Aligning and Balancing the Standards-Based Curriculum.

Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- About the Author -- About the Balanced Curriculum Web Site -- Introduction -- Section I - Curriculum Tools and Concepts: Textbooks, Standards, Alignment, and Standardized Testing -- Chapter 1 - Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and Standards -- Curriculum: What it is and What it is Not -- Teacher Autonomy and the Role of Curriculum -- Why is Curriculum Important? -- Districts' Responses to Standards and High-Stakes Tests -- Summary -- Chapter 2 - Textbooks: What the Research Says -- A Brief History of Textbooks -- The Process of Publishing Textbooks -- TIMSS and NAEP Provide a Context for Understanding Textbooks' Role -- Content of What Teachers Teach -- TIMSS of Textbooks -- Mathematics and Science Textbooks -- What's Wrong with Today's Math and Science Texts? -- Social Studies Textbooks -- English and Language Arts Textbooks -- Basal Readers and the Balanced Curriculum -- Summary -- Chapter 3 - Understanding and Using National, State, and Local Frameworks and Standards -- Definition of Standards -- A Brief History of the Standards Movement -- The Logic behind the Standards Movement -- Summary -- Chapter 4 - The Importance of Aligning Curriculum -- The Alignment Problem: Many Standards, Limited Instruction -- The History of Alignment -- School Districts' Attempts at Alignment -- Textbooks Aligned to Standards and Tests -- Summary -- Chapter 5 - The Conundrum of Standardized Testing -- Summary of the History and Purpose of Standardized Testing -- Making Inferences -- Defining the Domain of What's Tested -- Sampling the Universe of Items in the Domain -- Sampling Decisions Must be Secret for Inferences about Test Results to be Valid -- Limited Testing and a Large Number of Standards -- Score Spread of Individual Items -- Tests Serve Multiple Missions -- Testing Narrows the Curriculum.

Lack Specifics about What is Tested Increases Curriculum Coverage -- Reporting Test Results -- One Score Used as the Only Source of Information for High-Stakes Decisions -- What to Do -- Summary -- Section II - The Design of the Balanced Curriculum -- Chapter 6 - Curriculum Structure and Criteria for a Useful and Useable Curriculum -- Curriculum Defined -- Some Options for Curriculum Structure -- Usefulness and Usability as Indicators of Curriculum Quality -- Summary -- Chapter 7 - The Balanced Curriculum Process -- Describe the Curriculum -- Align and Balance the Curriculum -- Assess the Curriculum -- Manage the Curriculum -- Provide Staff Development for the Curriculum -- Summary -- Chapter 8 - Setting up the Curriculum Writing Process -- The Planning Team, Superintendent, and Point Person -- The Superintendent -- Recruitment of Curriculum Authors -- The Role of Principals -- Various Models for the Curriculum Writing Process -- Summary -- Chapter 9 - Defining the Components of a Good Program -- Jamil -- Constance -- Commentary -- Summary -- Chapter 10 - Reviewing Standards, Sequencing Courses, Describing Units, and Delineating Unit Timelines -- Reviewing Standards -- Sequencing Courses -- Describing Units -- Unit Introductions -- Units as Promises -- Author and Planning Team Activities in Developing Course Sequences and Units -- Summary -- Chapter 11 - Other Standards for Alignment and Balance -- Thinking and Reasoning Standards -- Lifelong Learning Standards, Workplace Standards, and Technology Standards -- District-Based Standards -- Learning Styles -- Standards for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Students -- Comer's Developmental Pathways -- Assessments -- Deciding on and Using Other Standards to Develop a Balanced Curriculum -- Summary -- Chapter 12 - Generating and Validating Significant Tasks.

Significant Tasks: A Basis for Lesson Planning -- Example of Lesson Planning with Significant Tasks -- Author Groups Create Significant Tasks -- Bottom-up or Top-Down Planning? -- Steps for Creating Significant Tasks: The Bottom-up Approach (Define Tasks and Then Refer to Standards) -- Steps for Creating Significant Tasks: The Top-Down Approach (Generate Significant Tasks by Referring to Standards First) -- Summary -- Chapter 13 - Aligning the Balanced Curriculum with Standards and Assessments -- Alignment of Significant Tasks to State Standards, Standardized Tests, and State Tests in the Balanced Curriculum Process -- Aligning the Balanced Curriculum -- Setting up Courses to Align with Standards on the Web Site -- Alignment Process -- Summary -- Chapter 14 - Balancing the Aligned Curriculum -- The Role of Personal Professional Standards in the Process of Balancing the Curriculum -- The Balancing Process -- Balancing the Curriculum with Reference to Previous Test Results -- Reviewer's Role -- Summary -- Chapter 15 - Constructing Content Assessments -- The Role of Assessment in the Balanced Curriculum -- Criteria for Good Assessments -- Designing Content Assessments -- Sample Content Assessments -- Using the Content Assessments -- Chapter 16 - Constructing Format Assessments -- Format Assessment and Standardized Testing -- Use of Wishnick's (1989) Research to Produce Format Assessments -- Section III - Staff Development for and Results of the Balanced Curriculum -- Chapter 17 - Introducing the Balanced Curriculum Process in a District -- The Role of the Planning Team -- Superintendent's Role -- Implementation Starts with Initial Plans for Writing the Curriculum: The Planning Team's Role -- Preparing for Implementation: Understanding District Norms -- The "Do it all" Strategy for Districtwide Implementation -- Revising the Curriculum -- Summary.

Chapter 18 - Staff Development to Promote Curriculum Implementation -- Planning Team -- Districtwide Staff Development -- Building-Based Staff Development -- Central Office Staff Development -- Summary -- Chapter 19 - The Superintendent's Role -- Description of Districts -- Leadership from the Superintendent's Office -- Leadership Strategies -- Chapter 20 - The Results So Far: Fifteen Years of Data from Urban, Suburban, and Rural Schools -- The Red Bank Model, 1978-1992 -- Richardson Elementary School, Washington, DC, 1993-1994 -- New York City SURR Schools, 1994-1997 -- District 13, New York City, 1997-2000 -- Newburgh, New York, 1999-2002 -- Mott School, Trenton, New Jersey, 2000-2002 -- Passaic, New Jersey, 2001-2003 -- Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 2001-2004 (Still Active) -- Hertford County, North Carolina, 2001-2004 (Still Active) -- Summary -- Bibliography -- Index.

Full of field-tested implementation tools, this comprehensive handbook shows how schools and districts can use the Balanced Curriculum process to put their schools on the track to success.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.