Curriculum Review Interview and Process
For schools under the
National Heritage Academies umbrella, the process for curriculum review takes
place at the corporate level. The
following is an interview from the Program Manager of Curriculum and Assessment
for National Heritage Academies.
1. How many people are
on your curriculum team? There are currently 9
people on the Curriculum and Assessment team, but we’re adding two assessment
associates this spring. The department is subdivided into Curriculum,
Assessment, and Programs. I’m in charge of Programs, which includes all
textbooks, supplemental, intervention, and library materials, and software, as
well as special programs such as a pilot RTI program, Accelerated Learners,
Afterschool, and others.
2. How do you find a
curriculum that you would like to review? I work with vendors from all of the large publishing companies
and they always show me what’s new on the horizon. In addition, I look at
programs that other schools have found and brought to my attention. When I have
a specific need I do my own research. Currently, I’m looking for a really good
math intervention program that includes screening, diagnostics, instruction,
and progress monitoring.
3. How do you work
together to review that curriculum? Each of us on the team has a specialty, such as math or science
or ELA. I work with various team members to review materials and gather
feedback. Occasionally I send materials to teachers in the field for feedback.
4. How long does this
process usually take? To really review a
new program, the process can take several months. NHA does not change programs
often, but we always review revisions to the programs that we already
use. Right now, I’m reviewing middle school ELA programs. We’ve been
using McDougal Littell’s Language of Literature for about 6 years. The
copyright is old, and in light of state adoptions of the Common Core Standards
it’s time to look at newer resources.
5. When you've decided
upon a curriculum, how do you begin and complete the adoption process? NHA chooses programs for its schools so we do
not review the choices with them. The adoption process begins with coordination
between my department, Purchasing, and Accounting. When I have it
narrowed down to a few programs based on their quality, Purchasing sends the
companies a Request for Proposals (RFP). The companies will then send their
pricing to us for review. Once a decision is made, the Accounting department
may increase each school’s budget to cover the cost of new materials. This was
the case for Think Math. NHA wanted all schools to use it so the budgets were
increased. This doesn’t happen in every case, however. Sometimes
adoption times can be tricky- if I change the middle school ELA program next
year, some of our new schools may find themselves in the awkward position of
having one program in 6th grade and something different in 7th.
For supplemental programs, because they often serve a particular need of a
school, the school must work within their own budget to purchase it. There’s a
list of approved supplemental and intervention materials on the Directory of
Intervention Services site, but schools may purchase outside of this list if
the cost is low. Above a certain amount, they would need to get my approval for
an item not on the list.
6. What follow up
steps do you take once a curriculum has been adopted? There are a few ways to see how the programs
are working both behind the scenes and on the ground. Observing instruction,
listening to feedback from schools and reviewing training helps me to see if
the implementation is going well and if it’s meeting our needs. Also, we
can review student data and look for trends. Data review alone cannot tell the
story because it takes several years for patterns and trends to surface. Also,
the program is only as good as the implementation. There are times when a
school has said that a particular program “isn’t working” but when you
investigate the cause, you find that teachers are picking and choosing what
they teach out of it, or actually supplant the program and use something else
entirely. Usually, this means that the training and understanding around the
program has not been sufficient.
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