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Contents

Foundations of American Education: A Critical Lens

Chapter 6: Curriculum: Planning, Assessment, & Instruction

Unlearning Box A substitute teacher was supposed to give an assessment while the classroom teacher was away, but one student refused to take the test. “He started yelling and walked out of the room, saying he wasn’t going to take this test that the teacher left for him. He kept saying that he is supposed to have questions read aloud to him, but that isn’t fair and I wasn’t going to do it!” Sometimes we think that fairness means everyone is treated the same way, but in reality, “fairness” involves meeting the needs of different students. In this example, the student had an IEP accommodation that allowed him to have tests read aloud to him. When considering planning, instruction, and assessment, sometimes treating all students the same is actually quite unfair, since students have different learning needs and strengths.

In this chapter, we will begin to explore the inner workings of classroom curriculum. Planning, assessment, and instruction all intertwine within a classroom curriculum, and being aware of the relationships among the various components of curriculum can lead to appropriate and fair assessments and instruction.

Chapter Outline

Types of Curriculum

You have had some kind of experience with schooling, whether it was homeschool, private school, public school, or some combination of those. No matter the setting where you learned, someone decided what you would learn. This is the curriculum. It reaches far beyond the textbooks that you might have used or the novels that you read. It even includes things that are unstated.

There are different kinds of curriculum, including the explicit curriculum, implicit curriculum, and null curriculum. Explicit curriculum is the state, district, and schools’ formal accounting of what they teach. Another term for explicit curriculum is formal curriculum. The explicit or formal curriculum is often laid out in standards or other curricular materials. Implicit curriculum, or informal curriculum, involves hidden messages that students learn from schooling that aren’t specifically in the standards and possibly aren’t even explicitly taught. For example, students may see bulletin board displays where people who look like them are missing and therefore feel like they do not belong in that classroom, or they may see the way the teacher treats students when it comes to conflict and realize the teacher displays favoritism towards certain students. Finally, null curriculum is made up of those things that are not taught in schools at all for a variety of reasons, such as contributions in science by scholars of color or women ( Eisner, as cited in Milner, 2017).

Pause & Ponder

What are some of the big ideas that you recall from your own education? Can you identify what was emphasized in your explicit or formal curriculum, or what was missing? Can you explain why that was the case?

There is immense power in determining what students will learn, with many competing forces at play. Because schooling in the United States is left to the jurisdiction of individual states, certain content is viewed, valued, and taught differently depending on the collective values of the state or county. For example, some students are taught about the Civil War as the “War of Northern Aggression,” while other schools may not allow confederate flags in their buildings or on school grounds. Historical events are a part of the curriculum, but in many cases these have been boiled down to the simplest pieces of information. Consider, for example, the difference between the following two lesson objectives: “Identify that Abe Lincoln wears a top hat” and “Explain how and why Abe Lincoln created the Emancipation Proclamation.” Imagine how different learning could be if more complex and important details were a part of the curriculum for all students.

Critical Lens: Racial Justice in the Curriculum

Recent concerns and protests about racial justice in the United States are another example of the tensions among explicit, implicit, and null curricula. Some schools may openly address and discuss protests for racial justice, while other schools may not mention them at all. The reasons for not addressing this topic range from not wanting to upset students or parents to openly racist thinking at the classroom, district, or state level. However, if something is never mentioned in school and therefore becomes part of the null curriculum, students take note of what is missing. Milner (2017) describes events like the violence in Charlottesville in 2017 as exactly the kind of topic that students must learn about in schools to cement the importance of social justice for future generations.

Planning

Effective teachers must plan effective lessons, which are based on standards. Standards vary depending on the state where you teach. In Virginia, for example, teachers follow Standards of Learning (SOLs) [1]. These standards tell teachers the key information that students should understand in specific content areas at varying grade levels. As a teacher, you are responsible for knowing the standards you are responsible for teaching and planning effective lessons to help students learn the information explained in the standards. An elementary school teacher is responsible for standards in English, math, science, and social studies; a secondary teacher typically specializes in one area, such as history. There are also standards for fine arts, languages, and other areas.

While Virginia is the only state to use the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs), other states use other standards. Sometimes these are state-developed standards, like Virginia developed. Many other states adopted the Common Core State Standards [2]. These standards have been an attempt to move the nation closer to a unified set of standards. As of 2021, 41 states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have adopted them, with varying degrees of implementation and support at the district levels ( Common Core States Standards Initiative, 2021).

Stop & Investigate

What are the standards in your state? Look at your state’s Department of Education website to learn more. The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) [3] are accessible on the right-hand side of the provided webpage.

It is not uncommon to hear a teacher or parent say that they want schools to “cover” curriculum or standards; however, “coverage” is not conducive to deep understanding. Instead, a teacher should review the standards and local curriculum as a part of their planning, with a focus on big, transferable ideas (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). This is considered depth of material, rather than simply breadth of material. You may hear some teachers talking about the importance of “depth versus breadth” for this reason.

Standards and curriculum are not the same thing. Standards tell you what to teach; curriculum (and corresponding methods) tells you how to teach. Figure 6.1 compares and contrasts standards and curriculum. (As you begin considering your own classroom instruction, representing information graphically like this Venn diagram does can be a useful strategy for your future students.)

Figure 6.1: A Comparison of Standards and Curriculum

Pause & Ponder

At the center of the diagram, you will see that students often have limited voice in the creation of standards and curriculum. Did you have a say in what you learned in school? Can you think of ways that teachers could make a space for more student voice when it comes to what students learn and how they learn it?

As a teacher, you will have many opportunities to collaborate with your peers to strengthen your teaching practice. One structure to do this collaborative work is a Professional Learning Community (PLC).

Sometimes your school or district will provide lesson plans for you, but more often, you will have the autonomy to make your own lesson plans. Teachers may be part of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) with other teachers in the same grade or content area. During these PLCs, teachers plan together and often look at student assessment data to determine what to further emphasize for students or teach in a different way. They may also have a common book or article to read in the field of education to expand their knowledge of teaching and learning. A teacher of a “special” area or elective subject like music or art might occasionally meet with teachers in other local schools to share information and discuss curriculum, lessons, or assessments. Working with others in planning is a critical skill to learn as a teacher.

One of the most effective planning strategies is Backward Design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). Figure 6.2 depicts a backward design planning process. While it is common for new or inexperienced teachers to focus on “filling the time,” or “what” they will teach, backward design involves following these steps:

Identifying the desired goals and objectives;
Determining acceptable evidence and assessments; and
Planning instruction (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).

This does not mean that a teacher will have the exact final assessment ready before the first day of instruction; however, teachers should have a clear idea of the format of the assessment and know what kinds of questions and content will be on it.

Figure 6.2: Backward Design Process

This is one way to think of the backward design planning process in higher education, which does have direct correlation to the work you will do in your future K-12 classroom.

Lesson Plan Components and Models

Lesson planning is a key component to any effective instruction. Experienced teachers do not usually script their lesson plans; however, many districts will ask even seasoned teachers to turn in lesson plans for the week or month. All lesson plans will contain similar elements, sometimes in a different order.

Standards: Select the specific standards you will teach in this particular lesson. Note that you will often choose one sub-standard, or piece, of a standard to teach, and it may take multiple lessons for students to master the content.
Objectives: State what students will know, understand, and do by the end of the lesson. Objectives can be phrased as “The student will…” or, from a student perspective, “I can…”. Content objectives should directly relate to the standards, and language objectives should be included for English Learners.
Materials: List all materials, such as books, resources, tools, websites, and other items that will be used for the lesson. This assists you with gathering materials so you are prepared to teach the lesson.
Procedures: Break down the lesson into specific steps you will follow. Think of it as programming: you must provide simple, clear steps to achieve the lesson’s instructional goals.
Differentiation: Consider how you will adapt your lesson to meet the needs of specific types of learners. For example, how will you support your English Learners, challenge your students who are gifted, or enable a student who struggles with spelling to participate without getting frustrated? Sometimes you may design a lesson around a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, which means you’ve built these considerations into the plan and do not need to retrofit differentiation strategies later.
Assessment: Explain how you will measure students’ progress toward lesson objectives and mastery of selected standards. Make sure you are collecting tangible evidence. More information on assessment will be provided later in this chapter.

In addition to these basic components, various lesson planning models exist. One common lesson planning structure is the 5 E model. The 5 E’s are engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. This type of lesson plan is considered an inquiry-based model, in which students are encouraged to question and explore instead of receiving information directly from the teacher. (To learn more, read how one math teacher uses the 5 E components [4].) Another common approach to lesson planning is the Herbartian five-step lesson plan. It is based on more direct instruction, which involves the teacher directly giving information to students. You may hear this common type of lesson plan called the “I do, We do, You do” plan, based on the gradual release of responsibility model. This model of lesson planning includes five distinct steps:

Anticipatory Set: Get students interested in what is to come in a lesson as a way to engage students. This can take many forms, including connections to prior learning or a model of a learning outcome or assessment task.
Introduction of New Material: Teach new content to students, generally through direct instruction of content and checking for understanding. This is known as the “I do” phase.
Guided Practice: Model application of new content with students as a whole class or in small groups while the teacher guides and facilitates. This is known as the “we do” phase.
Independent Practice: Ask students to apply new content independently. This is known as the “you do” phase and can be accomplished through independent classwork or homework.
Closure: Review the content and wrap up the lesson. Sometimes this step is referred to as a reflection, where students briefly summarize what they have learned either together or independently.

In the gradual release of responsibility framework, the teacher has more responsibility for the focus lesson ("I do it") and guided practice ("we do it"), while the students have increasing responsibility during independent practice ("you do it"). You will notice that the teacher gradually releases the responsibility for performing the target skills of this lesson to the students. While you do not have to follow these steps in order every time, a delicate balance is key. Students may feel panicked or unsupported if you ask them to do a task before showing them how it works first. At the same time, if you never release that responsibility to your students, they will never get to demonstrate their understanding. It is important for students to get ample time practicing a skill in order to master it.

Critical Lens: Homework

We all have had homework during our K-12 schooling. You may have had it as early as kindergarten. There is debate about whether or not schools should even give homework, especially for a grade. Why? It comes down to issues of equity. If a family member is not available to help or is not fluent in the language of instruction, then the student has less of a chance to accurately complete a homework assignment. Since homework is often factored into grades, this can negatively impact students without additional resources. What is also important to remember as teachers is that homework should never be new material: it should always be a review and reinforcement of instruction that has already been provided. Listen to the “ Is It Time to Ban Homework?“ [5] podcast from Trending in Education to learn more.

Assessment

Even though you may think of instruction–the day-to-day activities of teaching–as the biggest part of your job as a future educator, assessment should actually come first. If you are following the backward design process, you should think first about your objectives and assessments, and then about the activities that the students will do.

Pause & Ponder

Think back to your own schooling. What kinds of assessments do you recall? Did you do mostly tests or quizzes? Did you do projects or speeches? What positive and negative memories do you have associated with various forms of assessment?

It is likely that when you think of assessment, you think of the grade you received at the end of an instructional unit. However, there are many kinds of assessment that serve different purposes. Table 6.1 outlines the differences among three key types of assessments: diagnostic, formative, and summative.

Table 6.1: Types of Assessments

Type	Timing/Scoring	Purpose	Formats
Diagnostic	Before instruction Scored, but never graded	To learn what students know before instruction Enables a teacher to know whether their instruction had an impact	Brief quiz Questioning Free write
Formative	During instruction Given frequently Scored, but not usually graded	To show students and teachers what students have learned during instruction	Do Now/Bellringer Kahoot!, Quiziz, or similar digital tool Exit Ticket Observation Questioning Student notes Daily assignments Quiz Homework
Summative	After instruction Scored and graded	To show what students have learned as a result of instruction To enable teachers to consider their next steps in terms of planning and teaching future units	Test Quiz Project Portfolio Essay Research Paper Performance assessment such as a speech

Assessment can also be formal or informal. Formal assessments measure systematically what students have learned, often at the end of a course or school year. Standardized tests are a common example of formal assessments. In Virginia, students take SOL assessments (related to, but not to be confused with the SOL standards) after completing certain grade levels and content areas. These high-stakes, formal assessments are designed to measure how well students have mastered the content listed in the standards. Formal assessments may be norm or criterion referenced. Norm-referenced assessments compare students’ performance to other students. Criterion-referenced assessments compare students’ performance to specific performance criteria. On the other hand, informal assessments tend to be local, non-standardized, and contextualized in daily classroom learning activities. Informal assessments are usually performance-based, meaning students are performing, or demonstrating, their understanding through a specific task. Teachers design assessments and may evaluate them with grades, rubrics, checklists, or other scoring conventions.

You will learn more about how to design high-quality assessments as you continue your journey toward becoming a teacher. For now, remember that high-quality assessments should always relate to the standards you taught in that particular lesson. This is called alignment. In addition, good assessments ask the right questions. For example, consider which of the following is more important as a life-long literacy skill: matching a secondary character in a text to a short phrase about what that person did, or presenting a coherent argument that advances your position on a controversial topic? A useful tool for thinking about levels of questioning is Bloom’s Taxonomy (Figure 6.3). Bloom’s Taxonomy is a framework (Bloom et al., 1956) that divides levels of thinking into six categories, ranging from Knowledge to Evaluation. In response to some criticism, the taxonomy was later revised by a group of scholars, including Krathwohl (2002). The new version of the taxonomy included levels ranging from Remember to Create. It is important to understand that the framework is not meant to serve as a ladder that students must climb, where simpler knowledge and questions must always come first; rather, it is possible for students at all levels to consider information at all levels and move among them. This framework enables teachers to think about the kinds of questions they ask, and vary them as needed. Less experienced teachers tend to rely more upon lower-level questions that require basic recall skills, so be intentional about asking questions that challenge students to venture into other levels of the taxonomy as well.

Figure 6.3: Bloom’s Taxonomy (Revised)

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy gradually increases intellectual rigor of questions and learning tasks over six levels: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. The original version was similar, with its six levels including knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Designing and administering assessments that align with your standards and engage students at various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy is an important first step, but another key part of effective assessments is analyzing the data you collect. Analysis of data can occur on individual student, small group, or whole class levels. If many students demonstrate a similar misunderstanding on an assessment, that data indicates the teacher should re-teach that content to increase students’ mastery. Data-driven instruction looks at the results of various assessments when considering next instructional steps. This analysis can be done by individual teachers or with colleagues in a PLC.

Assessment and grades are not the same. Grades can be a form of assessment, but not all assessments are graded. Assessments can include both quantitative and qualitative data. For example, observing students during an activity would not be a grade, but it would give you important information about what a student does or does not understand. There are many practices that exist to support students during assessments, such as IEP accommodations, differentiated assessments, retakes, and no-zero policies. Grading involves assigning scores or labels–such as letter grades, rubric scores, complete or incomplete labels, or numeric values–to a student’s performance on a task. Two forms of grading that you may have experienced in school include mastery grading and standards-based grading. Mastery grading means to structure courses in a way that allows students the time and flexibility to focus on mastering a standard rather than achieving a certain number or letter grade. Standards-based grading breaks down the subject matter into smaller “learning targets.” Each target (often phrased as an “I can” statement) is a teachable concept that students should master by the end of the course. Throughout the term, student learning on each target is recorded (Common Goal Systems, 2021). For example, in a simple grade on a report card, it may say the student received an A, or a percentage, such as 96%. In a standards-based report card, each target is broken down, such as “I can solve number sentences that have brackets”, with a score of 1-4; then, “I can find the sum of two-digit numbers”, with a score of 1-4. In this scale, 1 indicates little or no mastery and 4 indicates advanced mastery. Teachers track student progress, give appropriate feedback, and adapt instruction to meet student needs. The video below offers more explanation of standards-based grading.