Curriculum Cycle in Brookline Public Schools

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Summary of Curriculum Development Cycle
Narrative
References

Summary of Curriculum Development Cycle

The curricula of the Public Schools of Brookline are developed by the Office of Teaching and Learning. The cycle can be divided into four distinct components: needs assessment, development, implementation, and evaluation. During needs assessment, the Office of Strategy and Performance collects data on student performance, attendance, and behavior and issues additional tests when required. After the data is collected, it is processed and transferred to the Office of Teaching and Learning (Public Schools of Brookline, 2016). After this, the curriculum development begins. At the first phase of this component, the desired outcomes of the educational process are being determined and formulated as goals and objectives. During the second phase, the content suitable for achieving goals is selected, and its scope and sequence is settled.

During the third phase, the content is organized to maximize its efficiency. Finally, the means of delivery are selected. After this, the curriculum is implemented in four phases: the production of a curriculum product, the testing phase, staff hiring and training, and implementing the curriculum into practice. The final component is evaluation, which can be formally broken down into continuous and formative phase. The former is present throughout the learning process and achieved my monitoring it and comparing the results with the set benchmarks and objectives. The latter takes the form of scheduled interventions and usually produces more reliable data but is restricted to discrete rather than continuous measurements (Bernhardt & Hebert, 2014). The produced data is used to adjust the process as well as for the development of the new curriculum once the cycle repeats.

Narrative

Purpose of a Curriculum Cycle

Over the years, the curriculum has grown to an enormously complex entity. Because of the variety of tasks and goals it aims to fulfill, it introduces the possibility of errors and gaps in knowledge unless developed with proper rigor and integrity. To eliminate the mentioned errors, the process of curriculum development needs to be continuous and properly structured into a curriculum cycle. The cyclical nature of the process ensures seamless improvement which does not interfere with the ongoing process and at the same time allows detecting shortcomings and introducing timely adjustments and interventions. The systematic approach to curriculum development also minimizes the possibility of unforeseen events and omission of necessary details of the curriculum product.

Overview of the Organization

Public Schools of Brookline is a K-12 school district located in the state of Massachusetts. It provides its students with engaging and rich learning environments to facilitate inquiry and extend the learning process beyond classroom. The curricula of the Public Schools of Brookline prioritize intellectual, developmental, and cultural domains in their vision, which finds reflection in the curricular activities.

Explanation of Curriculum Cycle Components

The first component of the curriculum development cycle is needs assessment. It is required to establish a direction of the curriculum development and provide information on specific emphases which may be required for a particular school district. It is broken down into two phases: data collection and analysis. The collection of data is performed by reviewing the existing information on school attendance and achievement test data. Since the curriculum development at Public Schools of Brookline is learned-centered, behavioral data is also accounted for (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2013).

If the obtained information is deemed insufficient or the conditions require additional clarity, dedicated achievement tests, and interest inventories are utilized. The produced results are then processed to determine the characteristics of audience, identify gaps in achievement and locate its reasons, and predict ongoing trends in student needs. The result takes form of map of student needs which is used as guideline in subsequent phases. Starting from 2015, the collection and processing of the data is performed by the Office of Strategy and Performance, created specifically for this purpose, after which the results are transferred to the Office of Teaching and Learning (Public Schools of Brookline, 2015).

After the initial map is ready, the development of curriculum begins. This component mostly utilizes the obtained knowledge to arrange the activities and means of content delivery in a form that maximizes efficiency. The first phase of development is thus the definition of desired outcomes, which usually take form of goals (generalized notions pointing to overall direction) and objectives (more specific behavioral and achievement conditions backed by assessment methods). Next comes the phase of choosing educational content that matches the intended outcomes. The scope, depth, and breadth of the chosen material are also determined at this phase.

After this, the content is organized in certain sequence. The latest curriculum of Public Schools of Brookline exhibits the signs of a spiral sequence, one of the traditional approaches to curriculum organization, which is consistent with the goal of every student demonstrating compliance or surpassing the set standards (Public Schools of Brookline, n.d.). Finally, methods of delivery suitable for the presentation of determined content are devised. As a result of this phase, two documents are produced: the list of activity types and a district curriculum accommodation plan, which provides instructions for teachers on designing and adjusting activities (Public Schools of Brookline, 2014). The development is done by the Office of Teaching and Learning.

After this, the curriculum is being implemented. This is mostly organizational and testing component of the cycle and is required for successful integration of the developed curriculum in educational process. The first two phases are thus the production of a curriculum product and selection of conditions for its testing. This phase requires participation of teachers and students who operate on the basis of newly developed curriculum and are whose performance is later evaluated via standardized tests. If the testing is successful, the phase of recruitment commences, during which the teaching staff is hired (if necessary) and trained according to the new curricular demands. At the very minimum, the staff needs to be familiarized with the new product. Finally, after a brief training session (three days in the Public Schools of Brookline) the actual implementation commences, in accordance with a previously devised plan. The monitoring begins shortly after the implementation, so the participants in this phase include teaching staff and the Office of Strategy and Performance.

This essentially means the initiation of evaluation. Its purpose is to monitor the achievements of the new curricular product as well as its shortcomings to timely adjust the activities when possible and collect information for later summative assessment. However, since continuous improvement is a part of the vision of Public Schools of Brookline, the exact margins of this component do not necessarily coincide with the termination of implementation phase. In fact, the formative evaluation is present in some form throughout the curricular cycle to seamlessly collect data which can later be used by the Office of Strategy and Performance to locate the drawbacks created by the defects in the new curriculum and report to the Office of Teaching and Learning, which can later utilize the knowledge on the needs assessment stage of the beginning of the next cycle.

References

Bernhardt, V., & Hebert, C. (2014). Response to intervention and continuous school improvement: Using data, vision and leadership to design, implement, and evaluate a schoolwide prevention system. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2013). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues. Harlow, England: Pearson Education, Limited.

Public Schools of Brookline. (2014). District curriculum accommodation plan. Web.

Public Schools of Brookline. (2015). Strategy & performance. Web.

Public Schools of Brookline. (2016). Teaching & learning. Web.

Public Schools of Brookline. (n.d.). Vision, mission, core values & goals. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!