UNIT 1: THE SCHOOL

CURRICULUM AND THE

STUDENTS
Lesson 1. Curriculum in Schools
Lesson 2: The Teacher as Curricularists
CURRICULUM IN
SCHOOLS
PRESENTED BY:
RODGER C. SANCHEZ
 WHAT IS CURRICULUM?
• The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific
course or program. In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school,
but it is rarely used in such a general sense in schools.
• Depending on how broadly educators define or employ the term, curriculum typically refers to the
knowledge and skills students are expected to learn, which includes the learning standards or
learning objectives they are expected to meet; the units and lessons that teachers teach; the
assignments and projects given to students; the books, materials, videos, presentations, and readings
used in a course; and the tests, assessments, and other methods used to evaluate student learning.
• An individual teacher’s curriculum, for example, would be the specific learning standards, lessons,
assignments, and materials used to organize and teach a particular course.
• REFFERENCE:
https://www.edglossary.org/curriculum/#:~:text=The%20term%20curriculum%20refers%20to,a%20
general%20sense%20in%20schools
.
• In many cases, teachers develop their own curricula, often refining and improving them over
years, although it is also common for teachers to adapt lessons and syllabi created by other
teachers, use curriculum templates and guides to structure their lessons and courses, or purchase
prepackaged curricula from individuals and companies.

• In some cases, schools purchase comprehensive, multigrade curriculum package often in a

particular subject area, such as mathematics that teachers are required to use or follow.

• Curriculum may also encompass a school’s academic requirements for graduation, such as the
courses students have to take and pass, the number of credits students must complete, and other
requirements, such as completing a capstone project or a certain number of community-service
hours.

• Generally speaking, curriculum takes many different forms in schools too many to
comprehensively catalog here.
 LEARNING STANDARDS
• Learning standards are concise, written descriptions of what students are expected to know
and be able to do at a specific stage of their education. Learning standards describe
educational objectives i.e., what students should have learned by the end of a course, grade
level, or grade span but they do not describe any particular teaching practice, curriculum, or
assessment method (although this is a source of ongoing confusion and debate).
• REFFERENCE: https://www.edglossary.org/learning-standards/
 ASSESSMENT
• In education, the term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators
use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill
acquisition, or educational needs of students.
• While assessments are often equated with traditional tests especially the standardized tests
developed by testing companies and administered to large populations of students educators use
a diverse array of assessment tools and methods to measure everything from a four-year-old’s
readiness for kindergarten to a twelfth-grade student’s comprehension of advanced physics.
• Just as academic lessons have different functions, assessments are typically designed to
measure specific elements of learning e.g., the level of knowledge a student already has about
the concept or skill the teacher is planning to teach or the ability to comprehend and analyze
different types of texts and readings.
• REFFERENCE: https://www.edglossary.org/assessment/
 TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS
• High-stakes assessments are typically standardized
tests used for the purposes of accountability i.e., any
attempt by federal, state, or local government agencies
to ensure that students are enrolled in effective schools
and being taught by effective teachers. In general,
“high stakes” means that important decisions about
students, teachers, schools, or districts are based on the
scores students achieve on a high-stakes test, and either
punishments (sanctions, penalties, reduced funding,
negative publicity, not being promoted to the next
grade, not being allowed to graduate) or accolades
(awards, public celebration, positive publicity, bonuses,
grade promotion, diplomas) result from those scores.
• Pre-assessments are administered before
students begin a lesson, unit, course, or
academic program. Students are not necessarily
expected to know most, or even any, of the
material evaluated by pre-assessments they are
generally used to establish a baseline against
which educators measure learning progress
over the duration of a program, course, or
instructional period, or determine general
academic readiness for a course, program,
grade level, or new academic program that
student may be transferring into
• Formative assessments are in-process evaluations of student learning that are typically administered
multiple times during a unit, course, or academic program. The general purpose of formative assessment
is to give educators in-process feedback about what students are learning or not learning so that
instructional approaches, teaching materials, and academic support can be modified accordingly.
Formative assessments are usually not scored or graded, and they may take a variety of forms, from more
formal quizzes and assignments to informal questioning techniques and in-class discussions with
students.

• Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning at the conclusion of a specific
instructional period—typically at the end of a unit, course, semester, program, or school year. Summative
assessments are typically scored and graded tests, assignments, or projects that are used to determine
whether students have learned what they were expected to learn during the defined instructional period.

• REFFERENCES: https://www.edglossary.org/assessment/
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• In education, learning objectives are brief statements that describe what students will be
expected to learn by the end of school year, course, unit, lesson, project, or class period. In
many cases, learning objectives are the interim academic goals that teachers establish for
students who are working toward meeting more comprehensive learning standards.
• Learning objectives are also increasingly being used in the job-performance evaluations of
teachers, and the term student learning objectives is commonly associated with this practice
in many states. For a more detailed discussion, including relevant reforms and debates on the
topic, see value-added measures and student-growth measures.
• REFFERENCES: https://www.edglossary.org/learning-objectives/
 FORMS OF LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• School-year or grade-level objectives: In
this case, learning objectives may be
synonymous with learning standards, which
are concise, written descriptions of what
students are expected to know and be able
to do at a specific stage of their education.
Grade-level learning objectives describe
what students should achieve academically
by the end of a particular grade level or
grade span (terms such as grade-level
indicators or grade-level benchmarks may
be used in reference to these learning
objectives or standards).
• Course or program objectives:
• Teachers may also determine learning
objectives for courses or other academic
programs, such as summer-school sessions
or vacation-break programs. In this case,
the objectives may be the same academic
goals described in learning standards (in the
case of a full-year course, for example), or
they may describe interim goals (for
courses that are shorter in duration).
• Unit or project objectives: Teachers may determine learning objectives for instructional units,
which typically comprise a series of lessons focused on a specific topic or common theme, such as
an historical period, for example. In the case of project-based learning—an instructional approach
that utilizes multifaceted projects as a central organizing strategy for educating students—teachers
may determine learning objectives for the end of long-term project rather than a unit.

• Lesson or class-period objectives: Teachers may also articulate learning objectives for specific
lessons that compose a unit, project, or course, or they may determine learning objectives for each
day they instruct students (in this case, the term learning target is often used). For example, teachers
may write a set of daily learning objectives on the blackboard, or post them to an online course-
management system, so that students know what the learning expectations are for a particular class
period. In this case, learning objectives move students progressively toward meeting more
comprehensive learning goals for a unit or course.

• REFFERENCES: https://www.edglossary.org/learning-objectives/
 COMMON WAYS THAT LEARNING OBJECTIVES MAY
BE FRAMED OR EXPRESSED BY TEACHERS
• Descriptive statements:
• Learning objectives may be expressed as brief
statements describing what students should
know or be able to do by the end of a defined
instructional period. For example: Explain
how the Constitution establishes the separation
of powers among the three branches of the
United States government legislative,
executive, and judicial and articulate the
primary powers held by each branch. State
learning standards, which may comprise a
variety of learning objectives, are commonly
expressed as descriptive statements
• “I can” statements:
• Teachers may choose to express learning
objectives as “I can” statements as a way to
frame the objectives from a student standpoint.
The basic idea is that “I can” statements
encourage students to identify with the learning
goals, visualize themselves achieving the goals,
or experience a greater sense of personal
accomplishment when the learning objectives are
achieved. For example: I can explain how the
Constitution establishes the separation of powers
among the three branches of the United States
government legislative, executive, and judicial
and I can articulate the primary powers held by
each branch.
• “Students will be able to” statements: “Students will be able to” statements
are another commonly used format for learning objectives, and the
abbreviation SWBAT may be used in place of the full phrase. For example:
SWBAT explain how the Constitution establishes the separation of powers
among the three branches of the United States government legislative,
executive, and judicial and articulate the primary powers held by each
branch.

• REFFERENCES: https://www.edglossary.org/learning-objectives/
 REFORM OF THE SCHOOL
CURRICULUM
• Standards requirements:
• When new learning standards are adopted at the state, district, or school levels, teachers
typically modify what they teach and bring their curriculum into “alignment” with the
learning expectations outlined in the new standards. While the technical alignment of
curriculum with standards does not necessarily mean that teachers are teaching in
accordance with the standards or, more to the point, that students are actually achieving
those learning expectations learning standards remain a mechanism by which policy makers
and school leaders attempt to improve curriculum and teaching quality.
Assessment requirements:

• Another reform strategy that indirectly influences curriculum is assessment, since the methods used to
measure student learning compel teachers to teach the content and skills that will eventually be
evaluated. The most commonly discussed examples are standardized testing and high-stakes testing,
which can give rise to a phenomenon informally called “teaching to the test.”
• Because federal and state policies require students to take standardized tests at certain grade levels, and
because regulatory penalties or negative publicity may result from poor student performance (in the
case of high-stakes tests), teachers are consequently under pressure to teach in ways that are likely to
improve student performance on standardized tests e.g., by teaching the content likely to be tested or by
coaching students on specific test-taking techniques.
• While standardized tests are one way in which assessment is used to leverage curriculum reform,
schools may also use rubrics and many other strategies to improve teaching quality through the
modification of assessment strategies, requirements, and expectations.
Curriculum alignment:

• Schools may try to improve curriculum quality by bringing teaching activities and course
expectations into “alignment” with learning standards and other school courses—a practice
sometimes called “curriculum mapping.”
• The basic idea is to create a more consistent and coherent academic program by making sure
that teachers teach the most important content and eliminate learning gaps that may exist
between sequential courses and grade levels.
• For example, teachers may review their mathematics program to ensure that what students are
actually being taught in every Algebra I course offered in the school not only reflects expected
learning standards for that subject area and grade level, but that it also prepares students for
Algebra II and geometry.
• When the curriculum is not aligned, students might be taught significantly different content in
each Algebra I course, for example, and students taking different Algebra I courses may
complete the courses unevenly prepared for Algebra II.
Curriculum philosophy:

• The design and goals of any curriculum reflect the educational philosophy
whether intentionally or unintentionally of the educators who developed it.
• Consequently, curriculum reform may occur through the adoption of a different
philosophy or model of teaching by a school or educator.
• Schools that follow the Expeditionary Learning model, for example, embrace a
variety of approaches to teaching generally known as project-based learning,
which encompasses related strategies such as community-based learning and
authentic learning.
• In Expeditionary Learning schools, students complete multifaceted projects
called “expeditions” that require teachers to develop and structure curriculum in
ways that are quite different from the more traditional approaches commonly
used in schools.
Curriculum packages:
• In some cases, schools decide to purchase or adopt a curriculum package that has
been developed by an outside organization.
• One well-known and commonly used option for American public schools is
International Baccalaureate, which offers curriculum programs for elementary
schools, middle schools, and high schools.
• Districts may purchase all three programs or an individual school may purchase
only one, and the programs may be offered to all or only some of the students in a
school. When schools adopt a curriculum package, teachers often receive
specialized training to ensure that the curriculum is effectively implemented and
taught.
• In many cases, curriculum packages are purchased or adopted because they are
perceived to be of a higher quality or more prestigious than the existing curriculum
options offered by a school or independently developed by teachers.
Curriculum resources:

• The resources that schools provide to teachers can also have a significant affect on curriculum. For
example, if a district or school purchases a certain set of textbooks and requires teachers to use them, those
textbooks will inevitably influence what gets taught and how teachers teach. Technology purchases are
another example of resources that have the potential to influence curriculum.

• If all students are given laptops and all classrooms are outfitted with interactive whiteboards, for example,
teachers can make significant changes in what they teach and how they teach to take advantage of these
new technologies (for a more detailed discussion of this example, see one-to-one). In most cases, however,
new curriculum resources require schools to invest in professional development that helps teachers use the
new resources effectively, given that simply providing new resources without investing in teacher
education and training may fail to bring about desired improvements.

• In addition, the type of professional development provided to teachers can also have a major influence on
curriculum development and design.
Curriculum standardization:

 States, districts, and schools may also try to improve teaching quality and
effectiveness by requiring, or simply encouraging, teachers to use either a
standardized curriculum or common processes for developing curriculum.
 While the strategies used to promote more standardized curricula can vary widely
from state to state or school to school, the general goal is to increase teaching
quality through greater curricular consistency.
 School performance will likely improve, the reasoning goes, if teaching methods
and learning expectations are based on sound principles and consistently applied
throughout a state, district, or school.
Curriculum scripting:
• Often called “scripted curriculum,” the scripting of curriculum is the most prescriptive form of
standardized, prepackaged curriculum, since it typically requires teachers to not only follow a particular
sequence of preprepared lessons, but to actually read aloud from a teaching script in class.
• While the professional autonomy and creativity of individual teachers may be significantly limited when
such a curriculum system is used, the general rationale is that teaching quality can be assured or
improved, or at least maintained, across a school or educational system if teachers follow a precise
instructional script.
• While not every teacher will be a naturally excellent teacher, the reasoning goes, all teachers can at least
be given a high-quality curriculum script to follow.
• Scripted curricula tend to be most common in districts and schools that face significant challenges
attracting and retaining experienced or qualified teachers, such as larger urban schools in high-poverty
communities.

• REFERENCE:
https://www.edglossary.org/curriculum/#:~:text=The%20term%20curriculum%20refers%20to,a%20gene
ral%20sense%20in%20schools
.
SAMPLE PICTURES OF
SCHOOL CURRICULUM
THE TEACHER AS THE
CURRICULARISTS
PRESENTED BY :
ERICKA ILUMBA
ROMIELYN MENGUEZ
THANK YOU 