This curriculum binder represents the ongoing efforts of staff members in M.S.A.D. #4 to examine closely what it is they teach and how and where they teach it. The mission/vision statement; the district, grade-level, and content-area educational philosophies; the educational goals; and the common-core objectives were written and revised during the academic year 1996-97. Scope-and-sequence guides in English language arts and mathematics were developed during the summer, 1997, and revised during the summer, 1998. Essential learnings [i.e., those knowledges and skills that will eventually be assessed at strategic points along the learning continuum (K, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12)] and priorities for implementation, 1998-99, were also established in 1998. Scope-and-sequence guides in science and social studies were developed dur-ing the summer, 1998; and guides in the other seven areas of the total curriculum will be added as time and other resources permit.

This guide is an important part of the comprehensive curriculum in S.A.D. #4 schools. It is built upon the State of Maine Learning Results (July 1997) and upon the mission and fundamental goals of the district. A well-balanced in-structional program, K-12, can develop only when teachers are aware of the relationship of each content and service area to the total curriculum. Combining all curricular materials into a single volume enables each staff member to know what is taught in subjects other than his/her own and to plan with his/her peers to bridge the gap that too often separates the various disciplines. As work continues and learning activities are developed in each area of the curriculum, efforts will lean increasingly in the direction of con-necting the disciplines for purposes of instruction and assessment. Writing-process and writing-across-the-curriculum workshops (August, 1997)÷the first in what is, hopefully, a series of staff-development opportunities÷was an effort to prepare all staff for these much-needed connections.

The loose-leaf format of the binder facilitates revision by allow-ing staff to add, delete, substitute, and rearrange text; to jot notes in the margins of any given page; and to receive replacement pages as often as needed. Additionally, one can see at a glance how current any particular component of the curriculum is by noting the date typed in the lower left corner of various documents.

The Purpose

Why write a curriculum? The major reason to write and to implement a curriculum can be expressed in one word: accountability. What classroom teachers believe they should do, what the public perceives that teachers do, and what in fact goes on in the classroom should not be vastly different; but, without a printed curriculum, philosophic, perceived, and practiced curricula are often disjointed.

There are, however, others reasons for writing a curriculum: (1) To provide direc-tion for the total school program; (2) to provide a basis for K-12 curriculum coordi-nation; (3) to facilitate meaningful coor-dination between and among content areas; (4) to provide a basis for selecting and/or developing, planning, and assess-ing instructional units; (5) to provide a focus for developing minimum standards; and (6) to inform the public and pro-fessional communities about curricular issues. Fulfilling these purposes is the job of educators in S.A.D. #4. It is their com-mitment to the people whom they serve.

The Framework

Curriculum development can mean cre-ating from scratch, making major or minor changes in existing documents, or merely realigning what exists. Comprehensive curriculum development generally in-volves all three processes. Designing an appropriate framework and maintaining consistency within and between content areas, therefore, become critical to the success of the endeavor.

The following framework was developed and shared with the staff in November, 1996:

Mission: an expression of the school's purpose for existing. What is the future we want for students?

Vision: an expression of the way things ought to be if everyone involved (each stakeholder) does what he/she should do. A vision should build on the mission and answer the question How can we best create the future we want for students?

Organizational Goals: a description of what the school board and the adminis-tration will do to maintain and improve teaching and learning in the district. The district has not officially set these goals, but a draft of representative goals has been developed and shared with the Board.

Educational Goals: a description of fun-damental exit outcomes for all students. What will all graduates know, be able to do, and demonstrate as habits of mind?

Common-core Objectives: an expres-sion of what students must know, be able to do, and demonstrate as habits of mind to achieve the educational goals÷they are interdisciplinary in nature and en-courage integration of knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

District Philosophy: an expression of fundamental beliefs about what and how students should learn and about what professional practices and organizational structures facilitate such learning. In general, what should students know, be able to do, and demonstrate as habits of mind (content), how do they best acquire such knowledge, skills, and dispositions (pedagogy), and what kind of environment (climate and resources) is best suited to their acquiring them?

Grade-level Philosophies: documents that complement the district philosophy by answering the same questions, but by answering them more specifically, based on learner characteristics at a particular level: K-4, 5-8, or 9-12.

Content-area Philosophies: documents that complement the district philosophy and grade-level philosophies by answer-ing the same questions, but by answering them more specifically, based on current best practices in a given content-area at given developmental levels.

Content Standards: documents that specify which content areas are included within the curriculum; how those content areas are divided for purposes of dis-cussion; and what broad knowledge, skills, and dispositions students are expected to demonstrate as a result of instruction.

Performance Indicators: learner will statements which are derived from, but not limited to, the common-core objectives and which specify the specific types of observable and measurable knowledge, skills, and dispositions required in a given content area. Indicators are frequently combined with performance standards, i.e., descriptors of how well a student performs a given task. M.E.A. levels used to describe student performance include novice, basic, advanced, and dis-tinguished. Nationally, basic, pro-ficient, and advanced have been suggested.

Learning Activities: information about specific units of instruction aligned with specific performance indicators in a given content area: grade-level appropriateness, length of time required, rationale, ma-terials needed, a step-by-step description of what the classroom teacher and his/her students must do, recommended assess-ment strategies, and interdisciplinary con-nections.

Essential Learnings: the student out-comes that all students are expected to achieve by certain points along the learning continuum (e.g., by the end of the fourth-grade year, all students can use a variety of media to communicate some self-selected or assigned topic). Bench-marks in S.A.D. #4 have been set as the end of Kindergarten and Grades 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12. Essential-learning benchmarks are set after a scope-and-sequence in a particular content area has been developed and then become the basis for end-of-year assessments. Eventually, the district will need to develop performance standards (e.g., Distinguished, Advanced, Basic, Novice), train the staff to recognize levels of performance, and revise the district policy regarding promotion/reten-tion to reflect a standards-based curricu-lum.

Instructional Methods: a list of re-sources and supplementary pages that offer teachers information about current best instructional practices recommended for specific content areas or education in general.

Assessment Strategies: a list of re-sources and supplementary pages that offer teachers information about current best assessment practices recommended for specific content areas or education in general.

The Use of the Binder

Curriculum guides should encourage daily or weekly use. Some teachers use scope and sequence to track their progress during the year ("I've covered this and this; I need to cover that·"). Other teachers make overheads of certain sections so that they can provide students with an overview of a lesson or an entire unit or course. Still others refer to their guides when they construct test items or plan group activities. There is no one correct way to use a curriculum guide, but teachers should keep records of when and how they use it and share especially effective uses with others.

As work on the S.A.D. #4 curriculum continues, this foreword will change to reflect that work. In the meantime, all staff members are encouraged to read the existing documents carefully, to imple-ment what can reasonably be imple-mented in the coming year, and to maintain records of those things which ought to be revised or discussed if we are to prepare students for the challenges of the twenty-first century.

As I move on to pursue a full-time position as Director of Curriculum and Academic Achievement in M.S.A.D. #67, I will not forget the efforts of all those who have contributed to the curriculum work to date in M.S.A.D. #4. I trust this work will con-tinue and encourage you to contact me via phone or email if I can answer a question or otherwise render some ser-vice. God bless.

Donna J. Vigue

August 12, 1998