technical assistance

RB Educational Consulting provides ongoing technical assistance and consulting services to school districts, schools, and other educational organizations. One of the most frequent needs is for assistance with curriculum alignment.

Read about how some educators are working with us
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Curriculum Alignment

The components of an aligned curriculum are scope and sequence (curriculum map), pacing guides, and model curriculum units. We help instructional committees develop any or all of these materials. The timeframe for this work is generally one or two years, depending on the products to be developed. The technical assistance components include regular onsite meetings as well as assistance by email, telephone, or distance learning between onsite sessions.

What is instructional scope and sequence?

A scope and sequence document provides a vertical view of the curriculum. It is organized around a list of concepts, skills, and key vocabulary derived from the state standards that all students should know and be able to do at each grade level from kindergarten through high school. The purpose of the scope and sequence is to build a basis for curriculum development, instructional strategies, and assessment practices, and to provide continuity of instruction from grade to grade.

Why do we need a scope and sequence?

Without an instructional scope and sequence, or vertical alignment of curriculum, there are often unnecessary curricular repetitions. For example, the same reading selection may be used in more than one grade, or the same mathematics project/task may be repeated. Furthermore, a scope and sequence encourages “spiraling” of skills and concepts, which involves reinforcing and extending concepts and skills with increasing complexity within and across grades. An instructional scope and sequence may also provide sample instructional activities and classroom assessments that serve as models for increasing the complexity of the curriculum each year. Scope and sequence also helps teachers eliminate gaps, or omissions, of instruction in essential concepts and skills. (To View Sample Scope and Sequence, click either .pdf format or Word .doc format.)

What is a pacing guide?

Pacing guides are grade-level curriculum maps that prioritize teaching of state standards. They contain the content and skills outlined in the Scope and Sequence documents for each content area and grade and present them in sequential, or prioritized, order by grading period. Thus, pacing guides create a realistic time frame for instruction. They also indicate the order in which the concepts and skills should be taught and the appropriate amount of instructional time needed for student mastery. (To View Sample Pacing Guide, click either .pdf format or Word .doc format.)

Why do we need a pacing guide?

Pacing guides help teachers align the written, taught, and tested curricula. They also help teachers plan a year’s curriculum in instructional segments. Furthermore, pacing guides help teachers to ensure equity so that all students across all classrooms and schools have access to the same quality curriculum. If students move from one school or one classroom to another, they can be assured of receiving consistent quality of curriculum and instruction without unnecessary curricular repetitions or gaps. Pacing Guides help concentrate time, effort, and resources to maximize student learning.

What is a model curriculum unit?

Model curriculum units illustrate how the concepts and skills identified in the pacing guide may be incorporated into one or more selected themes during a grading period. In a pacing guide, a theme may be represented by an essential question. The essential questions are generally interdisciplinary in nature and allow for integration of concepts and skills from the various clusters of concepts and skills outlined in the content standards as well as cross-curricular connections with other academic disciplines, the arts, or other curricular areas. These questions also help students see their learning as connected to a “big idea” or essential understanding that they will need to know and use in real life and in subsequent years of schooling. At the conclusion of a unit, students should be able to demonstrate their understanding of the question through both traditional and performance-based assessments.

Model curriculum units also contain a variety of learning activities and assessments that are compatible with student growth and achievement. Thus, the curriculum becomes more coherent and relevant to students’ lives. Without such integration of knowledge and skills, instruction often becomes disconnected and student engagement and learning may be hindered. (To View a Teacher Reflection, click either .pdf format or Word .doc format.)

How are model curriculum units used?

Teachers may use model curriculum units as they are written, adapt them to the needs and interests of their students, or use them as models for developing their own curriculum. The units may be most beneficial to new teachers, teachers who are having difficulty with pacing instruction, and teachers who may not have prior experience in designing curriculum units.

How Some Educators Are Working With Us

• St. Patrick School in Weston, WV is working with us to transform their curriculum, making it more rigorous and relevant for students in Pre-K through sixth grade. The staff will design instruction based on the latest research in neuroscience and learning theory to promote student learning and ultimately raise test score. After workshops in June and August of 2007, teachers and administrators will meet with us monthly throughout the school year to develop curriculum maps and integrated instructional units that closely reflect national standards.

• Champlain Valley Educational Services in Plattsburgh, NY is collaborating with us to provide workshops for K-12 teachers in their participating school districts. Making Sense of English Language Arts Curriculum Alignment will offer strategies for clustering standards within the English Language Arts curriculum and making cross-disciplinary connections. A similar workshop will be offered for mathematics teachers.During the workshops, teachers will create curriculum units for their classroom.

• The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory is working with us to design and deliver workshops on integrated teaching and learning with follow-up coaching for high school teachers in their Smaller Learning Communities program. For example, two workshops will be provided for teams of teachers from nine high schools in DeKalb County, GA with follow-up coaching offered for the individual schools.

• The Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech is collaborating with us on a proposal to the National Science Foundation that, if successful, will bring together graduate researchers and Montgomery County high school science teachers in the classroom. The goals are to make the latest scientific research available to high school students and to engage high school students in designing and conducting their own research projects.