Curriculum Review Process
The Curriculum Review Process provides the Mendon-Upton Regional School district with a process for the systematic ongoing evaluation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment across all content areas. High-quality, standards-aligned curriculum is essential to supporting the teaching and learning process. Our district believes that exemplary teaching and a high-quality curriculum equip our students with the skills to create solutions for a rapidly changing, technologically rich, and diverse world. Participating in curriculum review provides the opportunity for careful evaluation of our current practice in order to maintain high academic standards and educational opportunities for all students, to align to local, state, and national frameworks, and to remain current with the best instructional practices. Our curriculum review process will be guided by our district vision and beliefs about curriculum.
Our vision of curriculum…
We believe…
Our vision of curriculum…
- Curriculum should provide deep, relevant, experiences for students that engage them in meaningful learning
- Curriculum development is an ongoing, collaborative, and dynamic process
- Collaborative curriculum development provides a vehicle for critical conversations about teaching and learning that leads to increase student achievement
- Curriculum must be aligned, cohesive, rigorous, and engage all students
- All stakeholders will engage with curriculum through transparent communication of curriculum expectations
We believe…
- Student learning experiences that are deep, relevant, and meaningful should be evident and living within curriculum and instruction
- Curriculum should represent the district’s beliefs about learning
- Curriculum work improves student learning and is the backbone of instruction
- Curriculum design and implementation is an essential component of our professional practice
- The process of writing, reflecting, and revising curriculum is ongoing and collaborative
- Curriculum should be rigorous, engaging, relevant and developed using the UbD model
- Students should be receiving the same common educational experience across the grade levels as a result of a common and cohesive curriculum.
Procedures for review of Curriculum/instructional Materials
The following is a sample outline of steps to take when reviewing curriculum and instructional materials for purchase.
Curriculum Review For addressing Bias and Stereotypes
It is essential that we ensure that all of our educational materials are reviewed for the following: simplistic and demeaning generalizations or promoting stereotypes on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identify, religion, national origin, and sexual orientation.
As you make decisions about educational materials the following areas should be considered:
Adapted from Wayland Public Schools Curriculum Review Criteria, Bias Evaluation Instrument, 2001, Nova Scotia Dept of Ed; Gloucester Public Schools Curriculum Review Procedures, Gloucester, MA.
As you make decisions about educational materials the following areas should be considered:
- Appearance: making judgments about others baed on external appearances such as physical attributes and age can lead to assumptions about a person's character and abilities.
- Materials should portray all age groups and races with a full range of human traits, attributes, and capabilities. Present people with a variety of body images. Provide opportunities to counter prejudice and stereotyping with regard to body image.
- Belief System: Belief systems are organized sets of doctrines, attitudes, values or ideas about some philosophy, being, phenomenon that have an influence on how people live.
- Materials should validate the diversity of belief systems in the United States. Describe the characteristics and provide the visual symbols of belief systems accurately. Avoid language that evaluates or subjectively compares belief systems. Acknowledges the differences of interpretation and in practices within a belief system.
- Ability/Disability: Ability is the capacity to perform or accomplish something. A disability is a condition that provides challenges to a person's capacity to perform or accomplish something.
- Materials should reinforce that a person's ability to lead a productive life and contribute to society is not limited to physical and cognitive abilities. Depict individuals in roles unrelated to their disabilities as people who lead active, productive lies in a wide range of occupations.
- Family Structures: A family is an extended group of related people. There are a variety of family structures, such as single parent, two parent, extended families, blended families, families with no children, biologically unrelated families, families with same sex parents, and families with interracial or interfaith parents.
- Materials should show how various cultures meet the needs of children and family members inside and outside the home environment-in extended family, through community activities, and through family relationships.
- Gender: Both genders must have equal opportunities for personal achievement and success without the constraints of gender-role stereotyping. Both genders need information and opportunities to think critically to be able to counter prejudice based on gender.
- Materials should contain equitable representation of both women and men as important figures who deserve recognition and respect. Present authentic role models in a variety of careers, demonstrating that successes are achievable by both genders. Show females and males confronting and solving problems with equal skill and resourcefulness. Represent the potential of both girls and boys accurately and apply attributes such as confidence, willingness to take risks, empathy, and kindness equally to both genders. Acknowledge that an individual's sexual orientation does not reflect their ability to lead a satisfying, productive life.
- Race and Ethnicity: Race is a classification of groups of people of common ancestry distinguished by physical characteristics such as skin color, shape of eyes, hair texture, or facial features. An ethnic group is a group of people who share a particular cultural heritage or background. Every American belongs to one or more ethnic groups.
- Materials should ensure that the history of racism and exclusion is presented honestly with a balanced perspective. Use primary sources so that people are described through their own words and images. Reflect the positive, creative contributions that diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural groups make to American life.
- Socio-economic Status: Indicators such as education, wealth, inheritance, and occupation establish a person's socioeconomic status.
- Materials should reflect the broad range in standards of living, expectations, and achievements of people. Depict people from all socio-economic groups making valid contributions to American life. Include the perspectives of people from a broad range of geographical regions in the U.S. and world.
Adapted from Wayland Public Schools Curriculum Review Criteria, Bias Evaluation Instrument, 2001, Nova Scotia Dept of Ed; Gloucester Public Schools Curriculum Review Procedures, Gloucester, MA.
To ahelp in making decisions about educational materials, review the guidelines and evaluation form, adapted from the Washington Models for the Evaluation of Bias Content in Instructional Materials.
Curriculum Resource Review Evaluation Tools
The following are our instructional resources evaluation tools that need to be used to evaluate curricular/instructional resources
- Math Instructional Resources Evaluation Tool
- Science Instructional Resources Evaluation Tool
- Social Studies Instructional Resources Evaluation Tool
- ELA Instructional Resources Evaluation Tool-Kindergarten
- ELA Instructional Resources Evaluation Tool-Grades 1-2
- ELA Instructional Resources Evaluation Tool-Grades 3-4
In addition to the district-created instructional resources evaluation tools above, review teams also need to follow the district rubrics on cultural proficiency, which will be distributed at review meetings.
Ed Reports
- EdReports.org is an independent nonprofit designed to improve K-12 education. EdReports.org increases the capacity of teachers, administrators, and leaders to seek, identify, and demand the highest quality instructional materials. Drawing upon expert educators, our reviews of instructional materials and support of smart adoption processes equip teachers with excellent materials nationwide.
- In the evaluation of materials, this is an additional tool to receive feedback on instructional resources that were evaluated by the EdReports organization.
CURATE
- The MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has launched CURATE (Curriculum ratings by teachers) as an additional resource when reviewing curricular materials.
- In the evaluation of materials, this is an additional tool to use to receive feedback from MA educators on resources they have reviewed.