Our district just did an amazing thing. I have to give kudos to our curriculum
specialists (some newly placed in their positions I think) because they had
no problems putting this all together. They had representatives from every
grade level come during the summer and create curriculum maps that directly
correlate to our benchmark tests, which are given three times a year. So now,
our pacing matches our tests. (These benchmarks are specifically to GUIDE our
instruction, not for grades and most teachers love them. After we give a test
we get a specific breakdown of how our students did and on exactly what we need
to back up and teach again.) We were so excited to be doing this. We had all
the say; when the test would be given, what chapters would be covered, what
standards the book covered adequately and what ones weren't addressed enough,
and 1st grade talked to 2nd grade and 2nd grade to 3rd to see what was crucial
to master, what could wait, etc. We even went back and picked the questions we
wanted to see on the test. I can't tell you how great it was to have a hand in
the decision making and to be treated like the
professionals we are. We will even present these maps to the entire district
at the beginning of this year. I can't wait for the teachers to see them. Next,
we will do it for language arts.
Debbie
Julie Santello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I'm not sure if anyone has brought
this up yet because I am behind in
reading posts, but does your state have a state specifications that
are released? I read an interesting article in The American Educator
that points out that most states benchmarks are not correlated to the
test specifications that they give the test makers. I have looked at
ours (FL) when I was teaching intermediate and they are VERY eye
opening. Were our benchmark may read something like "Students will
learn how affixes work", the state specifications may say "In 3rd
grade students will be able to use the prefixes un, re, and pre..."
I highly recommend checking into this, because if I remember
correctly that only about 3% of states correlate their benchmarks and
test specifications.
Julie
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