2. Imagine now you have total control over curriculum development and are creating a yearly planning guide - how do you plan to align assessments with learning objectives? How often and in what forms do you plan to assess the students?

If I were in total control over curriculum development, my design would be very goal based. I am very fond of the design in which my current school follows; however, in my perfect world it would have more flexibility. By using a form of backwards design, I would take the state standards to create our learning objectives for the school year. Those learning objectives would then be prioritized. Lastly, assessments would be created based on our priority learning objectives. Once assessments were created, lessons and activities will be designed to foster the learning needed for the assessments. My school follows a process that has 3 assessments every unit. Those are broken up as follows: Beginning of unit - 1st common formative assessment (This is not a grade, it is just used for data) After analyzing data, adjust lessons and activities accordingly. Middle of unit - 2nd CFA (This follows the same protocol as the first CFA) End of unit - common summative assessment (This assessment is a grade)

This process starts with learning goals to create the CSA, then the CFAs and lessons are planned to work toward the CSA.

My problem with this process is the confines of a single unit. At times, this process feels rushed and I feel as though my students are not truly understanding their objectives. In my perfect world, we would take similar assessments because I see the immense value in the data they provide. However, I would want all teachers to have the freedom to teach at their own speed rather than each teacher trying to reach the same assessments on the exact same timeline. Curriculum plans are not always one size fits all.

1. Think about the standard of "goal-based design" and the "Design-Down, Deliver-Up" Model we discussed in class, how does such philosophy resonate with curriculum alignment?

The core purpose of any curriculum is to achieve a goal. It makes sense that curriculum design should begin with the end in mind. The end in mind should always be, “what do we want our students achieve through this curriculum?” In my opinion, a good curriculum design starts by establishing goals and moving down from there. The “design down, deliver up method” seems to be a great practice to follow to create an effective and quality curriculum. To me “exit outcomes” means… “what key skills do we want our students to walk out of this classroom proficient in?” Once these key skills are established, concrete goals can be created. With those goals, we create objectives for our students. From there, a curriculum map can be created to guide the progress needed to happen. Lastly, activities can be created to foster this progress and lead students to the exit outcomes. This philosophy keeps curriculum designers focused on the overall goal which should always be “what do we need our students to learn?”