriculum is aligned to

the school’s vision and mission statements. Vision and mission statements should reflect the

goals of the school for the well-being of the students. Having a curriculum that is aligned to the

vision and mission statements, but also the way it is implemented, can guarantee that it’ll satisfy

the needs and goals of the students. The formation of the curriculum would address the needs

and demographics of the school community. My vision and mission statements would manifest

the achievement of students in the K-8th grades locally, nationally, and globally as the vision and

mission statements’ hope is for our students as world-caliber leaders in the future. All the

teachers and necessary staff members will be on the same page when it comes to curriculum if

the curriculum is aligned to the vision and mission statements. Moreover, as a school leader, I

want to be able to help out with the integration of the curriculum. I want to be able to support

and train or guide my teachers when they need me. As school leaders, how can we expect

teachers to learn the curriculum and teach it to the kids in a certain way when school leaders

don’t have the experience? “Unfortunately, getting principals the training sessions they needed

was problematic because we found that publishing companies did not offer resources for

administrators” (Hammond, 2017). Finding a curriculum that also supports principals with the

knowledge is important.

Cultural Inclusiveness

My future school would have a fair curriculum that focuses on covering the needs of all

students in our school, including those students who come from different parts of the world by
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supporting English Language Learning. Our curriculum should represent all students, from

providing language support to providing opportunities where children can express themselves

through their own backgrounds and cultures. Moreover, the curriculum should provide ways in

which teachers can reuse strategies to implement all cultures present in the school. The

curriculum shouldn’t just represent one student or one group of students, it should represent all

students in the classroom or the school.

Differentiated for Learning

It is important for the school leader to work with other teachers, for example, our reading

and math interventionists, our special education teacher, and general education teachers.

Therefore, providing a curriculum that all teachers can use to teach with and reinforce

information by reteaching with materials from the curriculum is essential. Providing teachers

with the necessary training on how to implement the curriculum is crucial at this point. “To

continue to drive transformational change, curriculum adoption doesn't stop with the selection of

a new curriculum. We want our students to be cognitively engaged, willing and able to take on

the learning tasks before them” (Francis, 2018). It is important to review the school’s

improvement plan or the SIP, IEP goals, and data collected from general classrooms in order to

make decisions in the future regarding the curriculum in place. The material must meet the needs

of all students so they can grow into confident people of society.

Tiered Intervention

As for tiered interventions, I would gather my staff together for a meeting to discuss data

from students’ math and reading assessments. I would drive my actions through these

discussions and data gathered from teachers’ observations, too. I would ask all staff members to
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assign students to different groups depending on their scores. In this case, since assessment data

would be reviewed as a way to place the students in their appropriate leveled classes, I would

make sure that our curriculum’ resources including assessments are aligned to the vision and

mission of our school. We would also review the school’s improvement plan to see what further

action we need to act upon to fill in gaps. “Once we recognize that a smaller, less-formal

innovation is working and filling a critical gap, we begin the curriculum planning process. This

includes defining unit goals, scope and sequence, assessment plans, partnership opportunities,

and timelines for deliverables and pilot implementation” (Dotoli & Scanfeld, 2018). Is our

curriculum supporting students with vocabulary and critical thinking skills? For the students

performing poorly, Title 1 interventionists would be available to help and students performing

highly would be supported in the classroom by the teacher by proving resources their level.

Incorporating Technology

Providing a STEM curriculum would be one of the goals for our school. My school’s

STEM curriculum would provide a student-friendly online program where students can connect

and work on their work from home and school. Our children must know about technology since

it is advancing every day. Whether it is by using their Chromebooks daily to using clickers, it is

important for these kids to start using some of the devices to become familiar with how

technology works. Again, teachers should be able to model the use of technology in the

classroom to support the curriculum and find connections with the outside world to see how

students can implement what they have learned. Classrooms need to be equipped with a

projector, document camera, and if funds are available, classroom should also have Smartboards.

In these times during the pandemic, the use of a touch screen has helped me tremendously when

teaching my students! So, I would want my teachers to have touch screen computers. Each
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student will have their own Chromebook. This is very important because if students will be

asked to complete assignments online from home, students need to support at home, too. All

students must be supported through technology. Communicating with parents on the curriculum

and their needs at home is important, but giving them that comfortability to come up to

administration to express their needs is crucial when working towards the implementation of the

curriculum. Supporting teachers with not only the knowledge, but providing them with the

resources is essential to have parents involved. “Parents don't just want to know what the

curriculum is; they wish to have the resources and knowledge to help their children perform

well” (Hammond, 2017). Teachers, students, and families will be supported with STEM

materials. Having a fund available for teachers to purchase resources online to implement them

in their lessons would also be ideal for the curriculum.

Integrating Vision and Mission into the Curriculum

As I mentioned previously, it is important to align the school’s curriculum to the school’s

vision and mission statements. Our vision and mission will focus on providing a rigorous STEM

education. Should STEM be an important factor to consider when researching for a curriculum to

support our students? Absolutely! STEM would be one if not the most important factors to

consider when looking for one. Many questions come to mind. Will it support our teachers in

their lessons? Will the students learn and gain skills in reading and math? Is it engaging? Does it

support ELLs? Will it support gifted students? Does it support online instruction, vocabulary,

and critical thinking? How about math? Does the curriculum come with the vocabulary aligned

to school diagnostic testing and AZMerit testing from the state? These are only some of the

questions that come to mind when thinking about how to align the curriculum to our school’s

vision and mission. Finding a curriculum that supports our vision and mission will guarantee that
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teachers are teaching to the vision and mission toward student success and the students are

learning and working according to the vision and mission of their school.
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References

DOTOLI, V., & SCANFELD, V. (2018). TEACHER-DRIVEN CURRICULUM

DEVELOPMENT: Do your teachers have content knowledge and an entrepreneurial

spirit? Use them! Principal Leadership, 19(2), 48–52.

FRANCIS, J. B. (2018). STUDENT CENTERED: Navigating Curriculum Selection to

Maximize Improvement. Principal Leadership, 19(2), 14–16.

HAMMOND, D. (2017). Are You a Game-Changer on Curriculum Implementation? Principal

Leadership, 18(3), 48–51.