Curriculum specialist knowledge and skills

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 of behavioral and affective disorders.

Knowledge of personnel recruitment principles and procedures, training, compensation and benefits.

Thorough understanding of the state's educational goals and processes as well as the specific school system's strategic report.

The Curriculum Specialist would be a beneficial position, since he/she would act as a primary contributor and backbone to the overall course development and implementation to help all of the xx school system's xx children learn to their greatest potential.

The responsibilities would be wide and diverse depending on the needs of the schools. 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 few articles on how curriculum specialists are utilized across the United States provides additional input on this role. For example, in Delaware the curriculum specialist met with 20 classroom teachers to update the social studies curriculum in the elementary school grades in order to 1) place a greater emphasis on this subject area for younger grades, especially with policymakers; 2) better integrate the social studies curricula with other coursework; and 3) pay more attention to multiculturalism. The primary goal was to reverse the trend of having less instructional time for social studies in the lower grades.

How can schools and parents take best advantage of the No Student Left Behind policy? A superintendent was mandated to turn around the East Jasper school district in Heidelberg, Mississippi, including a high school ranked among the state's ten worst. To do so, he drew up an action plan for seven immediate improvements, such as a new literacy program, after-school tutoring and teacher training, and presented it to the community in a numerous forums including print/broadcast media, public meetings and including homes. When analysis indicated that seventh and eighth graders were at greatest risk of failing, he established a school within a school to build student contact with teachers and classmates. He also brought in a curriculum specialist to align the instruction with state standards, doubled the time spent on reading and math, and provided after-school programs for the biggest strugglers.