SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI COLLEGE

GRADUATE SCHOOL
ACADEMIC YEAR 2017-2018
EDUCTIONAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
EDUC 503 FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

DEVELOPING STANDARDS-BASED
CURRICULUM-
Standard-based Curriculum---A curriculum that is develop by
looking at the standards(district,state,or national); Identifying
the skills,knowledge,and disposistion that students should
demonstrate to meet these standars,and identifying activities
that will allow students to reach the goals stated in the
standards.
Introduction
The purpose of standards-based curriculum development is to
determine why we teach what we teach in relation to standards
set by national educational organizations, as well as state
departments of education.
. The goal of standards-based curriculum development is to provide
a scope. & sequence of learning activities that are consistent within
each subject discipline within each grade level and all grade levels in
each school, and in all schools in the district. These learning
activities have to be tied to achievable outcomes that are consistent
with state standards.
The curriculum has to include instructional strategies for achieving
these outcomes, as well as a variety of assessments that provide
students with multiple opportunities to achieve these outcomes.
Key Components of a Standards-based Curriculum
A standards-based curriculum contains several key components.
The key components are:
- a rationale
- a brief overview of content or a course description
- a brief description of the student audience
- connections to school/district expectations for student
learning
- intended learning outcomes for this particular curriculum
- essential questions
- a content outline
- an instructional plan
- an assessment plan
1 . Rationale
The rationale briefly explains why students need to know,
understand and be able to do what is to be taught. The important
words are 'briefly' and 'need'. You should be able to state the
purpose in one or two sentences.
 1 . Rationale
The rationale briefly explains why students need to know, understand
and be able to do what is to be taught. The important words are
'briefly' and 'need'. You should be able to state the purpose in one or
two sentences.
2. Course/unit Description
The course/unit description provides a general overview of the
content of the curriculum as well as the orientation embedded within
it. This should be a brief one-paragraph. narrative. There are
basically five orientations to teaching what we teach.
3. Student Audience
Briefly describe for whom the curriculum is written. Identify
grade level, type of classroom if appropriate (inclusion,
gifted & talented, resource room), and level, if students are
ability grouped.

4. Appropriate School/District Expectations for Student Learning

If the school or district has a set of goals or expectations for student
learning, cite those that are appropriate. These goals/expectations
will be found with the school or district mission statement
5. Intended Learning Outcomes

The goals for student learning from the Massachusetts Common Core of
Learning, school and district goals/expectations, and the Massachusetts
curriculum frameworks are benchmarks that take several years of
schooling to reach. For this reason, it is important to include specific,
measurable outcomes that will be reached within the time this curriculum
will be taught. Intended learning outcomes demonstrate to what extent
the learning standards of the specific curriculum framework will be
reached.
 6. Essential Questions
Essential questions are hooks to get student
interested in what they will be learning. The
purpose of essential questions is to state, very
briefly, the questions the curriculum is designed
to answer. Sometimes these may be used as
writing prompts for KWL (What do you Know?,
What do you Want to know? And What have you
Learned?)
7.Content Outline
This is the meat of the curriculum guide
where the specific content, skills, and
activities are identified, and sequenced.
The content outline includes all units, and
an overview of content, skills, and
activities within each unit. The content outline
has to follow the actual sequence of units.
8. Instructional Plan
The instructional plan includes a variety of
strategies. The focus needs to be the student
audience for which this curriculum is written. The
instructional plan is difficult to write, as is the
assessment plan, when written to meet the needs of
all students.
9. Assessment Plan
Assessments are an important part of the learning
process for all students. A standards-based
curriculum must include a variety of ways students
are asked to demonstrate what they have learned.
What they are expected to learn is contained in the
intended learning outcomes.
10. Resources
This is a bibliography of the major texts, materials,
web sources and software programs needed to teach
this course/unit.