ABC Curriculum Showcase Coventry Public Schools February 10, 2009 An introduction for parents and community members Left click your mouse to advance to the next screen.

Curriculum Provides parents with comprehensive overview of all classes taught during the year Informs parents of timelines for specific units Enables parents to discuss topics related to student learning Informs parents of primary learning activities for each unit Allows parents to anticipate major projects and assignments

ABC Philosophy Higher order thinking skills empower students to answer essential questions. All students have equal access to an aligned curriculum. ABC is a promise that all students receive consistent educational experiences. District evaluation of K-12 educational experience is ongoing.

Why ABC? State of the art, cutting edge, 21 st century web-based curriculum Curriculum mapping is the key to helping students learn more and score higher. Curriculum, testing, and teaching must change together to improve education. Unless all improve in concert, nothing will change. (L.A. Steen, 1989)

Alignments The alignment process ensures that the curriculum matches the Connecticut State Standards for each content area.

ABC Overview

Timelines The First Step in ABC Structure time and content Sequence the units to build on one another Ensure content can be covered in time allocated

Unit Introductions Contain general introduction summarizing the skills, knowledge and concepts Contain one or more essential concepts: –Open ended, non judgmental; invite exploration of ideas –Encourage collaboration and integrate technology to support the learning process Provide framework for the development of significant tasks Language from state standards explicitly and consciously used

Significant Tasks Define major student outcomes for each unit Specify what is to be learned and how it is to be learned Contain enough information to: – devise daily lesson plans – devise content assessments

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Objectives Benjamin Bloom developed categories to describe different levels of cognitive processes that might be involved in learning. His system arranges those thinking skills from lower level understandings to higher order thinking processes, from the simple and concrete to the complex and abstract. His system arranges those thinking skills from lower level understandings to higher order thinking processes, from the simple and concrete to the complex and abstract. Rigorous curriculum provides ample opportunities for students to engage in higher level thinking. ABC facilitates our use of Bloom’s taxonomy in planning a challenging academic program.

Critical Thinking Skills Level 1 Knowledge: recall or recognize information and ideas Comprehension: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed or read Application: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate to a prior experience

Critical Thinking Skills Level 2 Analysis: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show relationships among the parts Synthesis: Assemble parts of knowledge in order to combine concepts and build new ideas for new situations Evaluation: Make informed judgments about the value of ideas or materials using standards and criteria to support opinions

Assessments Two types of assessments: –Content Project, hands-on activity or test Only one per Significant Task Only one per Significant Task – Format Standardized test Only one per Unit Assessments are necessary for students to demonstrate proficiency

Content Assessments These assessments are used to assess students’ proficiency on Significant Tasks The Significant Task description should specify what needs to be assessed Significant Tasks are already aligned to standards, thus standards are embedded in assessments Taken from: Aligning and Balancing the Standards Based Curriculum by David A. Squires

Format Assessments These assessments provide needed practice on the format of standardized testing, i.e., CMT & CAPT Can be done once at the end of each Unit Allows students to demonstrate their knowledge in a specialized way Taken from: Aligning and Balancing the Standards Based Curriculum By David A. Squires

Where are we? Year three of the initiative; a work in progress Many areas “under construction” Collaboration across grade levels determines content for courses K-12 Timelines, Unit Introductions, Significant Tasks

For more information, please visit the ABC Curriculum Website at: Directions for logging in can be found on the main page of the Coventry Public Schools website under “Quick Links.” Thank you!