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Curriculum Plan Critique Instructions

The purpose of this assignment is for you to critique a curriculum plan through describing the strengths or weaknesses of the curriculum plan. You will evaluate and critique 1 curriculum using articles. The article will focus on a single topic. You will only critique that topic of the lesson through the assigned article.

In your critique, you should provide suggestions to improve the curriculum plan based upon what’s been learned in this course. This assignment must include a title page, have a 500-word limit, and adhere to current APA format. Title page and citations are NOT included in the word limit.

Please use the following curriculum plan provided by the Virginia Department of Education. (Attached)

Curriculum Plan:

Grade 6-8: Understanding Connotation

The paper will include the following:

a. A title page

b. First section a 225-word summary of the assigned article.

c. Second section, the critique, a 125-words comparing the article to the curriculum plan

d. Third section, 125-words contrasting the article to the curriculum plan.

Below you will find the Critique Topic #1 and link to the corresponding article assigned. You will only need to critique the portion of the sample curriculum plan based upon the assigned topic:

· Topic: Standards

Chapter 2: Alignment to Standards

(Lalor, 2016)

Running head: TITLE OF PAPER 1

TITLE OF PAPER 3

Title of Paper

Author

EDUC 872 Research in Curriculum Design and Development

Title of Paper

Use this space to give a short introduction to the article and the purpose of the paper. This should be a minimum of five sentences. Make sure when you list the author’s name, you place the year of publication in parenthesis after the author’s name. You will need to follow all APA guidelines for citations. Citations should include the author’s last name, comma, and the year of publication. Example: (Smith, 2010). Citations with direct quotes should include the author’s name, comma, year of publication, comma, and the page number. Example: (Smith, 2010, p.23). You do not need the page number unless you have a direct quote from the work in the sentence.

Summary

Use this section to summarize the assigned article. This should include the main points of the article. Make sure you properly cite within this section. APA states that you must credit the source when “paraphrasing, quoting an author directly, or describing an idea that influenced your work” (p. 170). All paragraphs must be at least five sentences and this section should be between 225 words.

Compare

Use this section to analyze the comparisons between the assigned article and the provided curriculum plan. This means you will need to think critically through the main points of the article and the curriculum plan. This section should be between 125 words.

Contrast

Use this section to analyze the differences between the assigned article and the provided curriculum plan. This means you will need to think critically through the main points of the article and the curriculum plan. This section should be between 125 words

References

You will only include references that you cited within the Curriculum Plan Critiques. If you integrate a Biblical worldview by quoting from the Bible, you do not include the Bible in this section. Make sure all references utilize a hanging indent and remove any hyperlinks.

2
CONSIDERATION 2

Alignment to Standards

Students sit in small groups reading diff erent versions of the story Stone
Soup

At one table students are examining the 1947 version of Stone Soup
by Marcia Brown. In this story, three hungry soldiers enter a village look-
ing for something to eat. The villagers hide their food until the soldiers
slowly convince them to share it as they create a soup from stones. At
another table, students are examining the later version by Jon J. Muth,
which tells the story of three monks in China who face a similar situation
when passing through a small village. Simultaneously, students at the
remaining tables work with other versions of the same tale. Regardless of
the version, all the students are identifying and discussing key details of
the text as those details unfold, and the lesson they learned as a result, in
preparation for a class discussion on the central message of the story.

Why are the students doing this? Their teacher has designed a learning
experience to align to the Common Core standard for 3rd grade: RL.3.2
Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cul-
tures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is
conveyed through key details in the text. Is the task, however, truly aligned
to the standard?

After determining whether the curriculum is structured using orga-
nizing centers that refl ect school values or focuses (the topic of Chapter
1), the next step in evaluating or creating a curriculum is to ensure that it

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Alignment to Standards 25

is strongly aligned to the standards the district uses to communicate its
values and focuses and to guide instruction. In the classroom described
here, if the students were simply asked to identify the main characters in
the story, we could easily say that the task was not aligned to the standard.
In most cases, examples and nonexamples of alignment are readily distin-
guishable from each other, making it easy to spot a curriculum that is not
aligned. However, the evaluation of alignment is often not about whether
a task is aligned or not but rather to what degree. In this case the question
is, to what degree did the students’ examination of the text align to the
standard related to recounting key details from stories to determine the
central message of the story? The answer is that the learning experience
is strongly aligned to the standard. Students are completing work using
the skills embedded in the standard. The focus of this chapter is to explore
alignment and how to evaluate or create a curriculum that is strongly
aligned to standards.

Degrees of Alignment
When examining a task that sits inside a learning experience or an assess-
ment for degree of alignment, I suggest using a scale of weak, moderate,
and strong. Weak alignment is evident when a task addresses only part of
a standard or the underlying skills subsumed by the standard. For exam-
ple, consider the following Common Core standard for 7th grade:

RL.7.5 Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure
(e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.

An example of a weakly aligned task would be one in which the students
are asked to identify the pattern for the sonnet “How do I love thee? Let
me count the ways” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. One could argue that
knowing that a sonnet is a 14-line poem divided into two sections—an
8-line stanza (octave) rhyming ABBAABBA, and a 6-line stanza (sestet)
rhyming CDCDCD or CDEEDE—is helpful in identifying one. However,

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Lalor, A. D. M. (2016). Ensuring high-quality curriculum : How to design, revise, or adopt curriculum aligned to student success. Retrieved from
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
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26 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

the task certainly does not get to the heart of the standard, which is to
analyze how structure contributes to meaning. It may serve as a stepping
stone to arriving at the standard, but as a task by itself it does not accom-
plish its goal.

Consider a task in which students are asked to write the message of the
sonnet in one sentence. In this case, the task moves closer to the standard
because students are analyzing the poem for its meaning. The teacher
who designed the task considered structure, in that a sonnet focuses on
one thought or idea, hence the request that students write a sentence.
However, the task only moderately aligns to the standard because the
students are not asked to make the connection between the structure of
a sonnet and its meaning. The teacher has done that for them. The task
may be used as a learning experience to reinforce the idea that a sonnet
focuses on one idea, but again, left as an isolated task it cannot be consid-
ered strongly aligned to the standard.

In a strongly aligned task, students are asked to examine several son-
nets for their structure and uncover what distinguishes a sonnet from
other types of poems. Their examination of the sonnets leads to the under-
standing that a sonnet is a 14-line poem that focuses on a single thought
or sentiment, and sonnets vary in that some are structured in two stanzas
versus one and they may have diff erent rhyming patterns. Students use
their criteria to then analyze “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
They work in groups to discuss how the structure aff ects the poem’s
message. Students consolidate their thinking in a written response that
analyzes the impact of the structure on the meaning of the poem. In this
example, the task is strongly aligned; it is diffi cult to separate the task
from the standard itself.

The following scale can be used to determine the degree of alignment
between a task and a standard:

Strong Alignment: The task clearly aligns to the standard; the
task and the standard are almost one and the same; the task
addresses all parts and honors the intent of the standard.

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Alignment to Standards 27

Moderate Alignment: The task addresses the standard; the stan-
dard is part of the task but is not the primary focus.

Weak Alignment: The task touches on the standard; the standard
may occur but is not guaranteed to be part of the task.

A helpful activity, one that is useful in unpacking the scale and under-
standing alignment, is to rate the alignment of diff erent tasks to a selected
standard. Use the preceding scale to rate the degree of alignment between
each task in Figure 2.1 and the following standard:

RI.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information
presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually,
quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address
a question or solve a problem.

The fi rst example in Figure 2.1, watching a video explaining the his-
tory of fi lm, is weakly aligned to the standard; students are only viewing
one source, without a specifi c purpose. The second example is a strongly

Figure 2.1

DEGREE OF ALIGNMENT

Task Description Degree of Alignment

Students watch a video explaining the history of fi lm.

Students read, watch, and analyze information and
data to identify reasons for Latino immigration,
challenges immigrants face, and immigrants’ quality
of life after arrival in the United States. They critique
the origin of their sources to determine their reliability.
Students use this information to write the introduction
to a student-selected collection of memoirs, short sto-
ries, and poetry that illustrates the life of immigrants
and answers the question Can history be told through
a story?

Students use nonfi ction text, videos, and quantitative
data as part of their research to complete a paper on
an event recounted in a historical novel of their choice.

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28 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

aligned task. Here students are reading, watching, and analyzing data,
indicating the use of diverse media and formats—text, video, and charts
and graphs. They evaluate the credibility of their sources as a means of
determining the accuracy of their information. Students then use the
information to answer the question Can history be told through a story?
The last example is moderately aligned to the standard. It focuses on using
a variety of sources, but it is unclear as to whether students are respond-
ing to a specifi c question or problem.

The goal is to ensure that the curriculum contains strongly aligned
tasks. If we rely on the use of weakly aligned or moderately aligned tasks,
students may not have the opportunity to engage in meaningful, relevant,
and cognitively demanding tasks required by the school or district stan-
dards. A recent study by the Education Trust illustrates this situation.
The study found that only 4 in 10 assignments (38 percent) were aligned
with a grade-appropriate Common Core standard. As a result, students
were often given short, less challenging tasks with a great deal of support
that undermined the intention of the standards and lessened the required
thinking (Brookins, Santelises, & Dabrowski, 2015). All students should
have the opportunity to engage in cognitively demanding texts with scaf-
folds and supports dependent on need. A curriculum designed with this
belief in mind allows teachers to make instructional decisions based on
the needs of the students they are teaching. A quality curriculum designed
with high-quality, strongly aligned tasks takes the fi rst step in ensuring
that this happens.

A task that is strongly aligned to a standard meets the following criteria:

1. The standard and the task are diffi cult to separate from each other.

2. The task requires students to fully engage in activities that
align to all the skills embedded within the standard, usually requiring
multiple steps.

3. The task refl ects the intent of the standard.

Examine the standards and corresponding tasks in Figure 2.2. As you read
through the tasks in Column 2, underline the part of the task description

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Alignment to Standards 29

Figure 2.2

TASK ALIGNMENT

Standard Task

Disposition of Practice: Commitment to
Refl ection

• Willingness to devote time and energy
to think about decisions, learning, and
work in ways that promote thoughtful-
ness (Martin-Kniep, 2008).

Students investigate different ways in which
young people can “make a difference.” They
fi nd examples of community service, fundrais-
ers, and organizations that have been led by
young people and have made a difference in
the lives of others. Students write a summary
of each example they fi nd and record their
thoughts, questions, and connections. They
work in small groups to determine a way they
can make a difference. Students implement
their plan and collect data during implemen-
tation, altering their plan as necessary. Stu-
dents write a refl ection on their experience
and modify their plan in order to implement it
again in the future.

• Students make connections by relating
ideas within the content or among
content areas and select or devise one
approach among many alternatives on
how a situation can be solved (Webb’s
Depth of Knowledge; Webb et al.,
2005).

Students pursue the questi on How healthy
is the United States? by documenting their
own nutrition and exercise habits over a
six-week period using a health-journal app.
After documenting their own health, they
conduct research that pursues questions such
as these:

• What are the nutritional and exercise hab-
its of Americans in different age groups?

• Are all the research fi ndings regarding
American health habits the same? How do
they compare?

• How does society refl ect these health
habits?

• How do American health habits affect
other areas of American life, such as
economics and government?

Students use their own experience to analyze
the current state of American health. They
write an evaluation of their own health in light
of their fi ndings, and prepare an action plan
for pursuing a healthy life.

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30 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

that refl ects the standard in Column 1. By underlining the task in the exam-
ples, you can determine if the task meets the criteria for strong alignment.

In the fi rst example, the multistep process of fi nding examples of
community service, fundraisers, and organizations; writing a summary
and recording thoughts, ideas, and questions; and creating, implement-
ing, revising, and refl ecting on a plan is evidence of the willingness to
devote time and energy to thinking about decisions, learning, and work
in ways that promote thoughtfulness. The alignment can therefore be
considered strong.

In the second example, students document their own nutrition and
exercise habits, conduct research, analyze the current state of American
health, write an evaluation of their own health, and prepare an action plan
for pursuing a healthy life. The task seamlessly intertwines health content
with literacy skills, and it provides students with a personalized problem
that could be solved in multiple ways, once again showing that when the
task and standard are the same, alignment is strong.

Once you can recognize the degree of alignment between a task and
a standard, it becomes possible to revise a task so it strongly aligns to a
standard. Returning to Figure 2.1, we can revise the weakly aligned task
(students watch a video explaining the history of fi lm) to make it strong
by expanding on the resources and focusing the research on a specifi c
question. Now instead of watching a video explaining the history of fi lm,
students read and analyze multimedia resources, articles, and commen-
taries on the role of fi lm in society, and they examine data regarding fi lm
development and usage. They consider the origin of the materials, not-
ing the authors and website creators to determine the credibility of their
sources. Students use this information to create a multimedia presenta-
tion in which they analyze a fi lm of their choice and answer the question
Does fi lm form or follow the norms and values of a society?

We can also revise the moderately aligned task from Figure 2.1 for
stronger alignment by adding a question to guide the reading of the diff er-
ent sources. In the original task, students are using nonfi ction text, vid-
eos, and quantitative data to complete a paper on an event recounted in

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Alignment to Standards 31

a historical novel of their choice. By adding the question Does literature
refl ect life? the research and the resulting paper have a specifi c purpose.

Content-Area Alignment
The same criteria apply to alignment in the content areas. However, align-
ment in the content areas often includes alignment to standards with dif-
ferent focuses. For example, consider the following task. Students read
three articles to learn about diff erent explanations of climate change, how
it is caused, and the resulting impact of climate change on biodiversity.
Students are asked to engage in this task in order to understand content
identifi ed in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and apply lit-
eracy skills to access the content, including those identifi ed in Common
Core standard RST.9-10.6:

Analyze the author’s purpose in providing an explanation,
describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text,
defi ning the question the author seeks to address.

The task strongly aligns to the reading standard because it requires stu-
dents to analyze the author’s explanation of climate change. However,
when we examine the task for alignment to the science standard, we see
that it is actually weakly aligned.

The Next Generation Science Standards contain information about
performance, science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas,
and crosscutting concepts. For the sake of this example, let’s work with one
of the NGSS’s performance expectations and a corresponding core idea
related to the topic of Interdependent Relationships in the Ecosystem.

HS-LS4-6

Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate
adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity. [Clarifi cation
Statement: Emphasis is on designing solutions for a proposed
problem related to threatened or endangered species, or to
genetic variation of organisms for multiple species.]

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32 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans

Humans depend on the living world for the resources and other
benefi ts provided by biodiversity. But human activity is also
having adverse impacts on biodiversity through overpopulation,
overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of
invasive species, and climate change. . . . Thus sustaining bio-
diversity so that ecosystem functioning and productivity are
maintained is essential to supporting and enhancing life on
Earth. Sustaining biodiversity also aids humanity by preserving
landscapes of recreational or inspirational value.

Exploring the diff erent views on climate change is only one part of
the core idea LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans, which is why the task is
weakly aligned. To strongly align to the core idea, students would also
need to examine

• Speciation and extinction.
• Adverse impacts of human behavior, including overpopulation,

overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive
species, and climate change.

• Biological extinction, because many species are unable to sur-
vive in changed environments and die out.

• The eff ects of biological extinction.
• The importance of sustaining biodiversity.
• Ways to sustain biodiversity.

One of the challenges related to strong alignment to content stan-
dards is making sure that all of the content included in the standard is
also included in the curriculum, which may require more than one task.
Addressing only one aspect of the content does not constitute alignment.
For strong alignment to occur, the curriculum must include all the con-
tent in the standards.

By itself, the science core idea does not communicate how the students
will acquire the information. This is why content standards are paired
with literacy standards, as shown in the original example. Students are

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Alignment to Standards 33

learning about climate change through reading. Their next learning expe-
rience may include a task that has them listening to a multimedia presen-
tation to learn about the eff ects of biological distinction.

Alignment becomes even more complex as more standards are added.
In this extension of the example, the core idea is presented with a perfor-
mance expectation. Now for strong alignment to occur, students would
need to formulate and test a possible solution for addressing the negative
human impact on biodiversity. This undertaking could include

• Choosing an area of focus.
• Creating or revising a simulation that includes mathematical

and computational thinking.
• Developing or evaluating a solution, taking into consideration

cost, safety, reliability, and social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
• Using physical models and computers.
• Using empirical evidence to diff erentiate between cause and

correlation and to make claims about specifi c causes and eff ects.

Now the original reading task serves a small role in a big picture.
Regardless of scope, however, the concept of alignment remains the same.
In the content areas, it means examining alignment in terms of content to
be taught, content-specifi ed skills such as the performance expectation,
and the role of literacy in accessing and communicating the content.

Implications for Evaluating, Creating,
or Revising Curriculum
Understanding that alignment occurs by degree rather than extremes is
important to ensuring that students have opportunities to truly learn and
practice the skills embedded in the standards. When evaluating curricu-
lum, one way to check for strong alignment is to choose sample tasks from
various units and determine the degree of alignment between the task and
the standard identifi ed using the scale of weak, moderate, and strong, as
previously described. The tasks you choose to evaluate should represent

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34 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

those found in daily lessons, extended activities, and assessments. The
chart in Figure 2.3 is a helpful tool for gathering and evaluating this infor-
mation. An example at the top of the chart illustrates the process.

You can add additional rows to the chart based on the number of
tasks you are examining. It is advantageous to analyze multiple tasks of
diff erent lengths and purposes. Determining the degree of alignment
is particularly important when examining published curriculum and
instructional materials. A report from the Brown Center on Education

Figure 2.3

DETERMINING ALIGNMENT IN A CURRICULUM

Task Description Standard Degree of
Alignment

Notes for Revision

Students read several
documents related to the
events that occurred in
Birmingham, Alabama, in
1963, including Dr. Martin
Luther King’s “Letter from
Birmingham Jail” and
a reprinted newspaper
article from the New York
Times in 1963. As they
read the texts, they work
with different-colored
highlighters to show how
the texts address the
event in a similar fashion
and any disconnect among
the texts.

RI.9-10.9 Analyze
seminal U.S. docu-
ments of historical
and literary signifi –
cance (e.g., Wash-
ington’s Farewell
Address, the Gettys-
burg Address, Roos-
evelt’s Four Freedoms
speech, King’s “Letter
from Birmingham
Jail”), including how
they address related
themes and concepts.

Moderate • Include an
additional reading
such as “Ballad of
Birmingham” by
Dudley Randall.

• Provide opportu-
nity for discussion
on the ways the
texts describe
the same event,
the reasons for
the differences in
their descriptions,
and the impact on
student under-
standing of the
events of Birming-
ham as a result
of reading the
different accounts.

Task 1:

Task 2:

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Alignment to Standards 35

Policy at Brookings included this observation about publishing compa-
nies’ initial responses to the Common Core State Standards: “Publishers
of instructional materials are lining up to declare the alignment of their
materials with the Common Core standards using the most superfi cial
of defi nitions” (Chingos & Whitehurst, 2012, p. 1). Although publishers
have made some improvements, those have not been enough; nor have
they been consistent. Some companies have simply done a better job than
others of aligning their materials, and with such inconsistencies, checking
the degree of alignment is important.

Addressed, Taught, and Assessed:
Three Ways to Look at Standards
When examining curriculum, we are looking for tasks that are strongly
aligned to the standards. What will help or hamper this determination is
the way in which the curriculum communicates information about the
standards and their value or emphasis.

We can view standards in diff erent ways: those that are addressed,
those that are taught, and those that are taught and assessed. Standards
that are addressed are those that are touched upon but not necessarily the
primary focus of a unit within a curriculum. Standards that are taught are
those that involve students engaging in activities that practice the skills
embedded within the standards. Standards that are taught and assessed
are the standards that are the focus of instruction and are evaluated
during the unit of study.

Let’s examine a 4th grade unit to determine the diff erence between
standards that are addressed and those that are taught and assessed. In
this unit, students are examining the essential question Is there more
than one way to tell a story? They are reading collections of texts that are
connected by theme and that include stories from cultures other than
the United States, nonfi ction text, and dramas and stories that have been
made into fi lms. As they read, they take note of how the texts approach
similar themes, and the similarities and diff erences between texts and

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36 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

their visual presentations. As a result of their examination, students write
a proposal for a new movie based on a book of their choice.

The Common Core reading literature standards for this unit include
the following:

RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining
what the text says explicitly and when drawing infer-
ences from the text.

RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from
details in the text; summarize the text.

RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story
or drama, drawing on specifi c details in the text (e.g., a
character’s thoughts, words, or actions).

RL.4.5 Explain major differences between poems, drama, and
prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems
(e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of
characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage direc-
tions) when writing or speaking about a text.

RL.4.6 Compare and contrast the point of view from which
different stories are narrated, including the difference
between fi rst- and third-person narrations.

RL.4.7 Make connections between the text of a story or drama
and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying
where each version refl ects specifi c descriptions and
directions in the text.

RL.4.9 Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes
and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and pat-
terns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and
traditional literature from different cultures.

At fi rst glance, it is easy to see why these standards were chosen; it is
possible for students to use the skills that are embedded in all of these
standards. However, potential does not mean the task is aligned, nor that
the standard should be listed as a unit outcome. The question goes back to

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Alignment to Standards 37

alignment and to what degree the tasks within the unit align to the stan-
dards. Based on this understanding, some of these standards are really
just being addressed in the unit. The students are using the skills, but
those skills are not the central focus of the unit. Further examination will
reveal which standards are being addressed and which are being taught
and assessed.

Throughout the unit, students read a variety of diff erent text and fi lm
collections that may include the following:

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, the fi lm of the
same title, and Toys! Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions by
Don Wulff son

• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, the fi lm of the same title, a nonfi ction
text on protecting the environment, and a folktale

• The poem “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” by Roald Dahl,
a picture book of Little Red Riding Hood, and Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding
Hood Story from China by Ed Young

Students complete various activities and participate in discussions about
the texts and fi lms, referring to details and examples that support their
thinking. These activities allow students to identify and examine com-
mon themes within the collections of texts, and to examine the unique
structures of the diff erent types of texts. They also provide students with
the opportunity to generate criteria to use when comparing texts and
their fi lm versions.

At diff erent points in the unit, students complete written responses in
which they summarize the text and respond to the following questions,
using specifi c evidence from the text:

• What is the theme of the story? How do the details in the text
reveal the theme?

• How is the text structured? How does the structure aff ect the story?
• In what ways does the fi lm refl ect the descriptions and direc-

tions in the text?

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38 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

• How do the text and the fi lm diff er? How do these diff erences
aff ect the story?

• How do the texts and fi lms treat the same theme?

Given what we know about strong alignment, we can identify the stan-
dards that are taught and assessed when the task directions and the stan-
dards are placed next to each other, as in Figure 2.4. The standards that
strongly align with the tasks—meaning the tasks and standard are diffi –
cult to separate from each other, and the intent of the standard remains
intact—fall into either the category of “taught” or “taught and assessed.”
What is the diff erence? When a standard is taught, the task occurs during
instruction. We see this in the 4th grade unit when students complete
activities and participate in discussions. Students have the opportunity
to practice the skills embedded in the standard with teacher guidance and
feedback. When standards are taught and assessed, this still occurs, but
there is also an assessment opportunity that allows the teacher to check
and monitor student understanding. The reader-response journals serve
this purpose in the 4th grade example.

Figure 2.4 shows which tasks and standards are aligned and also
reveals that two of the standards identifi ed are not aligned to a specifi c
task in the unit:

• RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a
story or drama, drawing on specifi c details in the text (e.g., a character’s
thoughts, words, or actions).

• RL.4.6 Compare and contrast the point of view from which
diff erent stories are narrated, including the diff erence between fi rst- and
third-person narrations.

Some may argue that students will need to describe the characters, set-
ting, and events of the story when they use key details from the text to
identify the theme. It is also possible for students to compare and contrast
the point of view from which diff erent stories are narrated by examining
point of view in the diff erent collections of stories. However, although
these things may occur, the unit has not been designed with the explicit
intent to allow students to practice these skills and the teacher to assess

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Alignment to Standards 39

Figure 2.4

ANALYZING TASKS

Standard Tasks

RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text
when explaining what the text says explicitly
and when drawing inferences from the text.

Students complete activities, participate in
discussions, and respond to questions using
details, examples, and evidence from text.

RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama,
or poem from details in the text; summarize
the text.

Students identify common themes.

Students summarize the text.

Reader Response: What is the theme of the
story? How do the details in the text reveal
the theme?

RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting,
or event in a story or drama, drawing on
specifi c details in the text (e.g., a character’s
thoughts, words, or actions).

RL.4.5 Explain major differences between
poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the
structural elements of poems (e.g., verse,
rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of
characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue,
stage directions) when writing or speaking
about a text.

Students examine the unique structure of the
different type of texts.

Reader Response: How is the text structured?
How does the structure affect the story?

RL.4.6 Compare and contrast the point
of view from which different stories are
narrated, including the difference between
fi rst- and third-person narrations.

RL.4.7 Make connections between the text
of a story or drama and a visual or oral
presentation of the text, identifying where
each version refl ects specifi c descriptions
and directions in the text.

Students identify criteria to use when com-
paring text and fi lm.

Reader Response: In what ways does the
fi lm refl ect the descriptions and directions in
the text? How does it differ? How do these
differences affect the story?

RL.4.9 Compare and contrast the treatment
of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition
of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g.,
the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional
literature from different cultures.

Students identify and examine common
themes within the collections of texts.

Reader Response: How do the texts in the
collection treat the same theme?

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40 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

them. We can consider these standards to be addressed only. The teacher
may ask students to draw upon these skills or the skills may inadvertently
occur, but they are not explicitly at the center of instruction and assess-
ment in this unit.

Why is it important to distinguish between standards that are
addressed, taught, and taught and assessed? Why not just include all
the standards? One reason is practicality. The 4th grade example just
presented describes in depth the reading literature portion of the unit.
Students are also reading informational texts, writing, and speaking and
listening within the unit. Including all standards from all areas would
create a massive and unmanageable unit that could potentially go on for
several months, therefore defeating the intent of organizing curriculum
into units.

The other reason is focus. Educational researchers such as Rick Stig-
gins, W. James Popham, Robert Marzano, and Susan Brookhart have
repeatedly discussed the impact of clear learning targets on students
(Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001; Moss & Brookhart, 2012; Popham,
1999; Stiggins, 1997). Prioritizing the standards within units will help
teachers to identify learning targets, share those targets with their stu-
dents, and develop and use appropriate learning activities. Students
will be aware of what they need to know and be able to do, have plenty
of opportunities to practice the skills within the standards, and receive
appropriate feedback and guidance from their teachers.

Prioritizing a set of standards in one unit is not done at the expense of
other standards. When standards are carefully organized throughout the
year, students will have the opportunity to practice the skills related to all
standards, which is the focus of Chapter 3.

Taught and Assessed Standards
in the Content Areas
The same concept of taught and assessed standards applies to the content
areas as well. The diff erence, however, will depend on the specifi city of the

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Alignment to Standards 41

content-area standards or content understandings. In many cases, these
standards or content understandings are vague and open to interpretation.

For example, consider the following content understandings from
across the United States. According to the Texas Essential Knowledge
and Skills for Social Studies, the student is expected to understand “the
domestic and international impact of U.S. participation in World War II.
The student is expected to identify reasons for U.S. involvement in World
War II, including Italian, German, and Japanese dictatorships and their
aggression, especially the attack on Pearl Harbor” (Texas Education
Agency, 2010). In California, students are expected to “analyze Ameri-
ca’s participation in World War II. They examine the origins of American
involvement in the war, with an emphasis on the events that precipitated
the attack on Pearl Harbor” (California Academic Content Standards
Commission [CACSC], 2000). In New York State, the following concep-
tual understandings describe what students need to know:

11.10 The United States participated in World War II as part of
an Allied force to prevent military conquests by Ger-
many, Italy, and Japan. United States policies during and
immediately after World War II had a signifi cant impact
on American political, economic, and social life.

11.10.a Multiple factors contributed to a rise in authoritarian
forms of government and ideologies such as fascism,
communism, and socialism after World War I.

11.10.b The United States and the international community did
not respond with force to aggressive German and Japa-
nese actions that violated international treaties agreed to
following World War I.

11.10.c In the 1930s, public opinion slowly moved toward
supporting a more active United States involvement in
world affairs.

11.10.d United States involvement moved from a policy of neu-
trality at the beginning of World War II and evolved into
a pro-Allied position, culminating in direct and active
United States involvement. (New York State, 2013)

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42 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

Each of these documents provides information about what students
should know about the United States entry into World War II, but none
of them—regardless of the length of the description—off er specifi cs as to
exactly what needs to be taught, what students need to be able to do with
that knowledge, or how they can demonstrate that knowledge.

For the concept of taught and assessed to apply to these content stan-
dards, teachers fi rst have to identify the “nonnegotiable.” What exactly
will students need to know, for example, about German, Italian, and Japa-
nese aggression before the start of World War II? What should they know
about the attack on Pearl Harbor? I have sat through many conversations
in which teachers have discussed what they teach and what they do not
teach in a unit of study, and there is rarely unanimous agreement. It is
through these conversations, however, that teachers unpack the curric-
ulum documents and identify the specifi cs about what needs to be taught
and assessed.

Additional Implications for Evaluating,
Creating, or Revising Curriculum
Certain indicators show that all the standards identifi ed within the unit
have been given equal weight. One is when all or most of the standards
have been listed in a unit, as in the 4th grade example. Possibility does not
indicate alignment. There need to be suffi cient and focused practice and
assessment opportunities within the unit for a standard to be considered
taught and assessed. Including all standards in one unit does not allow for
the necessary time to practice the embedded skills. Even with the identi-
fi cation of taught and assessed standards, standards will need to be revis-
ited throughout the year to provide opportunities for reinforcement and
attainment.

A second indication that careful thought has not been given to the iden-
tifi cation of standards is when the standards identifi ed in the overview or
introduction to the unit are not the same as those identifi ed in individual
lessons. This mismatch suggests that the standards being taught are not

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Alignment to Standards 43

necessarily those being assessed. Unfortunately, I have found this to be a
common problem with textbooks and other learning materials.

So the following question arises: What do you do if you are working
with a curriculum in which it is diffi cult to determine the focus standards?
The task then becomes to prioritize the standards by clearly identifying
and labeling those that are taught and assessed, and distinguishing them
from those that are addressed. For existing or published curriculums,
this may mean reviewing existing tasks to determine which standards are
truly being taught and assessed. Although this eff ort may take some time,
it is time well spent. Without such distinction, the unit will not be cohe-
sive, and it will be very diffi cult to ensure that all users of the curriculum
will understand the focus of instruction and assessment.

An additional strategy for ensuring that the standards identifi ed are
those that are taught and assessed is to actually code the standard into
the document and create a unit blueprint. For example, if the original 4th
grade document were coded with the standards, it would look like this:

Throughout the unit, students read a variety of different text and
fi lm collections [RL.4.5, RL.4.9]. They complete different activities
and participate in discussions about the texts and fi lms, refer-
ring to details and examples that support their thinking [RL.4.1].
These activities allow students to identify and examine common
themes [RL.4.2, RL.4.9] within the collections of texts, and exam-
ine the unique structures of the different types of texts, including
folktales, stories, nonfi ction, drama, and poems [RL.4.5]. They
also provide students with the opportunity to identify criteria to
use when comparing texts and their fi lm versions [RL.4.7].

At different points in the unit, students complete written
responses in which they summarize the text [RL.4.2] and respond
to the following questions, using specifi c evidence from the
text [RL.4.1]:

• What is the theme of the story? How do the details in the
text reveal the theme? [RL.4.2]

• How is the text structured? How does the structure affect the
story? [RL.4.5]

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44 Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum

• In what ways does the fi lm refl ect the descriptions and direc-
tions in the text? [RL.4.7]

• How do the text and the fi lm differ? How do these differences
affect the story? [RL.4.7]

• How do the texts or fi lms treat the same theme? [RL.4.9]

A benefi t to coding the standards as the unit is created is that it ensures
that the tasks within the unit are strongly aligned and can be taught and
assessed. Teachers can make decisions about the type of texts, activities,
and assessments as they draft the unit. The process also reveals areas where
alignment between a task and a standard is weak so that that area can be
revised and made stronger, or when a standard selected for a unit early in the
design process no longer makes sense and should be removed from the unit.

Summary: Alignment to Standards
Two critical areas to examine when evaluating or designing curriculum
for standards alignment are (1) degree of alignment and (2) communi-
cation of standards that are taught and assessed. Although curriculum
documents may claim alignment, the degree to which the curriculum is
aligned may vary. Tasks can be weakly, moderately, or strongly aligned to
standards. A quality curriculum will ensure strong alignment, meaning
the tasks and standard are diffi cult to distinguish from each other and the
intent of the standard remains intact.

Listing a standard in a unit of study is not enough to claim that it
is suffi ciently emphasized throughout the unit. Standards that are
addressed, taught, and taught and assessed may all be included in one
unit. A high-quality curriculum document will communicate the diff er-
ence between these standards or include only those that are taught and
assessed, allowing teachers to make purposeful decisions about what to
teach and how to teach it and to share learning targets with their students.
Students should be given the opportunity to practice the skills embedded
in the standards and receive guidance and feedback from their teachers
before being assessed.

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Alignment to Standards 45

Understanding degree of alignment can help educators identify those
tasks in need of revision and revise them to increase the degree of align-
ment between the task and the standards. In addition, it can help them
to analyze the standards to reveal those that are taught and assessed,
as well as those that are simply addressed. The coding of standards will
ensure both alignment and the inclusion of standards that are taught and
assessed in a unit of study.

Tools and Activities for Evaluation, Design, and Revision
• Degree of Alignment—This activity is helpful in establishing

a common understanding of the degree of alignment between tasks and
standards (see Figure 2.1 for an example). With this understanding, edu-
cators can evaluate tasks in an existing curriculum to determine their
degree of alignment and, when necessary, revise them so they strongly
align to the standards. Educators can also use this understanding to
design strongly aligned tasks.

• Analyzing Tasks for Strong Alignment—This activity allows
educators to see the connection between what students are asked to do
and the standard itself (see Figure 2.2 for an example). It is helpful in
clarifying the criteria for a strongly aligned task.

• Determining Alignment in a Curriculum—A chart like the
one in Figure 2.3 can be used for sampling tasks within a curriculum to
ensure that they are strongly aligned and revise those that are not.

• Coding Standards—Coding of standards into tasks ensures
strong alignment and identifi es weakly or moderately aligned tasks in
need of revision (see example on pp. 43–44).

Checklist for Evaluation, Design, and Revision

 The tasks are strongly aligned to the standards. It is diffi cult to
distinguish between the task and the standard, all skills identifi ed
in the standard are included in the task, and the task honors the
intent of the standard.

 The standards that are taught and assessed are clearly identifi ed
and distinguished from those that are addressed.

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EnglishEnhanced Scope and Sequence

Lesson

Skill: Understanding connotation

Strand Reading–vocabulary

SOL 6.4
7.4
8.4

Materials

• Copies of Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address,” available online

Lesson

1. Have students read through “The Gettysburg Address” for broad comprehension. Then,
have them reread the first paragraph carefully and identify all words with positive
connotations and all words with negative connotations. Have them list the words on a T
chart, like this:

Negative Positive

new nation
dedicated
equal

2. Have students continue with the remaining paragraphs. After paragraph two, their charts
might include the following:

Negative Positive

battlefield new nation
dedicated
equal
dedicated
Proper

3. Be sure students include repeated uses of the same word (e.g., dedicated). After
paragraph three, their charts might resemble this:

English Enhanced Scope and Sequence

Negative Positive

testing new nation
battlefield dedicated

not equal
struggled dedicated

Poor power proper
unfinished work brave

dead consecrate
(shall not)died in dedicated

vain great task
honored dead
nobly advanced

4. Once students have finished the re-reading and word analysis, have them identify the
column of words that contains greater emotion, greater meaning, and therefore greater
impact.

5. Discuss ways the use of other words (synonyms) for the words in the positive column
might have affected the impact of Lincoln’s speech (e.g., leaders for fathers or goal for
great task).

6. Have students write a summary of their reactions to the word choices Lincoln made for
this famous speech.

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