CURRICULUM MAPPING: Getting Started with the Review Process

Our Essential Questions: How can curriculum mapping

improve student performance?

How can we take apart assessment data and merge our findings into our maps?

How can we assist our teachers and administrators in developing an implementation plan for carrying out curriculum mapping?

What Is Curriculum Mapping? Calendar-based curriculum

mapping is a procedure for collecting and maintaining a data base of the operational curriculum in a school and/or district.

It provides the basis for authentic examination of the data base.

Mapping is a coin with two sides:

One side is the documentation –the maps

themselves

One side is the review process – examining

and revising map cumulatively between

teachers

Targeting Needs: Discussions, debates, and decisions will be based on…

What is in the best interest of our specific clients, the students in our educational setting?

Their ages Their stages of development Their learning characteristics Their communities Their aspirations Their needs The need for cumulative learning

What information do we collect initially on a map?

CONTENT

SKILLS

ASSESSMENT

How can we set the stage before launching our CM work? • Setting up leadership

groups (teams) in each building (or district level) to create the conditions for success

• Structuring conditions that will make a difference in your planning and initiating

• Creating meaningful roles for cadre’s participants

• Carrying out effective R & D for technology and long-term plans

Prologue: Establishing a

Leadership Cadre (District or School Site, Dependent on the Level of

Initiative

The First Charge for the Lead Mapmakers:

Become knowledgeable about, and comfortable with, the mapping “basics” Identify and choose a technology format and templateIdentify most valuable forms of assessment. Draft an Action Plan (Timeline) for introducing the mapping process to the faculty.

In order to motivate and engage staff:

Best Practice: Introduce CM as a tool to solve a specific teaching and learning problem at the school.

Best Practice:Introduce CM as a hub for integrating

building and district initiatives.

The Hub Effect

Identify initiatives that would be better served through the use of the CM review process, for example…

? ?

?

CM

Establishing “Purpose” for Curriculum Mapping

The Use of the Empty Chair Examining Beginning and Future Mapping Tasks

Potential tasks to address school/district/complex problems:

Gain information

Avoid repetition

Identify gaps

Locate potential

areas for

integration

Match with learner

standards

Examine for

timeliness

Edit for coherence

To Gain “Task Information” On Maps…

Underline (or conduct a search using a key word) every place in a series of maps wherein you learn something new about the operational curriculum.

When sharing with colleagues, this process expands a teacher’s or group of teachers’ understanding of his/her/their students’ experience(s).

Edit for Repetitions… Recognize the

difference between meaningless redundancy and powerful spiraling.

Edit for Gaps…

Examine maps for gaps in:

• Content

• Thinking Processes

& Skills

• Assessments

Locate potential areas for integration…

Peruse a map or series of maps and circle/note potential areas for integration of content, skills, and assessment…

These can serve as the springboard for integrated curriculum planning and conversation.

Validate State, District, Site, Power Standards…

Search the maps for places where students are completing Performance Tasks related to Skills and Content that match your Standards.

Identify gaps or repetitions of “intensity” of Standards.

Edit for timeliness…

Review the maps for timely issues, breakthroughs, methods, materials, and new types of assessments.

Be vigilant about technology in all aspects of learning.

Edit for Coherence… Scrutinize the

maps for a solid match between the choice of Content, the featured Skills & Processes, and the variety of Assessments.

THE CM REVIEW AND REVISION PROCESS

The procedures for mapping are best presented in a seven-phase model for teachers.

The CM Seven-Step Review Process:

1. Collecting the Data 2. First Read-Through 3. Small Like/Mixed-Group Review 4. Large Like/Mixed-Group Comparisons 5. Determine Immediate Revision Points 6. Determine Points Requiring Some

Research and Planning 7. Plan for Next Review Cycle (from Mapping the Big Picture: Integrating Curriculum

and Assessment K-12; 1997, ASCD, Jacobs, HH.)

1. Collecting the Data

Each teacher in the building completes a first-draft of a projected or diary map

The format is consistent for each teacher, but reflects the individual nature of each classroom

Important Note: Technology simplifies the publishing of data collection

Define...

What do exemplary maps look

like?

What do “quality” maps look like?

The quality of your school/districts’ conversations and collaborations can only be as good as the quality of its

maps.

Key Initiative Points for First Experiences: Do not overwhelm teachers with

an initial task entry that is too large!

One discipline in an elementary school; preferably one in need of attention given student performance.

One prep per secondary teacher.

Red Flag!

Remember When Collecting The Content Data May Be Listed:Configuration Discipline-Field

Based Interdisciplinar

y Student-

Centered

Type of Focus

•Topics

•Issues

•Works

•Problems

•Themes

Recording and Collecting Skill and Assessment Data:

Enter the Skills

and Assessments

fore grounded

for each unit of

study or course

Precision is the

key

Enter the Skills and

Assessments that

are on-going through

the course of a year

Portfolio Checks

Early Childhood

Assessments

Coaching for Quality…

Focus on developing units that include: Content, Skills, Assessments, and if ready for it, Essential Questions

Use simple coaching questions to ensure quality as teachers think through each component/element

Align the Elements with State Standards, Benchmarks, Indicators

Coaching for Quality (cont.)

If you feel it will not overwhelm your teachers “too much” to start with…

Re-visit Assessments to check for alignment/need for Evaluations

Integrate cross-curricular skills (i.e. problem solving, writing, reading, etc.)

Incorporate Resources and practice Activities/Lesson Plans

Skill Entries… Many teachers find this element to be

the most challenging aspect of mapping.

The skills are what the kids do to learn the content!

Have a list of measurable action verbs available for teachers to use. Download Bloom’s List of Verbs, or contact Engine-Uity for a color-coded list of “Verbs and Products for Independent Study,” based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.

How will the maps be used?

Who will see the maps?

How will my peers react to my map?

Does my name need to be on my map?

Is Honesty an Issue? Questions Frequently Asked:

Huge Red Flag!

Plausible Time Frames for a projected map with enough initial understanding and training…. Elementary: Approximately 1 hour for Content; 2-3 hours for Skills and Assessment per course.

Secondary: Approximately 45 minutes for Content; 2 hours for Skills and Assessments per prep.

How do we set up our data review teams for the first year of CM ? Identifying the best grouping patterns for review.Using productive communication for feedback and decision making.

Plausible time frames for an initial draft of a map

Elementary: Approximately 1 hour for Content; 2-3 hours for Skills and Assessment per course.

Secondary: Approximately 45 minutes for Content; 2 hours for Skills and Assessments per prep.

Initial Read-Through

1) Read the provided set of teachers’ diary maps on your own. You are to study them compared to the sample Exemplary Map.

Make notes on your provided recording sheet.

2) Meet with your team and share your findings:

Positives about each others’ maps;

Confusions about readability of each others’ maps.

2. First Read-Through

Each teacher reads the entire grade-level, discipline, or school-wide maps as an editor and carried out the prescribed “tasks.”

Places where new information is gained are noted/recorded (underlined).

Places requiring potential revision are also noted/recorded (circled).

3. Mixed or Like Small-Group Review

Groups of 5 to 8 faculty members are formed

Groups should be from diverse configurations (i.e., different grade levels and departments)

Meetings should run approximately 1-1/2 hours

The goal is to simply share individual findings

No revisions are suggested at this time

What are Like-Group (Horizontal Teams) and Mixed-Group (Vertical Teams) Reviews?

• Like-groups consist of teachers and support staff within a given discipline or same subject and/or grade level.

• Mixed-groups

consist of teachers and support staff across grade levels /or different disciplines.

What is one of the most important purposes for having

mixed-group vertical team reviews/discussions?

• To get away from the “every teacher (or every grade level or discipline) is an island” concept

• To gain necessary perspectives that would otherwise not be achievable by asking those outside of our “box” to look in

What are the purposes of the Mixed-Group (Vertical Teams) and Like-Group (Horizontal Teams) Reviews?

Horizontal & Vertical

• To identify the areas or priorities in need of monitoring or changing

• To examine maps for gaps, absences, and redundancies

• To raise central or extended questions and/or issues concerning on-going mapping discoveries

A review’s key purpose is to put Chris back in the

picture! S/he is really the only one who

knows a school/district’s

vertical curriculum (unless it is

truly and honestly mapped out)!

4. Large-Group Review All faculty members come

together and examine the compilation of findings (based on recorded notations) from the smaller group meetings

Session is facilitated by principal and/or teacher-leader(s)

5. Determine areas for immediate revision

The faculty identifies those curricula decisions/areas that can be handled by the site with relative ease.

The specific faculty members involved in those revisions determine a timetable for action.

Teachers return to original grouping: mixed teams, grade levels…

Begin the sorting process: Which of the items/issues appear to

be solved with relative ease? Who might be the right people on

staff to resolve these items/issues? Which items/issues will take extensive

R & D?

Curricula or Curricula-Related

“Red Flag”

6. Determine those areas requiring long-term planning Faculty members

identify those areas that have implications beyond the site and into/with other sites.

Faculty members identify those areas where more research is needed.

Setting Up Your Initial Targeted Review Teams:

Laying out time options for organizing reviews of mapping data;

Determining who should be in the group(s);

Creating tuning protocols to enhance communication;

Who will be facilitating the group(s)?

Using the Maps to Impact Learning (cont.) Review maps to determine where and

how skills are taught Review timeline to determine when

they are taught Make needed changes or revisions Develop goal plan(s) and timeline(s) Develop staff-development plan(s)

and timeline(s)

Once CM is established, the District CM Cabinet meets approximately three to four times annually for review updates.

Task forces report on their timetables.

The site-based CM Councils continue their personal review of the maps through the course of the year and into the next.

7: The Cycle Continues … As you transition to new decision making structures…

Long-Term Time Frames… Data Collection: Within 3-5 months of

initially learning the mapping elements and process of map recoding

First Reviews: Try to have within 2 months after initial data collection

First Minor Revisions: Immediately after first reviews

Major R & D Review: Planned within first year

Begin On-going Review Site Councils: Second year

Differentiating Staff Development Adult learners in professional

settings have various needs for different types of work.

We fall prey to ruts in staff development.

Randomness does not serve Jose. We should expand and consider

matching the venues for staff development!

Staff Development Contrasts

The Rut Random Initiative du jour One size fits all Pulse test for credits Assessment via

attendance Sweeping External to building

Integrated Diagnosed Based on student data Results assessed

through targeted student gains

By building and Cumulative decision

making patterns

Staff development should focus on your specific teachers as learners, as well as students as learners.

Staff development should emanate from site-based examined data:

Site, District, State Assessments

Diary Maps Demographics External events

Please remember…

Site-Based Staff Development

Cumulative decision-making

patterns

Targeted groups of teachers

building on-going assessment

review collectively

Based on a range of assessment

data

Differentiated for Staff…

According to experience with curricula and technology

According to demonstrated/voiced competence

According to what will best help the learners

#2

Low Technology

High CM. Language

#1

High Technology

High CM. Language

#4

Low Technology

Low CM. Language

#3

High Technology

Low CM. Language

TECHNOLOGY

CM

. LA

NG

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GE

LOW HIGH

HIG

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Consider a Range of P.D. Venues… Various Groupings

Hands-On Labs Small Workshops Work Sessions On-line Courses Staff Development

Days Based On Data Observing Mentors Peer Coaching Video Conferencing

How do we integrate Assessment Data into the maps? Diagnosing what our learners’ needs from the assessment dataRevising our maps collaboratively to respond to those targeted needs

Using the Diary and Projected Maps to Impact Learning Trend analysis in general:

from district and state assessments Look for celebrations to sustain

and targets for growth Gap analysis in the specific:

Identify the targets for growth and pinpoint specific skill sets and knowledge gaps

“Balanced” Assessment: What is value, reviewed, and analyzed to assist your learners?

Balanced Assessment

ENGAGE SPECIFIC COGNITIVE OPERATIONS

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT RECALL DEFINE DESCRIBE IDENTIFY NAME LIST

COMPARE CONTRAST INFER ANALYZE SEQUENCE SYNTHESIZE

PREDICT EVALUATE SPECULATE IMAGINE ENVISION HYPOTHESIZE

Bi-Level Analysis We examine student work and performance data in terms of:

The subject matter concepts and skills needing attention.

The requisite language capacity necessary to carry out tasks: Linguistic patterns High-frequency words Specialized terms Editing/revising strategies

We will inform and revise our maps on two levels:

The needed areas to be addressed in the Content and Subject-Area Skills

The Cross-Disciplinary Literacy strategies needing attention.

“Prioritize” Standards…

Worth being familiar with…

Important to know & do…

“Enduring” Understandings

Select Appropriate Assessment

Traditional quizzes & testsPaper/pencil Selected response Constructed response

Performance tasks & projects Open-ended Complex Authentic

worth being familiar

withimportant to know &

do

“enduring” understandin

g

A Fact: Every teacher is a language teacher

Upgrading language skills across all. curriculum areas

Interdependence of the four language skills.

EVERY test we give in EVERY subject is language based.

readingwritingspeakinglistening

Reaching New Ground…

Guiding a staff to establishing Benchmark Assessments

Mapping Benchmark Assessments

Benchmarks can be designed on multiple levels: state tests, district, classroom tasks.

A school establishes a common set of skills needing development.

An internally generated benchmark assessment task is developed by teachers with the same protocols; the same timetable.

The task should merge with the on-going curriculum naturally.

Student products can then be evaluated both vertically and horizontally.

Revisions in the curriculum map should reflect a few targeted skills needing help.

Revisions should be applied thoughtfully to developmental characteristics of the learner.

Mapping Benchmark Assessments (cont.)

Three Tiers of Assessment…

Assessment is evidence of learning.

Clarify the differences between: Drill & Practice Rehearsal & Scrimmage Authentic Performance

Improving Assessment Design

Editing the maps for a thoughtful application of developmental perspectives on the maps.

Generating Benchmark Assessments based on item analysis of a site’s specific student population.

Assessment is a demonstration of learning…

The focus should be on feedback

Designed to reveal knowledge and

insight concerning incorporated

essential questions

Designed to reveal skill acquisition in

the examination of those questions

Assessment is evidence!

It can take on two fundamental forms…

Tangible Products:

a piece of writing

a picture a spread sheet a model a photograph a puppet a blueprint

Observable Performances:

a speech a recital a debate a game a dance a reading a routine

DEVELOPMENTAL GENRE

Matching Types of Work with the Characteristics of the Learner

Developmental Stages: Your Learners’ Growth Patterns…

Cognitive

Affective

Moral

Social Role Taking

Physical

K-2 Sculptures Models Observation notes Captions Story boards Joke-telling Murals Diorama Graphs Charts Checklists Symbol systems Speech to persuade

Grades 3-5 Artifact analysis Comparative

observation Play performance Newspaper articles Math matrix design Extended research Reports Note cards Interview: questions Short stories Photo essay+text

Grades 6-8 The essay, the essay, the

essay... Hypothesis testing and telling Issue-based forums Blueprints Models Museum text/captions Four note-taking forms Organizational templates Original playwriting Simulations

Grades 9-10 and 11-12

Position papers

Legal briefs

Business plans

Anthologies

Choreography

Game & strategy

books

Film criticism Policy statements Literary criticism Professional

journals Senior defense

&project Work-study analysis

Integrating Cross-Curricular

Identify grade-level benchmarks Use maps to identify where skills are

being taught Add appropriate benchmarks that

may be missing Align with classroom assessments Utilize feedback from assessments to

modify instruction if needed

Developing an CM Implementation Plan and Timeline Start by creating a Professional Development

Projected Map! What will the steps be and who will be

responsible along the way? What is the mapping goal(s) for the first year,

second year, etc.? What skills will the staff need to be successful at

completing the goal(s)? What products/evidence will they produce? What resources will be incorporated in the

process? How will the mappers and staff developers get

feedback? How will you ensure quality?

How do we shift to Site-based Councils and District Cabinets to sustain the CM initial and long-term processes?

Streamline decision making with mapping by shedding existing structures;

Set-up site-based teaching and learning councils to replace existing structures;

Create bridges and on-going communication between buildings, grade levels, and departments.

Technology is necessary to create a new type of paradigm for successful educational planning!

Task: Decision Making for Curriculum-The Status Quo Create a flow chart that reflects the current way curriculum decision making occurs in your setting (school and/or district).

Note all external and internal influences on the choices that finally reach the classroom teacher and our students.

Identify if and how assessment data impacts decisions.

The Role of the School Curriculum (CM) Councils

A t the S chool L eve l

classroomteacher

classroomteacher

classroomteacher

classroomteacher

classroomteacher

classroom teacher

Site-basedCurriculum Council

Representatives

Building Your Curriculum CM Councils

Meets regularly with diary and projected (and eventually, essential) maps

Focus on school-based curriculum, assessment, and instruction

Open to all members of school faculty Representatives selected via a “job

description” Determine future focuses for

individual/corporate staff development

Site-Based Councils: Some Ideas Rotate council membership

Create a job description Look at the issue of time Plan for future staff

development Train new staff members

on process of mapping, etc. (on-going)

Note: The principal is a “sitting member” on the council.

Consider having teachers serve 1, 2, and 3 years so no one is on the council for ever (rotation-style)

Determine times for meetings; lengths of meetings

Generate agendas for all to see: Remember, meetings are always open

Determine how teachers will be rewarded for time on the council

Relationship Between Inter-Schools Curriculum (CM) CouncilsR ela tion sh p B e tw een S ites

Elem entary School Elem entary School Elem entary School

M iddle Schoolor

Junior High School

High Schoolor

Upper SchoolConsider

Your Feeder

Patterns!

“Receiving” and “Feeder” School Sites It is critical that you focus on the actual

pattern of students in a K-12 continuum. Larger districts should keep

communication regularly channeled within specific feeder patterns.

In school districts set up with short-grade spans, feeder patterns can also play a critical role (i.e., K-2; 3-5 grade levels in one building).

Elem entary SchoolCouncil

E lem entary SchoolCouncil

Elem entary School Council

M iddle SchoolCouncil

High SchoolCouncil

District Curriculum Cabinet

The Role of the District Curriculum (CM) Cabinet

These representatives play a crucial role in your

CM success!

Creating The District-Level Curriculum (CM) Cabinet

After the initial pre-curser “Exploration of CM Process” year (if this can feasibly be done, please know it is well worth it!), the CM Cabinet usually meets three to four times per year

There needs to be a balanced number of representation from each site’s CM Council

Creating The District-Level Curriculum (CM) Cabinet (cont.)

It is recommended that the district-level technology person(s) are involved in the CM Cabinet as well, especially when utilizing an Internet-based Curriculum Mapping system

Focuses on district-level curriculum, assessment, and instruction questions and concerns

When more R & D is needed, the CM Cabinet sets up Task Force(s).

The CM R&D Task Force(s)

T ask Force onK-8 Science

T ask Force onT echnologyAcross theCurriculum

T ask Forceon W riting Portfolios

K-12

DIST RICTCURRICULUM

CABINET

Do the Task Forces always stay “alive” and “together?”

No! Only bands for specific purposes with an action plan and timeline

A time frame is followed to keep on course When the Task Force’s work is complete, that

Task Force is dismantled. The Task Force’s final results

are then shared with the CM Councils via the CM Cabinet members who also sit on the CM Council at their school site.

Forming Site-Based “Expert” Groups

As you process your diary, projected, and/or essential maps, what do you do when you find areas of need or concern?

Form study groups who will become the “experts” The experts will eventually (based on a pre-planned

timeline) corporately share their study groups’ insights with the entire staff and design an Improvement Plan

Everyone will need to come to consensus on the Implementation Timeline(s), which may have an instant, short- or long-term implementation process

Re-thinking Your Current Support Structure(s) Principal

Teacher leaders Department chairs/grade level

leaders Building Improvement Teams District Improvement Teams Technology Support Central Office