Curriculum Mapping
Today, more than ever before, educators are faced with the idea that in order to improve instruction, they will need to create newer, faster and better systems to assess their schools strengths and weaknesses. Educators are now responsible for gathering an array of measures, including formative academic assessments, attendance rates, suspension rates, public opinion ratings, and school climate surveys. Educators must determine how they will assess progress and plan instruction that expands beyond the data achieved through state-standardized testing. New National and State school accountability reports are now including such indicators as attendance rates, suspension rates, at risk student performance rates, and student and community perceptions of school safety.
To accomplish the growing demand on data retrieval, principals will need to rethink their approaches to the gathering of accountability data, and how they will use that data, for the improvement of student learning. The day has arrived when educators will need to have the skills necessary in making multi-measure data useful in the facilitation of change. To facilitate positive changes, the educators will need a number of data analysis tools for tracking the school improvement process. Such data analysis tools would include monitoring curriculum delivery, measuring student performances through content analysis, tracking at-risk student performance, and providing real-time student assessment information.
No Child Left Behind and Accountability
The issue of outcomes accountability is one of the oldest issues faced in education. Determining what knowledge is of most worth sparks continuous debate. Because of the complexity of the issue and the difficulty of adequately resolving these fundamentally philosophic questions, schools and teachers within the same district may not share the belief that particular standards are expected for students at a given grade or given course. When schools’ and teachers’ share no common beliefs about what constitutes a desired set of skills for a particular grade or course, the issue of effective schooling or effective teaching is irrelevant. The present notion to offset this irrelevant notion of school and teacher effectiveness is now more relevant than ever as legislation begins to promote higher degrees of accountability. In essence, the new No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to make clearer judgments on curriculum delivery and the measurement of individual obtainment of specific skills. As quoted from the Official U.S. Department of Education Website, “Under No Child Left Behind, each state must measure every public school student’s progress in reading and math in each of grades 3 through 8 and at least once during grades 10 through 12. In the school year 2007-2008, assessments (or testing) in science are now well underway. These assessments must be aligned with state academic content and achievement standards. They will provide parents with objective data on where their child stands academically.” 1
Under the new standards of the No Child Left Behind Act, effective schooling is assessed by judging whether classroom or schooling process are related to the intentions of the state in terms of curriculum delivery. School districts or individual schools now caught with a curriculum guide and a state test that are not carefully matched to each other are in great trouble as they report their effectiveness to both the state and their communities. Now more than ever, it will be important for schools to grasp the idea of alignment to state standards. It will be a critical factor to school effectiveness reporting and should be noted that it will be impossible for teachers and schools to be found effective if they teach one thing and find the students tested on another. If students are to take a test that will be used to judge the schools effectiveness then students must have the opportunity to learn what it is that is on the test.
Sensible discussion of effectiveness cannot be measured unless the skills and knowledge of instruction are convergent to the desires and responsibilities of teachers to give each child an opportunity to learn the skills desirable. Any achievement test used as an indicator of school effectiveness must be linked logically to the curriculum that is delivered. The meaning of an opportunity to learn is when students are successfully engaged in task that is related to skills they will be assessed on in the future.
Advancements in real-time technology now provide schools with an opening to systematically account for engagement on specific skills, as well as the ability to monitor individual progress. The authors will introduce some methods for accomplishing the accountability questions through the use of technology and how technology can support the management and delivery of a required curriculum. These methods for using technology for managing the curriculum include: (1) real-time reporting of curriculum expectations, (2) monitoring student performances in key content areas, and (3) analyzing student subgroups performances.
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Curriculum Mapping
One method of real-time reporting of curriculum expectations is to develop curriculum-mapping software that integrates effective teaching practices as ordinances for tracking time engaged on individual curriculum standards. This type of software program, once developed, would make provisions for an evaluative means by which teachers can analyze the curriculum as it is delivered in a real-time format. This type of curriculum reporting would give teachers and curriculum designers insurance that students receive a balanced instructional program. Real-time assessment and evaluation of student achievement could provide teachers with an opportunity to think critically about their choice of content and the overall effectiveness of instruction. Real-time reporting of curriculum progression would provide the necessary frameworks for teachers and principals to systematically review course content, instructional strategies, and assessment procedures to make identified program changes to improve student learning. One method for managing the real-time assessment of curriculum would be to design a curriculum-mapping model that blends both content decision-making with effective instructional delivery strategies.
Procedures for developing real-time curriculum mapping strategies is a simple process that can be achieved by using software packages now made available on most home computers. One example of a home software program that could be used to develop real-time tracking of curriculum delivery is the Microsoft Excel software application.
Curriculum mapping is a systematic approach to monitoring, the implementation of the curriculum and the gathering of feedback. In other words, it is the reconstruction of the real curriculum that teachers have taught. This type of curriculum monitoring was first introduced by the Long Branch, New Jersey School District in September of 1980. The primary problem that plagued the system was the lack of technology to support real-time tracking of the curriculum and its failure to processes timely data.
Most mapping procedures are based upon at least two constants: content taught and time spent. The intent of a curriculum map is to show exactly how much time is devoted to each major learning task within each classroom or subject area. This is done through a self-log of units of topics, time, and/or sequence. The two most common approaches for the self-log procedures are the blank sheet and the checklist. Both the checklist approach and the blank sheet approach can only emulate what already currently exist in every day teaching of the curriculum. Both procedures for mapping can, with effective design, address the concept that the single most important factor in predicting whether or not a teacher is delivering to students a curriculum that is linked empirically to the outcomes that are desired. The heart of curriculum mapping is to insure that each student is given the opportunity to learn what is expected of him or her. Thus both the teacher and the student must hold with crystal clarity a conception of the desired skills for the student in a class or course. Modern technology now makes it possible to register more complete information about the effectiveness of instruction and how it relates to student performance.
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The Blank Sheet Approach to Curriculum Mapping
The blank sheet approach gives the school or district a greater amount of flexibility, but once it is developed, there are a greater number of uncertainties to its value. Blank sheet maps are usually designed by asking teacher teams to use a calendar to pre-chart the curriculum to be delivered as it is aligned to district or state standards. The charting is primarily based upon collecting basic information on a calendar grid about individual curriculum plans such as units, types of assessment, skills taught, content, activities and interdisciplinary connections. (See Curriculum Mapping Template Exhibit 1-1) Once this process is finalized then the data for time and delivery are compared across the school or district to determine future potentials for curriculum alignment to desired outcomes. The benefits from the blank sheet approach is to bring about awareness of individual approaches to curriculum delivery and how these individual approaches compare to what is desired by the district or state. The blank sheet approach requires a great deal of time and decision making from professionals during the compilation stage and has no guarantee that an equal opportunity for learning will occur.
exhibit-1-curriculum-mapping-template.pdf
Reinforcing Performance Standards through Curriculum Mapping To reinforce performance standards teachers should identify the skills, activities, and experiences they will use in the instruction of the specific learning and to design appropriate assessment strategies for evaluating them. This can be accomplished through a curriculum mapping process using the blank sheet approach in Exhibit 1-1 Curriculum Mapping Template. The process of mapping requires a teacher to select content, choose instructional activities and strategies, and design assessments. The mapping process also requires teachers to sequence all the elements of the curriculum into a coherent, workable framework. The end result of the mapping process will be an aligned curriculum in which students are tested on what they are expected to learn, and what they are expected to learn is included in the instruction they receive. By focusing instruction on essential performance standards, alignment-mapping activities can play an important role in improving student achievement when reinforcing a desired curriculum. Teachers can use the information from the mapping process to develop individual lesson plans that support the desired curriculum and the integration of technology into their classrooms. Individual lesson plans should include: the learning objective, the steps necessary for executing the lesson, the length of time in days needed to complete the lesson, and a list of technology links that will support the lessons.
The Check List Approach to Curriculum Mapping
The checklist approach to mapping the curriculum requires more time during the planning and organizing phases as a design for inventorying the practices of teachers is developed and tested. The checklist approach starts with the design of an instrument that will allow teachers to mark their progression on the delivery of the curriculum within a given time frame. Specific elements of the checklist approach would include the development of a data collection instrument, specific procedures on how the data is to be recorded and how that information would be compiled and reported. The checklist approach is a real-time monitoring program that allows individuals to observe the curriculum as it is being delivered on a daily or weekly basis. An example of this type of approach would be to compile a skills chart for each teacher to record data on as they teach specific skills listed on the chart. The information could be recorded by placing a simple check mark next to the skill taught or by recording a specific time spent on a specific skill. The teachers would then submit their charts to the designated data collection site for recording and reporting. A criticism of the checklist approach is that it gives teachers the feeling of the lack of flexibility to teaching, slights the uniqueness of the curriculum and promotes the idea that every teacher should be on the same page at the same time. (See Curriculum Mapping Checklist Exhibit 1-2)
exhibit-1-curriculum-mapping-checklist.pdf
Developing and Integrating Effective Teaching Practices into the Mapping Process
Effective teachers have standards in mind when they establish their lesson plans and they know how to deliver specific standards to ensure higher levels of student achievement. Both the selection of standards and effective delivery are the essential elements that support the effective principals of instruction. When developing a mapping plan, both the standards and the elements of delivery should be included and should be designed around the following three prerequisites:
- Teachers must select appropriate standards for instructional delivery
- Teachers must keep students engaged in learning activities that support selected standards
- Teachers must assess and reassess student mastery levels on standards delivered
Step One: Identifying Standards for Monitoring
The first step in the mapping process is to identify specific content standards for each subject and grade level. Content standards are broad descriptions of the knowledge and skills students should acquire, while performance standards define and provide concrete examples of the desired levels of student achievement expected by the content standards. Together, content and performance standards not only define what students should know and be able to do in specific areas, but should guide both instruction and assessments at the classroom level. To appropriately measure standards, it is recommended that existing state standards that are used to measure student performance be selected and applied to the curriculum mapping charts. Most state standards are available on the Internet and can be downloaded. Once the standards are identified, the next step in the process is to code and transfer them to subject and grade level charts similar to the one represented in Exhibit 1-2.
Step Two: Develop Strategies for Mapping Skills
The second step in developing a curriculum map is to develop tools, definitions of fields and methods for charting curriculum delivery. It is recommended that the charting process address the following two issues:
- How information will be recorded to ensure students are engaged in learning activities that support selected standards
- How will information be recorded when teachers assess and reassess student mastery levels on standards delivered
In other words, the terms for recording information must be well-defined and instruments must be developed for charting instructional delivery. Selecting an instrument for mapping the curriculum should be simple in design, easy to use and time restrictive. The curriculum-mapping model represented in Exhibit 1-3, uses several distinct features that answer the aforementioned questions on how mapping will insure student engagement and mastery of specified standards within the curriculum. This type of mapping model requires teachers to record specific instructional data as it relates to content delivery under the following categories:
- Engaged time devoted to each standard for a specific period and day.
- Proficiency level of their class after assessment occurs on a specific standard
- Time devoted to reassessing standards
Using categories for recording student-engaged time allows for some insurance that the skills desired are being delivered. Secondly, having teacher’s record information on mastery and reassessment of skills gives real-time indicators of the level of proficiency within a given standard. To ensure information is recorded correctly is a process of defining the fields and will be addressed in step three of designing the curriculum mapping process.
exhibit-1-engaged-time-curriculum-mapping-chart.pdf
Step Three: Defining Fields and Develop Procedures for Mapping Skills
In every type of mapping program fields for recording data must be defined. Defining the recording fields allows for some assurance that the information desired in the mapping process is to a degree accurate and reliable. Without specific definitions, individuals responsible for recoding information will become frustrated and confused. In the curriculum mapping model used in Exhibit 1-3 Engaged Time Curriculum Mapping Chart, teachers are requested to record information within three separate fields. These fields include the amount of time a student is engaged in content delivery, the level of class mastery on a given standard, and the amount of time spent reassessing a given standard. The fields for recording information would be defined in terms of engagement, mastery and reassessment. To appropriately ensure a clear definition of these fields, two separate events must occur. First, the designers of the mapping process should define in writing characteristics of the fields for recording information. (See Exhibit 1-4) Secondly, professional development time must be devoted to ensure teachers have a clear understanding of field definitions and how this information will be recorded on individual maps.
exhibit-1-4-defined-characteristics-feilds.pdf
Step Four: Tracking and Reporting Real Time Curriculum Mapping Information
Step four of the map design involves frequency decisions on how information will be retrieved and disseminated. The frequency for data retrieval will need to be designed in a way that the assimilation of data is reported within relative short periods of time. The frequency for data retrieval from individual instructors should not extend beyond a four-week period of time. This time frame for data retrieval will ensure the provision of real time information that is being recorded from individual charts. The curriculum-mapping model presented in Exhibit 1-3 specifies a three-week reporting period. The information obtained from individual curriculum mapping charts is then transferred to a master data collection profile sheet to map curriculum progression for a school term. Data gained from this type of mapping program would give teachers real-time benchmarks on what skills need to be reinforced prior to yearly assessment.
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