This past week, our family celebrated our daughter's nine year old birthday.  The past nine years have been filled with joy, laughter, celebrations, and memories!  Our daughter has been fortunate enough to have a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) in every grade since kindergarten.  She does well in school and enjoys learning.  This year I realized that she has nine years of school remaining before she graduates from high school.  What will she learn over the next nine years?  Will she be college ready?  Will she have the skills and understandings that prepare her for the next level of learning?  Are there soft skills that she will need that should be incorporated into the district's curriculum?

I am the Director of Secondary Instruction in the school district where my daughter attends school.  In theory, I have a direct influence over the written curriculum, opportunity to learn, college readiness, and curriculum alignment.  It is both humbling and rewarding to understand that the goals I have for my own daughter are the goals that I have for all students in our school district.  The reality is that the "taught curriculum" has a greater influence on student understanding than the written curriculum.

The taught curriculum is what teachers actually teach in the classroom.  Traditionally, the written curriculum (state and local documents) has not matched the taught curriculum among teachers within a school.  Jacobs (1997) wrote, “If there are gaps among teachers within buildings, there are virtual Grand Canyons among buildings in a district" (p. 3).  “Choosing important knowledge, sequencing it well, and getting it behind every classroom door in every grade” is an important part of ensuring that all students receive a rigorous and relevant education (Parker, 1991, p. 84).  If educators develop a high-quality written curriculum, but fail to implement the curriculum then their work is the equivalent of motion masquerading as progress (Parker, 1991).

Curriculum development is much more than a summer workshop, unpacking standards, developing units of study aligned to state standards, or meeting once a week as a content-alike team.  If educators spend their time focusing on the taught curriculum they will be able to greatly impact student achievement.   "When school staff have a more informed conception of curriculum, a teacher's daily decisions about how to deliver instruction not only affect student achievement in that classroom but also future student achievement, for it is assumed that students will be entering the next classroom prepared to handle a more sophisticated or more expanisve level of work" (Zmuda, Kuklis & Kline, 2004, p. 122). While several curriculum theorists and professional organizations have debated the ‘what’ of curriculum implementation, curriculum and curriculum decisions are made daily by K-12 classroom teachers.

Teachers and administrators understand the importance of aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment.  However, “curriculum design and delivery face one fundamental problem in schools.  When the door is shut and nobody else is around, the classroom teacher can select and teach just about any curriculum he or she decides is appropriate” (English, 2000, p. 1).  While I addressed my daughter's educational experience in this article, every parent/family sends their child to school with the hope that a K-12 experience will prepare their child for the next level of learning.  The power of the taught curriculum cannot be underestimated.

References:

English, F.W. (2000). Deciding what to teach and test: Developing, aligning, and auditing the curriculum. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Jacobs, H.H. (1997). Mapping the big picture: Integrating curriculum and assessment K-12. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Parker, W.C. (1991). Renewing the social studies curriculum.  Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Zmuda, A., Kuklis, R., & Kline E. (2004). Transforming schools: Creating a culture of continuous improvement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.