The Assessment Of The Curriculum

In all three of these artifacts, I have developed relevant, integrative, challenging, and exploratory units of study. The “Preserving the Past” unit incorporates all four core subjects as well as a service learning opportunity. My interdisciplinary unit on geography connects Language Arts with Social Studies with visual art mixed in, and the Greek mythology ELA unit was taught in conjunction with a Social Studies class (1). The Civil War unit and NC geography unit I have created incorporate Common Core standards as well as NC Essential standards. Lesson plans and assessments in all of these units were created using backwards design in which I started by looking at the standards and objectives students would be expected to reach and based my assessment based on those objectives (2,10).

The Georgia Department of Education recently approved the Georgia Standards of Excellence to replace the Georgia Performance Standards. This paper will compare and contrast the elementary social studies section of the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) and the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). According to the GADOE (2015), these standards provide expectations for instruction, assessment, and student work. The comparison of the two sets of standards will be accomplished by noting the similarities and differences for each set of standards and by revealing the significant changes towards a more discipline-centered approach in the social studies curriculum.

A study conducted in 2003 by Ofsted that involved England, Denmark and Finland, showed England’s national curriculum compared to the other two countries was:

In recent years, changes have been made because social issues and the dramatic increase of minority in the communities. An example of these changes is primarily due to the large migration of English Language Learners that are entering the school systems. This is a positive change for the social studies education. However, this can overload the teacher and curriculum that is bursting at the seams with programs that lack clear purpose (Pace,J.L.,2011). This is why the NCATE had embodied that all teacher programs be aligned with professional and ethical standards to prepare teachers to facilitate learning that will enable our students to acquire the knowledge and be productive citizens that can compete in society.

David Aleman is a 4th grade teacher from Arizona who was kind enough to sit down and discuss the current state of social studies education in Phoenix schools. The interview gave new depth to my understanding of how social studies is currently being taught in my state. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the interview responses and Arizona’s 4th grade social studies standards for such things as thoroughness, clarity, relationship to literacy development, and the shifting emphasis off of teaching social studies topics.

As I read and thought about the Social Studies Standards, I considered looking into the standards for First grade. I think that children in this grade level are at a good age to better understand Social Studies. I do realize that teaching Social Studies starts from pre-school however it can be further be understood by older aged students. The topics that are covered according to the Standards first grade should introduce settlements and cultures, civilizations, and different places around the world. In the standards for first grade there are five strands.

This report summarizes my findings after evaluating the curriculum of Natchez-Adams School District. I was granted access to the curriculum by Dr. Delarious Stewart, Curriculum Director for the Natchez-Adams School District. This report is designed to reflect how the curriculum is aligned with state and district standards. A curriculum is vital to promoting the success of all students because it is the content that is being taught in the school district. For this reason, the person or persons designing and developing the curriculum must understand the many different facets of an effective curriculum. I will present my findings in the following paragraphs.

As with any form of change, there are always risks involved that need to be addressed. With the proposed changes to the curriculum, class structure, and policies of the school, there are several risks, but the payoff greatly outweighs the risks. There are two major risks involved with the changes proposed to the curriculum. The cause for concern is the ability of both the students and the teachers to adapt to the changes to the curriculum. Veteran teachers are reluctant to change since many of them have been teaching using the same methods and the same materials for years. The issue will be getting these veteran teachers on board with the new adjustments to the curriculum by changing their teaching methods and creating new materials. If teachers fail to make the necessary adjustments, then the new plans will fall apart and the students will suffer educationally as a result. Ultimately in the end, the teachers at Archbishop Wood High School would be able to make the adjustments in due time.

Change is inevitable and for any school district to be success change is necessary. My school district is constantly going through changes; curriculum changes, assessment changes, teacher evaluation changes, and more, each year it’s something different.

This assessment demonstrates my approach and ability to solving mathematical problems. I will be working with six questions taken from a year nine sample paper, from the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy [NAPLAN] (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2012). NAPLAN is an essential assessment, performed annually, to measure a students competnance in numeracy and literacy (National Assessment Program, n.d.).

The aim of Social Studies is the promotion of civic competence the knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions required of students to be active and engaged participants in public life. Proverbs 19:2 (ESV) states," Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way."For example it is essential for there to be commonalities across the grade levels so that there is a scaffolding of concepts to build from one grade level to the next.

I administered math and oral reading fluency probes to Braelynn Muller as part of this curriculum-based measurement assignment. Braelynn is six years old and in the first grade this year. For the math, I gave three probes, testing her on the addition of two one-digit numbers that have sums up to 18. She received two minutes to complete as many problems as she could. In addition, I assessed her oral reading fluency by having her read three different excerpts from various first grade level texts. She was given one minute to read as many words as possible in each of these excerpts.

The child that participated for the curriculum-based assessment (CBA) was a 9 years old boy named John. The readings that were used for this assessment were third grade level readings titled: Miss Mitchell’s Comet, The Sun and the Stars, and The Life Cycle. For Miss Mitchell’s Comet, John’s fluency score was 94.8% and his accuracy score was 96%. For The Sun and the Stars, his fluency score was 96.2% and his accuracy was 98%. Lastly for The Life Cycle, his fluency score was 99.2% and his accuracy score was 99%. The mean for fluency was 96.7% and the mean for accuracy was 97.6%. John had very few incorrect words while reading. The most incorrect words that he had rec for one reading was five words. In Miss Mitchell’s Comet, he omitted a few words

This course focused on the understanding, application, and assessment of current and projected styles of curriculum.

Prospective student teachers were required to choose a curriculum document from either the primary or secondary school sector for evaluation. They were required to conduct such an evaluation using the Daniel Stufflebeam’s CIPP (Context, Input, Process and Product) Model. The CIPP Model would be used to determine the usefulness of the curriculum in meeting the needs of the Trinidad and Tobago society. Based on possible weaknesses found in the document, prospective teachers were to offer appropriate alternatives to improve the document’s content and implementation.