Running head: CURRICULUM PRACTICES FINAL PAPER 1

Curriculum Practices Final Paper

Ebone J. Bonham

The University of Houston

CUIN 7383 Early Childhood Curriculum

Dr. Neelofer A. Tajani

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Curriculum Practices Final Paper

An investigation was conducted to explore the current curriculum development practices

of a local early learning program. In my position as an early childhood mentor, I work directly

with owners, directors, and teachers of early learning programs (i.e., child-care centers), so I

thought it would be reasonable for me to conduct my study in regard to such a facility. I spoke

with three early childhood educators—Caroline, Dina, and Jacqueline are their assigned

pseudonyms—regarding their roles in the program’s curriculum, specifically how the curriculum

is developed, implemented, and evaluated.

First, I called the owner, Caroline, to introduce myself and explain the purpose behind the

curriculum investigation. Then, I asked if she would be willing to be interviewed along with two

of her employees. Because the owner was doing me a favor, I wanted the selected participants to

be her decision. Caroline volunteered for her assistant director, Dina, to be interviewed, because

Dina usually runs the daily operations of the program when Caroline is not present. After

speaking with the owner, she thought it would be more suitable for me to interview her

instructional support coach, Jacqueline.

The interviews were conducted all in one day, starting with the early learning program

assistant director and ending with the director. Child-care providers have preventive guidelines to

follow mandated by the CDC and the State of Texas to prevent the spread of germs, and one of

those guidelines is to not allow parents, guests, or visits inside of the facility. We agreed to use

the Zoom video chat platform to complete the interviews; the early childhood educators were at

the facility at the time of the interviews and they did not have children in their care. Most of the

questions asked came from the recommended list provided by the professors of the course, and a

PowerPoint presentation was created as a visual to display the interview questions. Snapshots of
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the presentation, a list of the interview questions, and the participants’ responses can be found in

the appendices.

Concise background information was gathered on each participant, such as: age, social

identity, city of residence, marital status, employment history, and job title description. All

participants are female and identify as African American, and they live in Houston, Texas. The

youngest participant, Jacqueline, is 23 years old while the owner and assistant director are both

30 years old. The owner shared that she has her master’s degree in early childhood specialist.

The assistant director is working on her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction—expected

to graduate in August 2021—and the instructional support coach is currently working on her

associate degree in dentistry.

Before discussing the program’s curriculum practices, I asked each participant to define

curriculum in their own words. The course text provides many definitions and statements

regarding curriculum, stating a “DAP-based curricula are more likely to produce long-term gains

in children’s cognitive development, social and emotional skills, and life-coping capabilities”

(Kostelnik et al, 2018, pg. 30). As the instructional support coach, Jacqueline considers

curriculum teaching and engaging students, so they have fun as they learn. In addition, Caroline,

the owner and director, believes curriculum to be “a guide used to teach children different skilled

based on the developmental milestones they need to reach”. Lastly, Dina shared her thoughts on

curriculum, stating it is an “instructional guide to learning”. Dina went further to share her belief

that curriculum is an “intentional and strategic plan to reach all diverse learners” and it should

“give the ability to implement and modify lessons”.

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Development

According to Majorie Koselnik, Anne Soderman, Alice Whiren, and Michelle Rupiper

(2018), “the difference between providing children with truly educational experiences and

merely keeping them busy or entertained is planning” (Doughtery, 2012). Each interview began

by asking the participant questions about the steps that are taken to develop the curriculum and to

plan classroom activities. According to each participant, the families of enrolled students are not

involved in the development process.

Caroline refers to the program’s curriculum being a “gumbo pot”. The curriculum does

not focus on one specific tenet over another, and it is not set on one philosophy. “The curriculum

is sometimes based on the standards, but then it is based on the children’s interest and

engagement”. Caroline and Dina shared that the following are the main learning domains

identified: social-emotional; cognitive; physical; language; and creative. The owner shared that

in the junior pre-kindergarten classroom has cognitive math and cognitive literacy times each

day.

As the owner, Caroline creates the development process of the curriculum and determines

what the priorities are of the program’s curriculum. She stated that she first refers to the early

head start, Texas Pre-Kindergarten, and the Texas Kindergarten standards. Then, Caroline “looks

at the students in the classroom to see what they are able to do” to determine what skills to focus

on in the classrooms. According to Dina, “our students are the priority and the main focus”. The

curriculum is prepared on Thursdays and Fridays, so the teachers have time to review the

instructional guide, like a teacher guide, and to ask any questions they may have before

implementation.
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From there, the instructional support coach creates what the program calls a skill

calendar, which is the curriculum implementation timeline; Jacqueline takes a calendar template

and inputs a set of skills on each day. Dina is the administrator in charge when the owner is not

present, so she ensures that the skill calendar is being followed and that the students are meeting

those skills.

The owner and director wanted to mention that she and her teachers ensure that the

learning centers are used to implement the curriculum. Planning is done ahead of time to

determine how the centers, like dramatic play, can reflect the theme. “We look at the skill we are

promoting and look to see what materials to provide related to the theme”. Lastly, Caroline

shared that she prefers for herself and her administrative staff to provide lesson plans already

made for teachers. She stated that she wants to provide a level of consistency in a field known

for a high teacher turnover rate.

Implementation

There were some disparities found when discussing the professional development offered

to teaching staff in preparation of implementing the program’s curriculum. Dina mentioned that

she and the owner became registered early childhood trainers, so they are “knowledgeable on

how to train adults”. Teachers do attend certain professional development opportunities to

prepare for curriculum implementation, but according to Dina, these trainings are more for the

administrators to “work on their mind, to create a world of mindfulness, and to see how their

mind works with students”. The assistant director stated that she believes her teachers need to

“have their mind ready to change a child’s life today”. However, Jacqueline mentioned there is

specific training for the teachers to work on creating activities related to the theme. Caroline

stated that the professional development consisted of experienced teachers and administrators
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modeling for other staff. The owner shared that a schedule has been developed for a teacher or an

administration staff to go to the classroom to observe another teacher and to take notes.

All participants were in agreement in saying that Jacqueline and other administrative staff

decides on the activities and materials that will be used in the classrooms. Caroline mentioned

that the teachers have the space to share their input and to vocalize their and the students’ needs.

According to Jacqueline, “the teachers can edit [the curriculum] for their teaching style and so

they understand what they are teaching the students”.

Caroline shared that Jacqueline prints out instructional guides for each teacher to follow,

and the guides are placed in their respective “day buckets”. The guide details what the teacher

should do for circle time, learning centers, small groups, etc. The instructional guide consists of

“explicit instructions” telling the teachers the learning objectives for the day and any materials

they may need. The teachers are given time to prepare any visuals or activity props that are

needed, and any materials can be placed in Ziploc bags to then be placed in the designated

bucket ready to use. Dina explained that the teachers often start their days with the curriculum by

doing whole group to give the students an overview of what to expect during the day. Then, the

rest of the day is broken into times for small groups and choice time in the learning centers.

Evaluation

The assistant director shared how she determines the success of the program’s curriculum

and the classroom instruction. “If we see the children are successful, we know that we are doing

something right. When we see children are lacking in an area, we know we need to make a

change”. Dina stated that she knows when students master a skill based on the smiles on their

face. “Once skills are learned, they are excited. They are talkative and they will express how they

feel.”. Jacqueline mentioned that the teachers use Brightwheel, the child-care management
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mobile application, to take and send pictures to families each day capturing the students’

learning.

The students are assessed every 2-3 months at the end of the month, and the evaluations

or “report cards” are sent home to the families. According to the owner, the infant classroom uses

a developmental milestones checklist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC), and the toddler classroom uses a developmental milestone checklist and a math

assessment to determine where the students are in their learning. The preschool classroom is

assessed on letter shapes, letter sounds, handwriting, and the math checklist used in the toddler

classroom is used on preschool students as well. The program has two Kinder Prep classrooms, 1

and 2. Kinder Prep 1 is assessed in all areas the preschool classroom is assessed in plus

beginning sounds, counting objects, and writing numbers. Lastly, Kinder Prep 2’s assessment

includes the content areas Kinder Prep 1 is assessed in plus sight words, beginning blends,

spelling words, reading words, and adding.

According to Caroline, the families are informed throughout the year of the standards the

children will be assessed on. She stated that families can request a special assessment to be done

if they are concerned or curious about their child’s progress. The program provides an accessible

suggestion box for families to place their completed and anonymous feedback surveys in.

The owner mentioned that the staff gives more content if the students are ready for it and

if it is needed, or the staff continues with the content provided if it is all the students can handle

at the moment. Caroline further explains the process the administrators follow if deficiencies are

identified in the curriculum. She stated that an administrative staff is placed in the identified

classroom to make observations and to determine if the skill is being properly taught. The
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administrator might determine that the teacher needs more training or modeling, or the student(s)

needs intervention.

Initial Conclusion

In conclusion, the educators I interviewed confidently expressed their roles and their

involvement in the development, implementation, and evaluation processes of the program’s

curriculum. Each participant has an active role in the program’s curriculum practices. The

administrators of the early learning program hold the responsibility in developing the curriculum.

Each participant expressed that teachers do have the flexibility to make the activities their own,

but the program’s leaders do the groundwork in providing resources and guidelines for the

teachers to follow. It appears that the teachers simply have to follow the administrators’

checklists and instructions when conducting lessons from the curriculum. It was difficult to

receive a concrete response regarding any training the teachers receive in understanding the

curriculum, but I could determine the program’s teachers receive support, such as modeling and

observation, from the administrators. The program conducts quarterly assessments to monitor

their students’ progress in learning. It was unanimous that the program does not have a concrete

system for families to have a role in the evaluation process. The program is open to families

sharing their thoughts on their individual child’s development, but families do not partake in how

the curriculum is developed.

Overall, other than the discussion on professional development, little disparity was found

in the participants’ responses. In closing, Caroline shared how important curriculum is to her and

how it is important for early learning programs to have “good curriculum”. “I have taught

kindergarten and it was the hardest to teach, because the students were coming from centers that

were not effective in using the curriculum they had”.

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Comparison Report

After reviewing the partial findings of local school systems’ curriculum practices, I was

able to identify relatively equal similarities and differences. Not all peers indicated the school

district in their investigation, but it appears there are differentiations of curriculum development,

implementation, and evaluation in the Houston area and its surrounding areas. Before diving into

the participants’ responses, it should be noted that there are differences in the roles of the

educators interviewed. Most of my peers interviewed professionals of a public school district,

while I chose to get the viewpoints of educators in the early learning program sect.

Comparisons

Like peers Emily Merriweather and Anny Keys, my program also looks to the state

standards as a reference to begin the development process. Then, the students’ development is

seen as a priority, in addition to the state guidelines. Keys’s assistant principal affirms stating, “I

think it is going to be what our students need as a district, as well as state standards” (2020). For

certain school systems, it is common for administrators, not teachers, to participate in developing

the curriculum. Stephanie Varley interviewed professionals of the Sheldon Independent School

District. I was specifically surprised by the responses Varley received from her investigation

participants. As a campus serving pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children, none of her

educators felt they were highly in involved in the developmental stage of the curriculum. The

teacher and administrator gave themselves a score of two out of five, and the curriculum

instructional coach a three out of five. According to Varley, the districts’ curriculum coordinators

have the most power in how the curriculum is developed. The curriculum coordinators determine

the timeline of the teaching material. In contrast, Merriweather’s participants shared that their

curriculum coordinators oversee committees consisting of district coordinators, teachers, and

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principals. So, in this specific school system, select teachers have an active role in the

development of their district’s curriculum.

To prepare for implementation, majority of school systems provide professional

development to their teachers. According to participants of Keys’s investigation, the training for

teachers is led by the content specialists, and this training is based on the needs of the teachers

and any feedback received from teaching staff. These teachers also receive training from the

curriculum publishing company. It was not mentioned how often or how long these trainings are.

However, the teacher development officer participant of Merriweather’s investigation mentioned

that the teachers receive year-long professional development with mid-year and end-of-year

check-ins to provide further support. It seems that teachers do not often have the room to choose

their own activities and materials. According to Keys, the teachers and content specialists are

given pacing guides from the district office. The English and Language Arts coordinator stated

that these “…pacing guides are a road map that the district curates and expectations for all

campuses are to follow the pacing guide”. From Keys’s findings, the pacing guide provides lists

of the resources, materials, and activities for the teachers. In addition, according the Varley’s

curriculum instructional coach, the instructional coaches and curriculum coordinators are the

only ones to decide on the activities and materials. It should be noted that the teacher and

administrator Keys interviewed stated that the teachers decide on the activities. The administrator

stated that the teachers are given the materials, but what is done in the classroom will vary due to

the needs of the students and the teacher’s teachings tyle.

All school systems appear to take the evaluation process seriously to see where the

curriculum practices can improve. The professionals use different methods to assess students,

from one-on-one conversations to formal tests. Teachers and other educators are involved in the
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evaluation process in the form of surveys. The principal participant of Merriweather’s

investigation stated that the teachers are sent a feedback survey link for each unit. Across the

board, families are given the opportunity to ask questions or share their thoughts in regards to

their child’s learning, but there is no formal the school systems use for families to evaluate the

curriculum used.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is some consistency in how a variety of school systems develop

curriculum. Campus administrators and district officials seem to hold most of the responsibility

in developing curriculum. Of course, the teachers are responsible for classroom instruction, but

most schools have teacher leaders and/or other administrators determine the timeline, lessons,

and materials used in the classroom. Finally, all school systems have procedures in place to

evaluate the curriculum used.

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References

Kostelnik, M., Soderman, A., Whiren, A. & Rupiper, M. (2018). Developmentally Appropriate

Curriculum: Best Practices in Early Childhood Education. (7th ed.). Pearson Education.
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Appendix A

Interview Presentation
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Appendix B

Written Script/Interview Questions

Hello Participant [Assigned Number]! I’m currently in a graduate course exploring

developmentally appropriate curriculum, and I have been assigned to do an assignment, an
investigation on curriculum development practices, and I would love to speak with you to get
your input. The purpose of this interview is to get a clearer picture of how early learning
programs plan, implement, develop, and evaluate curriculum. Your personal name will not be
included in this study. The interview should take about 30 minutes, and just so you are aware, I
might need a few moments to take notes of your responses. For the record, do I have your
permission to record this interview?

Let’s get started! I do have some background questions to ask…

1. What is your age?

2. What ethnicity do you identify as?
3. What gender do you identify as?
4. What city do you live in?
5. What is your marital status?
6. What is your current job title?
7. Describe your role.
8. Give a summary of your past work experiences.
9. What is the highest level of education you achieved?
10. In your own words, how would you define curriculum?
11. How is curriculum related to your job position at the early learning program?

Now, we are going to first discuss the development stage of the program’s curriculum.

Development
When the school is developing a new curriculum:
1. Who creates the curriculum development process?
2. Are parents involved in the development process?
3. Who determines the priorities of the curriculum (i.e. needs of the students, society,
values, beliefs, philosophy, curriculum models, alignment of standards)?
4. Who develops the implementation timeline of the curriculum?
5. What domains are identified in the program’s curriculum?

Now, we are going to discuss the implementation stage.

Implementation
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After the curriculum has been approved and it is time to put it into place:
1. Is there professional development to prepare teachers to use the curriculum?
a. What all is covered in this training for teachers?
2. Who decides on the activities, teaching strategies, and curriculum materials?
3. Explain what steps the teachers take to implement the curriculum

Now, we are going to discuss the evaluation stage.

Evaluation
When the school wants to evaluate the curriculum for success:
1. Who decides how the curriculum will be evaluated?
2. Do you collect teacher or parent input in the curriculum evaluation?
3. Who is responsible for carrying out the evaluation?
4. Does the school evaluate the curriculum based on student achievement?
5. Does the school evaluate strengths and deficiencies in the curriculum?
a. How often?
6. What steps are taken after these deficiencies and strengths are identified?
7. How do you know that students truly understand and can apply their understanding in a
meaningful way?
8. Is student assessment used to inform teachers’ classroom instruction?

Thank you for agreeing to be an active participant in this study.

1. Do you have any final comments or words to include in the study before we end the
interview?

This concludes the interview for Participant [Assigned Number] for the
curriculum implementation investigation.
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Appendix C

Educator 1 Responses

1. What is your age? 30

2. What ethnicity do you identify as? African American
3. What gender do you identify as? Female
4. What city do you live in? Houston
5. What is your marital status? Divorced
6. What is your current job title? Assistant Director/Early Childhood Trainer/CDA
Instructor
7. Describe your role. Assistant director – first line of defense of the preschool; the
presentation of the school; if she cannot resolve the issue, she goes to the director; she’s
the face for enrolled parents and prospective parents; delegating tasks all day; allow the
school to run effectively no matter what happens; think fast and quick on your feet;
implement the rules and the policies, and speak to everyone
8. Give a summary of your past work experiences. Substitute teacher for 2 years in aldine
isd; became a behavior technician working with children with special needs in the school
district and worked in a private company to work with children at home with special
needs; been at the program for 4.5 years as the assistant director; been in education for
the past 10 years; became registered trainers and traveled to teach early childhood
professionals since 2017;
9. What is the highest level of education you achieved? Graduate in August, Masters in
Curriculum & Instruction; plan to get her certification in Behavior Analyst (BCBA)
10. In your own words, how would you define curriculum? Curriculum is the instructional
guide to learning; intentional and strategic plan to reach all diverse learners; give the
ability to implement and modify lessons
11. How is curriculum related to your job position at the early learning program? What she
does every day; at first she tried to purchase curriculums, but because of their passion and
their hearts, it wasn’t allowing their children to be success; started doing their research
and looked at TEKS; their curriculum is based on the TEKS, and knows for the fact their
curriculum works in getting students kindergarten ready; they print out CDC milestones
for the infants (6 weeks old); every age group has a plan, and it’s the teachers’
responsibility to ensure the children reach those milestones
12. Has a plan from 6 weeks to 5 years old

Development
When the school is developing a new curriculum:
13. Who creates the curriculum development process? From 6 weeks to 2 years old, they use
the CDC milestones; and make observations to see if children master or if they have a
physical or cognitive delay; seeing where they are developmentally first; she and the
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director are the roles who create the lesson plans, and then the admins are trained to put
the activities within the lesson plan; use their knowledge of the TEKS and select the skills
they want to focus on; use the TRS template
14. Are parents involved in the development process? They are informed of the children’s
progress; they send out quarterly progress reports; a way to give updates but also
educating parents of the skills they need to have in order to read
15. Who determines the priorities of the curriculum (i.e. needs of the students, society,
values, beliefs, philosophy, curriculum models, alignment of standards)? Our students are
the priority and the main focus; if they see the children are the successful, they know they
are doing something right; when they see children are lacking in an area, they know they
need to make a change; need to be flexible and to bend
16. Who develops the implementation timeline of the curriculum? The director oversees what
skills need to be focused on and how often; she prioritizes the skills and the foundational
skills and might introduce skills that will be revisited later; focusing on the TEKS and
what the pre-k children need to know
17. What domains are identified in the program’s curriculum? Social-emotional; cognitive;
physical development; language; normal developmental domains in early childhood

Implementation
After the curriculum has been approved and it is time to put it into place:
18. Is there professional development to prepare teachers to use the curriculum? They
became registered trainers to become knowledgeable on how to train adults
a. What all is covered in this training for teachers? Work on their mind and create
this world of mindfulness and seeing how your mind works with students; have
your mind ready to change a child’s life today; get their minds to where this is a
serious job
19. Who decides on the activities, teaching strategies, and curriculum materials? Admins
20. Explain what steps the teachers take to implement the curriculum step 1: they have whole
group to give children an overview and create a sense of expectation; rest of the day is
broken day (small groups, then play and transforming the learning centers to reflect the
curriculum); everything is intentional

Evaluation
When the school wants to evaluate the curriculum for success:
21. Who decides how the curriculum will be evaluated? The admin do the report cards, the
report cards are shared with the teachers
22. Do you collect teacher or parent input in the curriculum evaluation? If a parent has
something to say about the progress report results, they allow it but hopes the parent
respects them as the early childhood professionals; uses brightwheel app to record lessons
to share with parents on the child’s profile
23. Who is responsible for carrying out the evaluation? Admin
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24. Does the school evaluate the curriculum based on student achievement? Yes
25. Does the school evaluate strengths and deficiencies in the curriculum?
a. How often? Yes, based on the progress reports they track the strengths and
weaknesses of the curriculum; may look at the teacher to see if they need to be
trained again
26. What steps are taken after these deficiencies and strengths are identified? Go ahead and
make changes needed; about every 8-10 weeks; they are very hands on on their teachers
27. How do you know that students truly understand and can apply their understanding in a
meaningful way? Know by their smiles on their faces; once skills are learned, they are
excited; they are talkative and they will express how they feel; you would know if they
don’t understand
28. Is student assessment used to inform teachers’ classroom instruction? Yes; have cameras
in the classroom to refer to; Director and she does the assessment
29. Do you have any final comments or words to include in the study before we end the
interview? n/a
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Appendix D

Educator 2 Responses

1. What is your age? 23

2. What ethnicity do you identify as? African American
3. What gender do you identify as? Female
4. What city do you live in? Houston
5. What is your marital status? Single
6. What is your current job title? Instructional Support
7. Describe your role. Create curriculum for junior prek and prek
8. Give a summary of your past work experiences. Always worked with children all ages;
used to be a financial aid provider; used to work at Claires
9. What is the highest level of education you achieved? High school diploma, ready to
associates in dentistry
10. In your own words, how would you define curriculum? Something that teaches and
engages students to learn; make sure the children are learning and having fun
11. How is curriculum related to your job position at the early learning program? Used to the
be the prek teacher and brought it to their attention that the curriculum wasn’t advanced
enough and they were bored with it;

Development
When the school is developing a new curriculum:
12. Who creates the curriculum development process? She does
13. Are parents involved in the development process? They have a small part; they are asked
in the beginning of the year what they would like their kids to be taught or what skills
need to be worked on
14. Who determines the priorities of the curriculum (i.e. needs of the students, society,
values, beliefs, philosophy, curriculum models, alignment of standards)? Director checks
it and gives input; want them to be able to learn and want them to come to school; want
them to be specific and say what they learned each day and be excited to come back the
next day
15. Who develops the implementation timeline of the curriculum? Director
16. What domains are identified in the program’s curriculum? Focus on handwriting (name);
sight words; literacy; adding and subtracting
17. Before the curriculum is prepped a week ahead and everyone being knowledgeable of
what to expect
a. Gather worksheets, workbooks, materials

Implementation
After the curriculum has been approved and it is time to put it into place:
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18. Is there professional development to prepare teachers to use the curriculum? Yes
a. What all is covered in this training for teachers? Focus on creating activities
related to the theme
19. Who decides on the activities, teaching strategies, and curriculum materials? She does
20. Explain what steps the teachers take to implement the curriculum the teachers edit it for
them to their teaching style so they understand what they are teaching and what they are
teaching the students; they prepare ahead and ensuring they have classroom management

Evaluation
When the school wants to evaluate the curriculum for success:
21. Who decides how the curriculum will be evaluated? Director; the teachers are observed
in how they conduct the activities and if they are prepared, maintaining consistency
22. Do you collect teacher or parent input in the curriculum evaluation? Yes; there are parent
feedback surveys to place in a box
23. Who is responsible for carrying out the evaluation? Director
24. Does the school evaluate the curriculum based on student achievement? Yes
25. Does the school evaluate strengths and deficiencies in the curriculum? Yes
a. How often? Every week when lesson plans are created
26. What steps are taken after these deficiencies and strengths are identified? Team meeting
is held to brainstorm ways to make the curriculum stronger
27. How do you know that students truly understand and can apply their understanding in a
meaningful way? Brightwheel is used to upload their photos every day; testing is done
every 3 months
28. Is student assessment used to inform teachers’ classroom instruction? Yes; student
assessment is all letter shapes (uppercase and lowercase), letter sounds, counting 1-10;
first name and last name depending on the child; patterns; writing number; 11 shapes
a. If a child isn’t strengthening in a specific skill, homework is provided that
following week before the next testing
b. Parents are understanding that they focus on academics and they love the
teachers; try to be one step ahead of the parents
29. Do you have any final comments or words to include in the study before we end the
interview? n/a
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Appendix E

Educator 3 Responses

1. What is your age? 30

2. What ethnicity do you identify as? Black or African American
3. What gender do you identify as? Female
4. What city do you live in? Houston
5. What is your marital status? Engaged/ Married soon
6. What is your current job title? Preschool Owner and Director
7. Describe your role. Oversee lesson plans, create to-do lists for staff and see that it is
done; marketing; hiring of teachers but not the onboarding; make sure the inventory is on
top
8. Give a summary of your past work experiences. Prek teacher; kindergarten teacher; child
development professor and trainer
9. What is the highest level of education you achieved? Masters in early childhood
specialist
10. In your own words, how would you define curriculum? Curriculum is a guide used to
teach children different skills based on different developmental milestones they need to
reach
11. How is curriculum related to your job position at the early learning program? Person
responsible for the scope and sequence. Doesn’t create the lesson plans, but ensures the
skills are being taught from the standards being used; ensures the assessment is done for
the curriculum

Development
When the school is developing a new curriculum:
12. Who creates the curriculum development process? I do; for junior prek infants to toddlers
she uses the early head start standards and they create activities based on that; looks at the
students in the classroom to see what they are able to do; for preschool she looks at the
texas prek standards and the kindergarten standards; she creates a skill calendar to
determine what skills and what way
13. Are parents involved in the development process? No; they are informed. The curriculum
is set and they informed along the way; in the beginning of the year they are sent the
developmental milestones checklist and the stadnards the children will be assessed over;
they are involved in the process so they know what is going on; if parents are concerned
of the children’s progress, either delays or advance; a special assessment is done to keep
them informed
14. Who determines the priorities of the curriculum (i.e. needs of the students, society,
values, beliefs, philosophy, curriculum models, alignment of standards)? Hard to pick just
one; the curriculum is based on a gumbo pot; there is not one specific thing over the
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other; sometimes it is based on the standards, but then it is based on the children’s interest
and engagement; not set on one specific philosophy, but she picks different things from
other philosophies; depends on the day, but it is standard driven and they are a kinder
readiness school
15. Who develops the implementation timeline of the curriculum? The skill calendar is the
timeline; instructional coach (jones) creates it and the assistant director is on campus to
ensure the children are meeting those skills; she takes a calendar and inputs the skills on
each day
16. What domains are identified in the program’s curriculum? Social-emotional; cognitive;
physical; language; and creative are the main ones; in the junior prek they have a
cognitive math time and a cognitive literacy time per day; in the preschool classroom
they have multiple cognitive times; they have intervention and pull outs; they use the
multiple learning centers
a. Ensures the learning centers are planned out so it is not just dramatic play; the
dramatic play will be a hot cocoa stand to reflect the winter theme; we look at the
skill we are promoting and look to see what materials to provide related to the
theme;
b. look at placing materials on the table to encourage students to play in other
centers than black, sensory, and kitchen center
c. during free play, the teachers ask a lot of open-ended questions
d. curriculum is prepped on Thursdays and Fridays so teachers can ask questions
about the curriculum

Implementation
After the curriculum has been approved and it is time to put it into place:
17. Is there professional development to prepare teachers to use the curriculum? Yes; do a lot
of modeling because it was found to do more successful; there is a schedule when another
teacher, admin member to go in the classroom to observe and take notes; use a simplistic
approach to the curriculum; use the same concept but changing the theme
a. What all is covered in this training for teachers? Implementation; modeling of
small groups; do a small group and then have teacher observe before doing it
themselves while someone observes to give feedback; how to keep children
engaged and excited to learn; how to praise them in the process and how to adjust
based on what they are seeing from the students
18. Who decides on the activities, teaching strategies, and curriculum materials? Jones, the
instructional support teacher; she creates the activities, the strategies, the curriculum
materials; she provides the list to the director and she purchases it; teachers are able to
put input; they see the needs of their students and they vocalize it; in order to provide
consistency she prefers to provide the lesson plan due to teacher turnover
19. Explain what steps the teachers take to implement the curriculum jones prints out an
instructional guide, like a teacher guide, and puts it in buckets in a sheet protector, and it
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says what they need to do for circle time, centers, small groups, etc.; has explicit
instructions; tells them the learning objectives and the materials they need; they begin to
make any charts or props that are needed; they use their prep time to laminate; they go to
the resource room to get any materials or resources; the material list is a checklist for
them to gather their belongings; in the buckets there are Ziploc bags they can place their
prepped materials in there; buckets for each day of the week

Evaluation
When the school wants to evaluate the curriculum for success:
20. Who decides how the curriculum will be evaluated? Combination of director, assistant
director, jones, and some of the teachers; because the director is not in the classroom she
cannot say whether the children are grasping the concept of the skills being introduced;
she looks at the input and then makes a decision
a. Infant room is developmental milestones is from the CDC and they check off
what they are able to do; rounds up to the milestone as a target
b. Toddlers get a developmental milestone checklist along with a math assessment
since the curriculum exposes it to them; to determine what is being grasped
c. Preschool in different layers
d. Uppercase letters, lowercase letters, letter sounds, the same math checklist in the
toddler classroom; handwriting, specifically their name
e. Kinder prep (intervention for advanced students) broken into 2 groups
i. K Prep 1 everything in number 5 plus their beginning sounds, counting
objects, writing numbers
ii. K prep 2 sight words, beginning blends, spelling words, reading words,
adding
f. They go best on what the children are ready for; they give more if it is needed,
and they stay put if it is all that can handled
g. All this going based on what was assessed this last quarter
21. Do you collect teacher or parent input in the curriculum evaluation? A lot of students
have been with her since infancy, so parents sometimes mention how their students are
meeting milestones; made the comment of the students always getting 100s; made the
director look to kindergarten standards and kindergarten curriculum to give a challenge;
created many benchmarks
22. Who is responsible for carrying out the evaluation? Assistant director and jones
23. Does the school evaluate the curriculum based on student achievement? Yes; tells them if
they need to go back and re-evaluate to determine if a change is needed if students aren’t
meeting skills
24. Does the school evaluate strengths and deficiencies in the curriculum?
a. How often? Students are assessed every 2 months at the end of the month; the
whole school has evaluations sent home
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25. What steps are taken after these deficiencies and strengths are identified? An admin is
sent in the room to observe the skill being taught; if there is any holes in the
implementation phase, to see if the teacher can improve, and then start there; if more
training is needed or more modeling; intervention is done for advanced students twice a
day; intervention for students meeting the milestones are not meeting it is once a week;
providing that practice to students who need it
26. How do you know that students truly understand and can apply their understanding in a
meaningful way? Based on observations made, especially small groups; small groups are
about 5 minutes; 3 minutes of the small groups is the teacher facilitating, and last 2
minutes the teacher is asking questions and making mental notes of the child’s progress;
also, observations in free play time; observations in outdoor play
27. Is student assessment used to inform teachers’ classroom instruction? n/a
28. Do you have any final comments or words to include in the study before we end the
interview? Feels curriculum is very important in child-care centers, actually good
curriculum. She taught kindergarten and it was the hardest to teach, because the students
were coming from centers that weren’t effective in using curriculum; its important to use
curriculum, to assess it. Feels curriculum is the core of a program. Thinks centers should
look deep at the curriculum they use; not just use it because it is cheap or popular. Her
program is kindergarten readiness program and it is driven that way because she knows
what students need