Curriculum alignment : research-based strategies for increasing student achievement

"One of the few books that takes a holistic look at alignment and helps clarify the definition of alignment. Squires helped increase my knowledge as an instructional leader and showed me that alignment can be a valuable tool when used with real intent. The book engaged me in authentic reflection on my professional practice." --Margarete Couture, PrincipalSouth Seneca Central School District, NY

Use the power of alignment to strengthen curriculum and raise student achievement!

Aligning what is taught, written, and tested can be a powerful, systemic way of improving school performance. This guidebook, written by a long-time educator and proponent of curriculum alignment, demonstrates how to apply specific principles and recommendations to improve curriculum, instruction, and test scores.

This resource offers school and district administrators and curriculum specialists concrete, practical guidance for aligning curriculum and instruction with state standards and assessments to improve teaching and learning. The author offers research-based strategies that reinforce the importance of curriculum alignment and shows how districts can:

Use alignment as a major curriculum design element Translate research into usable strategies to achieve measurable results Expand options for raising test results and student outcomes Connect school policy with continuous school improvement Meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind

Comprehensive, thoughtful, and realistic, Curriculum Alignment offers a wide range of approaches to appeal to educators at every level.

Reviews 1

Choice Review

Squires (Southern Connecticut State Univ.) successfully explains the messy, sometimes misunderstood concept of curriculum alignment by presenting research platforms and systematic models and processes for district educators to improve instruction through ongoing curriculum improvement. By translating formidable research and weaving it through thoughtful examples and systematic approaches, Squires instructs educators to seize the power of curriculum alignment to raise test scores, meet student outcomes, achieve desired and measurable results, and most importantly improve instruction for students' benefit. Each chapter contains an introduction and strong yet accessible research findings from the past and present, and each skillfully facilitates transfer and application in the sections titled "What Districts Can Do." This structure serves to assist the educator who wishes to integrate and implement key suggestions and considerations about curriculum alignment issues. In the last chapter, Squires introduces the Balanced Curriculum Model, which combines all the useful suggestions from previous models into one aligned and reinforced curriculum system for educators to consider. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. L. H. Bush Northeastern Illinois University

Preface

List of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Part I Alignment and Instruction, Textbooks, and Standardized Tests

1 Introduction to Curriculum Alignment

What is Alignment?

Alignment Problems

The Alignment Matrix

2 Alignment and Instruction

Introduction

The "Reform Up Close" Study and Alignment Dimensions

Instructional Alignment and Professional Development

Three Smaller Studies of Instructional Alignment

What Districts Can Do

3 Alignment and Textbooks

Introduction

Textbook to Test Alignment

Summary of Findings for Studies of Textbook to Test Alignment

Quality of Textbook Instruction

Modifying the Use of Textbooks to Improve Alignment

Summary of Findings for Textbook Alignment

What Districts Can Do

4 Alignment and Standardized Tests

Introduction

Marzano's Standards Compilation

The Webb Studies:Aligning State Standards, Assessments, and Policies

Webb's WAT Web Site

The Browder Study: Alignment in Special Education

Vertical Alignment

Science Inquiry and Alignment to Three Large-Scale Assessments

The Bowe and Kingsbury Study

The National Center for Educational Statistics Study (2007): Cut Scores for State Tests and the NAEP

Backloanding the Curriculum

Summary of Findings for Studies of Alignment of State Tests

What Districts Can Do

Part II Alignment and Mastery Learning, Project 2061, and TIMSS

5 Alignment, Reteaching, and Mastery Learning

A Personal Ntoe

Introduction

Bloom's Theory of School Learning

Cohen: Instructional Alignment

The Wishnick Study

Summary of Findings for Studies of Mastery Learning

What Districts Can Do

6 Ideas From Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Introduction

Project 2061

Summary of Findings for Project 2061

What Districts Can Do

7 Alignment and the TIMSS Analysis

Introduction

The TIMSS Methodology

Curriculum and Student Acheivement

What Districts Can Do

Part III The Aligned Curriculum

8 Criteria for a Useful and Useable Curriculum Incorporating Alignment

Introduction

The Many Meaning of Curriculum

The Common Definition of Curriculum

Our Definition of Curriculum

Criteria for a Useful and Useable Curriculum

9 Addressing Alignment Through a Curriculum Design: The Balanced Curriculum Model

Introduction

Results from School Districts

The Balanced Curriculum Model

Is the Balanced Curriculum Useful and Useable?

What Districts Can Do- A Conclusion

10 How the Balanced Curriculum Meets This Book's Recommendations for Districts

11 Summary of Alignment Research and Recommendations

Introduction

Summary of the Book

Summary of the Book's Chapters

The Reasearch Posted on the Alignment Matrix

Major Findings From the Alignment Research

Resource A 10 Criteria for Structuring a Useful and Useable Curriculum

References

Index

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews 1

Choice Review

Table of Contents