Components of a Quality Curriculum An Annotated Bibliography

Quality Curriculum

The research indicates that a quality school curriculum is reflected by the curricula of its mathematics and science components, driven by its textbooks and teachers, and may improve if a variety of domains are included (e.g., music and the arts). But math and science curricula appear useful predictors of the overall quality of a school curriculum. In addition, students exposed to better learning experiences at an early age will do better later on and a curriculum that includes practical and applicable material will also produce informed and skilled adults.

Components of a Quality Curriculum:

An Annotated Bibliography

Developing a Quality Math Curriculum

Hook, Bishop, and Hook (2007) investigated a new math curriculum on the curriculums of the six leading countries in math performance as determined by The International Math & Science Study (TIMSS) of 1995. These top six countries had very similar curricula, whereas the U.S., which placed 56th. The curricula had four content characteristics believed to affect the performance of their students: (1) U.S. schools offered too many topics, particularly in the lower grades, such that the curricula was unfocused; (2); the U.S. curriculum was highly repetitive, topics were introduced too early, with too little depth, and were repeated often; (3) topics in the U.S. were not presented in a logical step-by-step order; and (4) the material and topics are not very demanding (especially in middle school). The researchers developed a new curriculum and tested it in four urban school districts (second to sixth grades) with high percentages of economically disadvantaged and English learning immigrant students. The results indicated a significant learning advantage for math for the test group compared to control groups using traditional curricula.

How the U.S. Can Develop Quality Curricula by Observing TMISS Results

Schmidt, Wang, and, McKnight (2005) also explored the TIMSS data compared to the U.S. standards-based math and science curriculum. The highest scoring countries gradually introduce new topics which become part of the material for a few grades and then became separate topics in the curriculum, whereas in the U.S. new topics were introduced and continued to remain part of classroom instruction while more topics were introduced and eventually there were too many topics in a particular curriculum. This lead to important topics not been being covered in sufficient depth. The researchers discuss how the countries with the highest scores in math and science can set an example for the U.S. To follow in order to get the best performance from their students.

Maintaining High Standards

Bailey (2003) examined how effective learning could be curriculum-driven and at the same time address mandated content standards at the middle school level in 170 eighth grade students in a Florida school. The students participated in multidisciplinary units that integrated content from several areas and included activities like learning archeology and participation in an archeological dig. Findings indicated that the students enjoyed the experience and overall skill levels remained stable over the use of the multidisciplinary approach.

Scaling a Curriculum Intervention

Clarke & Dede (2009) acknowledge that a one-size-fits-all educational innovation is ineffective as it does not account for the contextual factors that determine a particular intervention's efficacy. The River City multi-user virtual environment model allows for evaluation and research designs to understand and enhance causes of the effectiveness of a curriculum, enables adaptation across all contexts, is modifiable to retain effectiveness, reduces resources and the need for special expertise in designing adaptable solutions, supports educators as co-evaluators, co-designers, and co-scalers of the program, and allows for flexibility to learn from the adaptations to a curriculum and to rethink the design. The researchers discuss the use of this model to develop quality curricula in a variety of different contexts.

As Goes Math So Goes the Entire Curriculum

Schiller, Schmidt, Muller, and Houang (2010) analyzed data from high school transcripts and textbook adoption lists collected for Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement program and linked to survey data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to investigate how curricula and course materials (e.g., textbook choices) influence mathematic achievement in high school students and how this relates to the quality of the overall curriculum. Their findings indicate that very important discrepancies exist in high school mathematics courses that are not reflected in traditional outcome measures (e.g., national standardized examinations). Variations in curriculum quality were related to the characteristics of the school and the socio-demographic background of the students. In addition the quality of the math curriculum was a significant predictor of the quality of the overall school curricula.

Correlates...

The findings indicated that students from lower social economic statuses and with parents or caregivers with lower educational backgrounds were significantly more likely to deviate from the common course sequences, especially in mathematics sequences, and this was a significant contribution in their not progressing through the standard curricula in high school. These findings also indicated that decreased progress in mathematics is related to earlier demographic and educational discrepancies and these gaps widen most quickly in the more advanced stages of high school. Thus, one way to maintain a quality high school curriculum for all students would be to ensure that students progress through mathematics programs.
Quality Curriculum for Three-Year-olds and Younger

Wertfein, Spies-Kofler, & Becker-Stoll (2009) investigated the components of a quality curriculum of 36 pre-school centers in Germany. The analysis indicated that better learning was associated with the competence of the center staff (as defined by staff credentials, organization, and teamwork), the ability to be flexible (addressing the curricula to meet the specific needs of the children), and the ability to network with outside sources such as specialists in particular developmental and educational areas. Of course these principles can be applied to other grade/age levels as well.

A Quality Math Curriculum for Preschoolers Affects Later Skills

Clements and Sarama (2008) randomly assigned preschool students intended for kindergarten in the next year to a Building Blocks curriculum (which consisted of once a week math exercises and in other weekly activities), to a math intensive condition, or a control condition. The Building Blocks curriculum is a research-based curriculum designed to increase math skills in children by using a multilevel approach. Following the 26-week intervention period the Building Blocks group demonstrated significantly improved overall math skills compared to the math intensive group and the control conditions. This research is important to indicate that the early effects of a curriculum in math can influence the development of math skills and learning math in grade school. The researchers note that students that develop math skills early are not intimidated by math later and of course this would affect their learning.

Improving the Curriculum by Improving the Teachers

Domitrovich, Gest, Gill, Wierman, Welsh, and Jones (2009) investigated how enriching the curriculum via instructing the teachers in cognitive linguistic (language and problem solving skills), emotional behavioral support (improving the quality of student-teacher interactions), and using empirically validated teaching methods cold improve the quality of learning in Head Start programs. Teachers and teacher's assistants in 44 Headstart programs were randomly assigned to either an intervention group where these skills were taught to teachers or control group. The end of the year comparison indicated that the teachers with the intervention were significantly more likely to approach students in a more positive manner, engage in problem solving strategies, interactive students in more complex ways, and fostered a more positive learning environment.

Comparing the Focus of Curricula across Cultures

Textbooks drive curricula. Zhu and Fan (2006) examined one Mainland China textbook and one U.S. textbook at the lower secondary grade level to investigate how they represent various types of problems. In both series greater than 90% of problems were close-ended problems and most of the problems were irrelevant to real-world situations. Problems in the Chinese textbooks were more challenging than those in the U.S. books in terms of the steps involved in the problem solutions. U.S. textbooks provided considerably more problems and used more visual information. These differences may highlight the different curricula focuses of both countries and offer clues as to the development of the curricula for both.

Textbooks in a Quality Curriculum

Stern and Roseman (2004) looked at nine U.S. common middle-school science textbooks and their descriptions of the transfer of matter and energy from one organism to another and between organisms and the environment (photosynthesis, respiration, etc.) that are core components of science curricula and often are difficult for students to learn. The idea was examine how well a material's content aligns with each key idea selected and how well the instructional strategies in teacher guide and student text support the learning of these concepts. Findings indicated that eight of the nine texts examined were not satisfactory and all materials were unlikely to contribute to the attainment of benchmarks and standards for this particular issue and science. It can be assumed that other benchmarks and standards are likely to be…