Aligned curriculum is a balanced school program that accommodates a wide variety of developmental levels and is designed to increase the intellectual, personal, physical, social and career development of all students. Curriculum must be rigorous and challenging, aligned to district and/or state standards and benchmarks, and vertically and horizontally articulated across all levels.
Administrators and teachers should use the following guiding questions to analyze their PreK-12 curriculum alignment. This analysis will help determine if curriculum alignment should be a major focus of their CIP process.
- Is there formalized written curriculum for PreK-12 in all content areas?
- Is curriculum aligned with
- Nebraska State Standards or approved local standards?
- Nebraska Essential Learnings for all content areas?
- National Standards in the corresponding content area?
- Nebraska Early Learning Guidelines?
- 21 st Century skills , i.e. higher-order thinking, problem solving, etc.?
- Is the Curriculum reflective of
- District’s vision and mission?
- Local Board policies?
- A consenous process by teachers who are experienced with the content area and age groups of students involved?
- Is the curriculum
- Reviewed and revised at regular intervals?
- Based on data, research, and best practices?
- Comprehensive and sequential?
- Totally integrated with quality instruction and assessments?
- A framework for facilitating teaching and learning?
- Reflective of a commitment to equity and an appreciation of diversity?
- Articulated to ensure P-16 student performance and readiness for employment?
- Does the curriculum
- Challenge each student to excel?
- Provide for differentiated levels of instruction?
- Include a system for implementing interventions to help students who need it?
- Move the staff away from textbook only to textbook as a resource?
- Is the staff
- Familiar with the horizontal and vertical alignment of their specific content area(s) to the district’s curriculum?
- Given dedicated time to work with peers on alignment?
- Have families and community partners
- Been given a chance to provide input?
- For additional questions, check out the following phases of Continuous School Improvement: