Curriculum Evaluation: What it is, How to do it, & Why you should do it
Several facets work together to build a curriculum. The curriculum is essential to the students’ learning, so it should be approached seriously and with care. In order to maintain professionalism and meet the students’ needs, evaluating curriculum is essential. Teachers should consider every facet of learning to develop an effective curriculum.
Importance of Curriculum Evaluation
Curriculum evaluation is more than simply evaluating what is taught but how that information is being taught and assessed. It is important to remember that the term curriculum is not synonymous with textbook. It is understandable why so many confuse these two terms, but it is essential for a teacher to know the difference in order to better impact instruction and planning that will in turn benefit the students' learning. Curriculum refers to any materials or resources or activities that contribute to the students’ learning (Steiner, 2017, p. 1-2). Therefore, anything presented to the students contributes to their learning, so educators should evaluate its place in the curriculum.
Standards and Objectives
Teachers should remember how valuable it is to be specific when making goals. These specific goals are turned into objectives after consulting standards. Many teachers have this misconception about the standards “hierarchical list format” (Wiggins et. al., 2012, p. 7) and consequently teach standards in isolation; then, they criticize others for placing five or six standards in one lesson plan. Similar to the classroom goals that guide a teacher to choose standards, a school should have “Mission-Related Goals” (Wiggins et. al., 2012). These should include a school’s long-term goals in the event that a particular group of students stay for an extended period of time. These goals are also intended for the staff since their time at the school is usually longer than the students. In many private schools, especially religious schools, “there are subjects and topics taught for which there are no externally established standards or standardized tests,” (Wiggins et. al., 2012, p. 17). It is important for these schools to establish their own goals and then standards and objectives that are modeled after state standards. Making these determinations for a course better helps the teachers know how to plan, teach, and assess for student learning.
Assessment for Learning
Assessments should inform the entire process of planning, teaching, performing and assessing (Wiggins et. al., 2012). If the ultimate goal is to learn, then the assessment must be able to measure the degree to which learning has occurred. Once the teacher has created such an assessment, then the teacher must determine how best to teach the information or skill and then plan accordingly. This process is the backwards planning model (Wiggins et. al., 2012). Assessing for learning is best accomplished in formative assessments that are actual activities integrated into the lesson (Bartlett, 2015). Bartlett emphasizes the value of active assessments during a lesson rather than always after a lesson (2015, p. 58). Teachers who walk around the room and allow the students to interact with their classmates during instruction are usually assessing for learning much more than a teacher who lectures from the front of the room with the students silently seated with their hands on their desks.
Assignments and Assessment
Many teachers feel inadequately prepared to create assessments. Although research and suggestions exist, little about assignments and assessments is taught to teachers in training or even emphasized to experienced teachers (McMillan, 2000, p. 1). They are primarily taught strategies, ways to teach the material, but not ways to assess the material. All forms of assessment are technically professional judgments. Because all assessments and tools to assess are unable to truly be objective, teachers and administrators need to remain diligent in their own learning to preserve their own professional judgment (McMillan, 2000, p. 1). Conflicts in philosophies directly impact teaching strategies, which in turn impacts the assessment (McMillan, 2000, p. 2). Educators cannot ignore these tensions; instead, they should be well informed and prioritize which to focus on and embrace the most (McMillan, 2000, p. 2). Being well informed helps teachers decide which methods to use primarily and which are simply good to use for exposure or remediation (McMillan, 2000, p. 3). Incorporating multiple methods and technology ensure the assessments are fair, efficient, feasible, and valid (McMillan, 2000, p. 2-3).
Validity and Reliability
Validity is the property of the evidence or the use of evidence to support a claim, which is most often an assessment in education (Hickey, 2014). Reliability means that the claim or assessment is trustworthy because there is consistency (Hickey, 2014). The purpose of assessment reliability is to prove that an assessment can be trusted for measuring student understanding. Teachers need to be able to prove that their assessments are stable, which means that results are consistent over time. The purpose of assessment validity, however, is to prove the support of an assessment. Teachers also need to be able to prove that their assessments are in fact valid according to the standards and curriculum. Validity and reliability work best together. Something that is valid is not always reliable, however. An assessment might show that students answered the correct questions, but it is possible the students guessed on some of those questions. Therefore, an assessment can never have 100% reliability (Hickey, 2014). A student answering correctly because of a guess does not provide the teacher confidence in the student’s understanding.
These concepts actually support a biblical worldview of absolute truth. As a Christian teacher, it is important to identify and explain truth frequently. Teachers, especially Christian teachers, can implement strategies that teach validity and reliability to students. An unbeliever may say something that is valid, but they themselves are not completely reliable. Only Scripture is completely reliable as well as valid because it is inspired by God (1 Timothy 3:16).
Differentiation of Instruction
Teachers need to differentiate their lessons according to student background, ability and diversity. Considering a student’s background, ability and diversity is important to consider when planning assessments, but it is also important to consider when planning instruction (Wiggins, 2012, p. 89). Certain strategies accommodate students better than others. Varying strategies should only be chosen when considering a student’s background, ability and diversity.
Tomlinson (2014) encourages teachers to not stop at what they are differentiating but how they will and why they will. One practical strategy to help educators differentiate instruction is to start with a curriculum that provides meaning. Extensive research has been conducted to support the fact that the brain develops in such a way that coordinates with the emotions (Tomlinson, 2014, p. 33). If people do not feel engaged or believe the engagement will actually produce meaning, then they usually do not learn as well as they would otherwise, if at all.
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Educators assert that culturally responsive teaching includes “developing a knowledge base about cultural diversity, including ethnic and cultural diversity content in the curriculum, demonstrating caring and building learning communities, communicating with ethnically diverse students, and responding to ethnic diversity in the delivery of instruction” (Gay, 2001). If a teacher understands the elements of a specific culture and is actively implementing those elements into the curriculum, then the teacher demonstrates culturally responsive teaching. Therefore, the students in these classrooms usually excel academically more than those with teachers who are not culturally responsive (Gay, 2001).
Students with language barriers can especially feel uncomfortable in a classroom if the teacher is not culturally responsive. Teachers should be willing to differentiate some resources, homework assignments, and perhaps even the first few quizzes and first test. Then, after more practice and exposure in the classroom as their English improves, ESL/ELL students could transition to assessments fully in English. It is possible for teachers to be sensitive to the students who are immersed without compromising the purpose of the immersion.
The belief among educators already exists that lessons should consider the audience and the purpose of learning (Wiggins et. al., 2012, p. 108). Teachers should evaluate their lessons and assessments based on who the audience is and what the purpose of the lesson may be. Christian teachers, especially, should be willing to work with these students who have language barriers or even cultural distinctives. God made everyone in His image, which means we all have the same base value in God’s eyes. Nobody is intrinsically better than another person. Yes, students may succeed in one subject over another student, and one student may exhibit better morals than another student. But we all have the same value as human beings made in God’s image. Everyone is responsible for their own work because that data tells the teacher who is struggling and who is not. Then the teacher knows how to remediate before the final, summative assessment and provide each student the opportunity to succeed.
Feedback
When developing curriculum, it is important for teachers to follow the design cycle and receive feedback from colleagues and superiors (Wiggins et. al., 2012, p. 118). There are multiple stages in which the teacher receives feedback about the unit design. Standards can supply feedback by themselves, then direct observation from the teacher and colleagues or administrators, and finally from the students’ assessments (Wiggins et. al., 2012, p. 118). It is always important for teachers to consider the students’ success or lack thereof as feedback on their abilities to plan and teach.
Verbal feedback is still one of, if not, the most effective form of feedback that a teacher can give a student. Especially if the teacher has been planning for and implementing assessing for learning activities, then presenting verbal feedback to students during their activities will further cement their learning and confidence in their learning (Bartlett, 2015, 132). Written feedback should consider the present and the future. A student may have met the requirements of an assignment and showed that they are indeed learning, but teachers can usually tell if the work is their best or not. Written feedback provides an amazing opportunity to set target goals for individual students based on previous data records and to challenge the quality of their assessments (Bartlett, 2015, p. 134-137).
Application of Curriculum Evaluation
Teachers should always be evaluating their curriculum because they should be striving for excellence. Teachers should make specific goals. Teachers who best assess for learning are those who create a classroom environment that encourages inquiry, discovery, and beliefs. Another way to assess for learning is to tailor assignments to multiple intelligences. Challenging students to learn in multiple ways helps them more than prescribing one way each time. Teachers who assess for learning also provide students with the best possible assessments.
Students need to be taught that certain aspects of life are valid or invalid, reliable or unreliable. The teacher who desires to present truth to the students will also be the teacher that differentiates lessons, activities, and assessments to meet the students’ needs. Part of differentiation that greatly impacts the curriculum is being culturally responsive. Teachers do not need to endorse everything about a culture, but they also should never condemn a culture. Teachers should include self-reflection surveys, peer-reflection surveys and maybe even questions on assessments in order to receive feedback on the curriculum. Receiving feedback from colleagues and administrators can also be helpful to determine how effective the curriculum is for student learning.
Personal Reflection
I am content with the curriculum process at this time. It is helpful to progress from whole-part-whole in most life situations, so curriculum is no different in my mind. The only clarification I would make is that students should be taught how to determine beliefs and values. This topic may be more challenging for teachers in public schools, but I still think it can be accomplished. Just as it is important for teachers to reflect on their curriculum, I believe it is important to teach students to reflect on their beliefs periodically.
Part of a teacher’s curriculum should always include personal connections. I always try to create assignments for students to research their family history or to share their personal thoughts on a character’s situations. Teaching in a Christian school, I am more easily able to provide spiritual encouragement to my students on a daily basis through lessons and personal conversations outside of the classroom. Even certain assignments allow me to provide written feedback that can challenge or encourage them spiritually.
References
Bartlett, J. (2015). Outstanding assessment for learning in the classroom. Routledge.
Christensen, L. (2012). The classroom to prison pipeline. The Education Digest 77(8), pp. 38-41. Accessed
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Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education 53(2).
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Hickey, D. (2014). Reliability [Film]. BigOpen OnlineClasses.
King James Bible. (2017). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1769)
McMillan, J. (2000). Fundamental assessment principles for teachers and school administrators. Practical
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Steiner, D. (2017). Curriculum research: what we know and where we need to go. StandardsWork.
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Tomlinson, C. (2014). The differentiated classroom: responding to the needs of all learners. Association
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Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2012). The understanding by design guide to advanced concepts in creating
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