Curriculum Specialist
Especially with the emphasis by the federal government on student performance with "No Child Left Behind," there exists an essential need for a well-educated and skilled curriculum specialist for school systems.
Specific Skills:
Excellent classroom presentation, facilitation, and management abilities.
Strong organizational and time management skills.
Ability to complete responsibilities in a professional environment with cross-functional teams, as well as an individual contributor.
Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills. Most important, providing full attention to what others have to say, taking time to listen to and understand points being made, questioning as appropriate, and only offering input when needed.
Facility in multi-tasking and handling high-pressured situations.
Capability to think proactively and strategically. This consists of applying logic and reasoning to identify the pros and cons of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Knowledge:
Mediation and negotiating.
PC capabilities including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and database skills
Educational learning theories and specialist areas including special education, gifted and talented, vocational education. This includes choosing and utilizing training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new areas of learning.
Business and management processes as utilized through strategic planning, resource determination, personnel planning, leadership techniques, production methods, and coordination of staff/volunteers, programs and resources.
Human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment...
The specialist's first actions would be to complete a thorough status of the curriculum as it presently stands, by obtaining information from all relevant sources. This would include gaining insights on what should be changed as well as what has been successful. Organizational and time management skills in addition to curriculum knowledge would be paramount.
Since the curriculum specialist would be communicating in person, writing or by telephone/e-mail with the internal staff, the public, and government employees as a representative of the school system excellent communication and listening skills are important. Similarly, the curriculum specialist would be working with others on team projects in addition to accomplishing his/her own objectives. Of course, communication would continue to be a very important part of the position as the specialist continues to identify needs, provide training, and make needed changes and updates.
When the information is collected, the curriculum specialist would analyze the results and develop an overall approach and strategy. A presentation would be completed so that it could be shown to various audiences. The curriculum specialist would then provide guidance to management and teachers on how to implement the agreed-upon plan.
Reviewing a…
