The curriculum
development cycle
Eight steps to better
schools and better learning
Let’s examine what happens in each step of the
curriculum development/revision cycle. This
cycle is a dynamic system that helps each school
re-vitalize and replenish what is taught to its
students.
Needs Assessment
SAT-9
OtisLennon
Gradua
tion
3rd Qtr
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1st Qtr
For one child in
special education, this
would include his test
scores
For a campus, this
might include
achievement test
data, attendance,
graduation, collegegoing rate, and
others
Colleg
e
comp.
Types of assessments
Normative such as
Achievement tests
IQ tests, group and
individual
Learning styles
inventories
Adaptive behavior
Criterion-referenced
such as
Brigance for
individual testing
Woodcock-Johnson
can be interpreted as
criterion-related
Individual or
analytical reading
inventories
Don’t forget the qualitative information.
For either one child or for a school, interest
inventories can tell a lot, as can opinion
polls.
Writing Goals (second
step)
Goals do not have to
be behavioral, but
should be translatable
into behavioral
language
Need enough goals to
point the way
Writing objectives (3rd)
Objectives are more
detailed
Audience, behavior,
conditions, degree
In cognitive, affective,
and psychomotor
domains
Assessments should
be written from
objectives
Selecting content (4th)
For MRs, keep in mind the mental age of
the person or persons being written for.
Chronological ages are deceiving.
For special ed., keep it very utilitarian.
The content must be useful . . . These will
remember, at the most, one-half of what
normal persons would.
Build on students’ past experiences.
Organization of content (5)
Logical sequencing of content always
helps. But for LDs, and most MRs, it is
absolutely essential.
Build in some repetition
Provide for loop-backs for students to revisit things that they may have forgotten
Spiral curriculum is one very effective plan
Selection of learning
experiences
Learning experiences
do not stand alone-they must relate to
objectives
Fun!
Interesting!
Multi-sensory
Use technology as
often as possible
Adaptation to teaching
situation
For campuses or districts, this seventh section is where teachers
make adjustments to make the new curriculum their own and in
their own ways in their classrooms.
For special education, this is where the related services
sometimes come in; special transportation, special technology,
nurse care, counseling on demand, wheelchairs, medical
assistance.
Evaluation of curricula
1
0.8
K1
0.6
K2
0.4
K3
0
P1
3rd Qtr
A1
1st Qtr
0.2
For many years, this
was the step never
taken
Check to see how
many students
reached each
objective
For special education,
it’s the end-of-year
meeting
The evaluation at the end of one curriculum cycle
feeds right into the needs assessment of the next.
In this way, the curriculum of the school--or for
one child--is perpetually replenished and
revitalized.
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