Academic+Content+and+IL+Standards

**Academic Standards and Curriculum Pathfinder **
The scope of this pathfinder covers the development and use of academic standards in schools; the content curriculum used in schools to frame instruction; and examples of information literacy curriculum..

Elliot Eisner
John I. Goodlad Jacobs, Heidi Hayes Robert J. Marzano Jay McTighe W. James Popham Grant Wiggins

STANDARDS & CURRICULUM
// [|Education Topics: Standards] //. ASCD

Costa, Arthur L. The Thought-Filled Curriculum. //Educational Leadership// 65.5 (February 2008): 20-24.

Eisner, Elliot W. “Those Who Ignore the Past. . . : 12 ‘Easy’ Lessons for the Next Millennium. //Journal of Curriculum Studies// (2000) 32.3. Eisner, Elliot W. “Preparing for Today and Tomorrow.” //Educational Leadership// (December 2003) 61.4.

Eisner, Elliot W. “What Does It Mean to Say a School Is Doing Well?” //Phi Delta Kappan// (January 2001) 82.5. Eisner, Elliot W. “Why Standards May not Improve Schools.” //Educational Leadership// (February 1993) 50.5.

Gandal, Matthew and Jennifer Vranek. Standards: Here Today, Here Tomorrow. //Educational Leadership// 50:1 (September 2003) 6-13.

Goodlad, John I. Teaching What We Hold Sacred. //Educational Leadership// 61.4 (December 2003): 18-21.

Scherer, Marge. How and Why Standards Can Improve Student Achievement: A Conversation with Robert J. Marzano. //Educational Leadership// 59.1 (September 2001): 14-19.

Seed, Allen H. Redirecting the Teaching Profession in the Wake of a Nation at Risk and NCLB. //Phi Delta Kappan// 89.8 (April 2008) : 586-589. [|ASCD. Education Topics.] ASCD provides a collection of current topics related to education today. Each link will take you to a definition and a collection of ASCD resources on the topic with some hot links to articles or book chapters. Relevant topics include: Curriculum Integration, Standards, What Works in Schools.

**STATE STANDARDS **
[|Academic and Professional Standards: Curriculum and Instruction]. NJ Department of Education. [|Indiana Academic Standards.] Indiana Department of Education. [|NC Standard Course of Study]. Public Schools of North Carolina. State Board of Education. Department of Public Instruction. [|Ohio Academic Content Standards]. Ohio Department of Education. // [|Curriculum & Standards. South] Carolina Department of Education //. [|Wisconsin Model Academic Standards]. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. [|Washington State Standards: Essential Academic Learning Requirements]. Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

 INFORMATION LITERACY CURRICULUM -- Examples
[|Information Literacy Curriculum]. Clarkstown Central School District. West Nyack, NY, 2000.

[|Information Literacy Curriculum]. Information Age Inquiry. Developed by Annette Lamb and Larrry Johnson. SCILS, IUPUI. 2006. [|Information Literacy: Florida’s Library Media/Curriculum Connections]. Bureau of Instruction and Innovation. Library Media Services. Tallahassee, FL. N.d. [|Sample Information Literacy Curriculum Framework]. Iowa Board of Education. N.d. [|Information Literacy Across the Curriculum]. Bunch Library Wiki. Belmont University. [|Information Literacy and Library Resources]. School-Libraries.org. Online Resources for School Libraries. Developed by Peter Milbury. 2002. [|Supervisor’s Resource Bank: Information Literacy and Library Curriculum Framework]. Bellingham Public Schools. N.d. Note: This site does have some dead links and at least one highly irregular link to Barbara Stripling’s web site that is a hoax. [|Information Literacy]. Bellevue School District. Bellevue, WA. NOTE: Some of the links on this page are password protected. The site includes scope and sequence charts.

**EDUCATION PERIODICALS **
Some of these journal web sites make a selection of articles from their professional journals available to non-members. Although most school libraries can not afford to subscribe to all of the journals mentioned below, as the teacher librarian, you should be familiar with these journals and the web sites. Some web sites include resources for teachers and a sampling of articles. You are encouraged to explore these web sites and note those that you feel would be useful to you and your teachers. [|Educational Leadership]. Published by Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). ASCD membership consists of teachers, teacher librarians, principals, curriculum directors, professors, etc. Highly recommended for the library’s professional collection. [|Phi Delta Kappan] : Articles. Phi Delta Kappa International. One to three articles form each issue of //Kappan// are available full text on this web site. Try clicking on the “Table of Contents” link for each issue and you will find an abstract for each article, even those accessible only to members. [|Education Week]. Editorial Projects in Education. 2007. Articles in Education Week are typically short and current but contain useful information. Parts of this site are only accessible to members but some information is open to all who visit the web site. [|The English Journal.] Secondary Section of NCTE. //The English Journal is a journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. EJ presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language. Each issue examines the relationship of theory and research to classroom practice and reviews current materials of interest to English teachers, including books and electronic media.// [NCTE web site ]. [|Language Arts.] NCTE. //Language Arts is a professional journal for elementary and middle school teachers and teacher educators. It provides a forum for discussions on all aspects of language arts learning and teaching, primarily as they relate to children in pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade. Issues discuss both theory and classroom practice, highlight current research, and review children's and young adolescent literature, as well as classroom and professional materials of interest to language arts educators//. [LA/NCTE web site] [|Voices from the Middle]. NCTE. //Voices from the Middle devotes each issue to one topic or concept related to literacy and learning at the middle school level. Each issue includes teachers' descriptions of authentic classroom practices, middle school students' reviews of adolescent literature, a technology column, and reviews of professional resources for teachers. Voices from the Middle also explores the connections between the theory and practice of each issue's topic.// [NCTE web site] [|Talking Points]. The Whole Language Umbrella. NCTE. //Talking Points helps promote literacy research and the use of whole language instruction in classrooms. It provides a forum for parents, classroom teachers, and researchers to reflect about literacy and learning//. [NCTE web site]

**TECHNOLOGY **
[|21st Century Information Fluency Project.] Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. 2002-2007.  [|21st Century Literacies]. AT&T Knowledge Ventures.

**ASSOCIATIONS AND RELATED PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS **
[|International Reading Association]. 1996-2007.  [|ISTE. International Society for Technology in Education.] Journal: //Learning and Leading with Technology//. ISTE has developed NETS, The National Educational Technology Standards, technology standards modeled by many school districts. [|Phi Delta Kappa]. Phi Delta Kappa International. 2007. [|ASCD]. Association for Curriculum Development. 2007. Journal is //Educational Leadership.// [|National Council for the Social Studies]. Silver Spring, MD. Journals include: Social Studies and the Young Learner (É); Middle Level Learning; Social Education. [|National Council of Teachers of Mathematics]. 2006. http://www.nctm.org/ Journals published by NCTM include: Teaching Children Mathematics, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, Mathematics Teacher (HS), OnLine Journal for School Mathematics. National Science Teachers Association. 2007. Journals include: //Science and Children// (É); //Science Scope// (JH/MS); //The Science Teacher// (HS).

**MATH **
Brandenburg, M. Luka. “Advanced Math? Write!” //Educational Leadership// (November 2002) 60.3. Hook, William, Wayne Bishop and John Hook. “A Quality Math Curriculum in Support of Effective Teaching for Elementary Schools.” //Educational Studies in Mathematics// (May 2007) 65.2: 125-148. This paper presents a curriculum textbook and test result analysis for the new elementary school “Key Standard” mathematics curriculum, transplanted in 1998 from it’s foreign roots in Asia and Europe. . . . Five-year test results are presented for two cohorts totaling over 13,000 students, all from four “early adoption” urban districts. . . . Performance was found to be statistically superior to similar (control) districts which continued with the old 1991 curriculum and textbooks. Lowry, May. “Math Lessons: A Case Study in the Adoption of an Innovative Math Curriculum.” //NASSP Bulletin// (April 2000) 84.615. Provides information on a case study regarding the adoption of an innovative math curriculum. Details on the innovation; Discussion on the diffusion process of the innovation; How teachers responded to the changes in the curriculum; Problems encountered on the adoption process of the innovation. Patilla, Peter. “Interactive and Participatory Mathematics in the Primary Classroom” //Education Review// (Summer 2002) 15.2.

**READING **
 Abilock, Debbie. “Portkeys to Vocabulary.” //Knowledge Quest// (September/October 2006) 35:1. Griffith, Lorraine Weibe and Timothy V. Rasinski. “A Focus on Fluency: How One Teacher Incorporated Fluency with Her Reading Curriculum.” //Reading Teacher// (October 2004) 58.2. Provides information on methods of instruction and ways for integrating reading fluency with the curriculum in the U.S. Importance of reading fluency in successful reading instruction according to the National Reading Panel; Information on the theory of automaticity in reading; Purpose of Readers Theatre scripts; Data on gains in fluency and comprehension for several at-risk students in the 2001 -2002 school year. EBSCO: Academic Search Premier. Harris, Sandra. “Bringing about Change in Reading Instruction.” //Reading Teacher// (May 1996) 49.8. Joyce, Bruce, Marilyn Hrycauk, and Emily Calhoun. “Learning to Read in Kindergarten: Has Curriculum Development Bypassed the Controversies?” //Phi Delta Kappan// (October 2003) 85.2. Reports the outcome of a reading curriculum project geared toward kindergarten students in the Northern Lights School Division in Alberta. Conceptualization of the project; Background on the school district; Categories of studies on developments in literacy processes; Components of the action research inquiry; Interpretation of the research outcome. EBSCO: Academic Search Premier. Manning, Mary Ann. “Reading Refresher.” //Teaching PK-8// (April 2005) 78-79. Pearson, P. David. “The Reading Wars.” //Educational Policy// (Jan-Mar 2004) 18.1. This article's fundamental argument is that the reading instruction and reading research have been shaped by political forces desiring to privilege particular approaches to instruction or particular combinations of methodological and epistemological perspectives on research. The swings in both dominant pedagogies and dominant research paradigms are analyzed in terms of these determining forces. The article concludes by championing balance and compatibility across both instructional approaches and research methods in the hope of arresting the pendulum swings that have characterized the field for too many decades. EBSCO: Academic Search Premier.

**LANGUAGE ARTS **
Culham, Ruth. “The Trait Lady Speaks Up.” //Educational Leadership// (October 2006) 64.2. The author explains that the commonly accepted fundamental traits of writing which have moved into the lexicon of teachers and students in the U.S. represent a language that empowers them to communicate about qualities of writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. The terms are used consistently to build understanding of what good writing looks like and to help students generate exceptional texts. However, she asserts that there are many teachers who misunderstand them. For example, many believe the traits represent a writing curriculum, exist independently of the writing process, or constitute a program that can be adopted, rather than a method. Cusick, Phillip A. and Jennifer Borman. “Reform of and by the System: A Case Study of a State’s Effort at Curricular and Systemic Reform.” //Teacher’s College Record// (June 2002) 104.4. Hopkin, Mary and Mark Hopkin. “Designing a User-friendly Curriculum Guide for Practical Application in a Language Arts Classroom.” //Reading Teacher// (February 1997) 50.5. Details how a group of teachers engaged in meaningful and useful curriculum development in the language arts. Description of a curriculum planning tool; Details of how a belief statement can evolve into a general outcome descriptors; Description of a tool for documenting learner competencies; Institutional framework for language arts curriculum process design. “Report Calls for a Writing Revolution.” //Reading Today// (June/July 2003). 20.6. // Highlights the report 'The Neglected 'R': The Need for a Writing Revolution' which focused on the U.S. writing curriculum, produced by the National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges. Recommendations included in the report; Calls for the launch of an implementation campaign on //// writing //// ; Reminder about the status of //// writing //// system in the U.S. //

**SCIENCE **
Barclay, Gerry. “The Important [sic] of Teaching the Nature of Science: Helping Our Students Battle Pseudoscientific Ideas.” //American Biology Teacher// (May 2006) 68.5. Bybee, Rodger W. and Kendall N. Starkweather. The 21st Century Workforce: A Contemporary Challenge for Technology Education.” //Technology Teacher// (May/June 2006) 65.8. Bybee, Rodger W. and Pamela VanScooter. “Reinventing the Science Curriculum.” //Educational Leadership// (December 2006/January 2007) 64.4. // The article focuses on a science curriculum for the United States proposed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. The authors argue that curriculum tends to overemphasize activities and under emphasize mastery of science concepts and the process of scientific inquiry. They suggest that science teachers should focus on how students learn, integrating laboratory experiences into other classroom activities, and ensuring rigorous, focused, and coherent content within a curriculum that focuses on the process of scientific inquiry and the acquisition of conceptual knowledge. Student learning is explored. Ways of integrating lab work into classes are discussed //. Mardis, Marcia A. “It’s not just WHODUNNIT, but HOW: ‘THE CSI EFFECT,’ SCIENCE LEARNING, AND THE SCHOOL LIBRARY.” //Knowledge Quest// (Sept/Oct 2006), 35.1. Molé, Phil. “Skepticism in the Classroom.” //Skeptic// (2006) 12.3. // The author argues for the integration of skepticism and critical thinking in science curriculum. He cited that science education should provide students the thinking skills needed to become active members of society. Critical thinking skills or skepticism are essential in becoming competent and effective citizens. However, the educational systems fail to integrate these skills to the learners. Thus, skeptical thought must be incorporated to fight irrationalism and scientific illiteracy. // EBSCO: Academic Search Premier.

**SOCIAL STUDIES **
Bryant, Jr., James A. “The Fax about History.” //Phi Delta Kappan// (June 2005) 86.10. Fitzhugh, William. “Writing a History Research Paper.” //Knowledge Quest// (November/December 2005) 34:2. Passe, Jeff. “New Challenges in Elementary Social Studies.” //Social Studies// (Sept/Oct 2006) 97.5. // This article discusses the new challenges in social studies education in the elementary level. The quality of social studies education has been influenced by high-stakes competency tests. This occurs when teachers shift their emphasis from higher-level concepts to lower levels. Another challenge is the tendency for teachers to fail teaching basic concepts and skills in social studies to students. Another problem is that most teachers do not like social studies and have poor preparations for social studies curriculum. // Rochester, J. Martin. “Unaddressed Issues.” //Phi Delta Kappan// (May 2005) 86.9. Ross, E. Wayne and Perry M. Marker. “Social Studies: Right, Wrong or Left? A Critical Response to the Fordham Institute’s ‘Where Did Social Studies Go Wrong?’” //Social Studies// (July/August 2005) 96.4. Wineburg, Sam. “A Sobering Big Idea.” //Phi Delta Kappan// (January 2006) 87.5. // The article focuses on improving basic education in the United States, in response to the views of Susan Adler, Alberta Dougan, and Jesus Garcia concerning education and //// curriculum //// policy. The author comments on the competition between a //// social // // studies // // curriculum //// and language arts classes, and suggests that //// social // // studies //// is expendable when it comes down to improving literacy and reading/writing skills among high school students. The names of two schools in California, which removed //// social // // studies //// from the //// curriculum //// of struggling students, are given. // EBSCO: Academic Search Premier.

**CURRICULUM MAPPING **
Buzzo, Toni. “Using Communication to Solve Roadblocks to Collaboration.” //Teacher Librarian// (June 2004) 31.5. // Focuses on the use of communication by teacher-librarians in solving obstacles to collaborative teaching. Importance of talking to teachers; Proactiveness in communication; Ideas and materials that are useful in collaboration; Communication about //// curriculum // // mapping ////. // Jarchow, Elaine McNally and Ellen Look. “Curriculum Mapping Works!” //Education// (Summer 85) 105.4. Koppang, Angela. “Curriculum Mapping: Building Collaboration and Communication.” //Intervention in School and Clinic// (June 2004) 39.3. Jacobs, Heidi Hayes. “Upgrading the K-12 Journey through Curriculum Mapping: A Technology Tool for Classroom Teachers, Media Specialists, and Administrators.” //Knowledge Quest// (November/December 2000) 29:2. Perkins-Gough, Deborah. “Creating a Timely Curriculum.” //Educational Leadership// (December 2003) 61.4. // Offers tips from education consultant Heidi Hayes Jacobs about //// curriculum //// changes that would prepare students for the 21st century. Reason for developing //// curriculum // // mapping //// ; Subject areas that need changes; Views on citizenship education; Information on how schools and teachers deal with test pressures. //

** TOOLS **
// [|Google Bookmarks]. // Google, 2007. This free bookmark application program developed by Google enables searchers to store web citations and relevant information in a space on their server that is the user’s notebook for web bookmarks. Since the information is stored on the Google server, this information is available from any computer that has Internet access. // [|Google Docs & Spreadsheets] //. Google, 2007. // Both Google Docs & Spreadsheets are compatible with Microsoft Word and Excel so documents created using these programs can be saved in Word or Excel format. These application programs allow multiple users to create documents and store those on the Google server. With these applications, you no longer have to download the document to your hard drive, make changes and upload it as an email attachment or to a Doc Sharing area. Other members of the group must do follow the same procedure until all members of the group are satisfied with the document. Google Docs & Spreadsheets gives all members of the group access to the same document. Changes can be made in different colors to designate each member of the group and once the document is finished the multiple font colors can be changed. Very slick!! Try it and if it works for you, you can introduce it to your teachers and students. // // [|NoodleTools]. // Noodle Tools, Inc., 1999-2007. // This web site was created by Debbie Abilock and her son Damon. Debbie is one of the most creative people I know. I encourage you to explore the entire web site at your leisure. NoodleBib is a bibliography maker and it has more features than many of the others on the web. They recently added a Notes section which enables the user to keep notes on a research project within their own private space on the web. There is a small annual fee for using NoodleBib. I suggest you sign up for an individual account for now. I think it is $8.00 per year. That will give you an idea of whether you could use it with your students. Fees for schools are also minimal. Debbie and Damon are in this primarily to help teachers and teacher librarians. They charge a fee for some of the applications to cover their cost of hosting a server and maintaining the web site. //