Syllabus for EDL-520
STANDARDS-BASED CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT, PRE-K–12
Curriculum revision is an ongoing process that requires professional guidance and support. Potential educational leaders need to understand the importance of curriculum development in the success of the educational experience and recognize the organization and relevance of curriculum change. Through the examination of various curriculum designs, educators will visualize an overview of systematic curriculum development. Standards-Based Curriculum Development, Pre-K–12 allows students to examine essential components of a cohesive curriculum based on such influences as national and state standards established to guide local curricular planning and development to meet the changing needs of students and other stakeholders in a diverse community. Processes for development of curricula at classroom, building, and district levels, regardless of grade, academic discipline, or kind of student, will be considered in preparation for hands-on experience in creating curriculum in the student's primary discipline. Integrating differentiated instruction through various curriculum designs will allow the educator to develop necessary skills, as an instructional leader, to facilitate his or her faculty's creation of successful curriculum documents. The entire process, from initial needs assessment to implementation, will be the focus of this course. (ISLLC 1, 2, 4, 5, available at https://docs.google.com/a/tesc.edu/file/d/0B6VgPq3plRVvQVNkT2V2YzA4RkU/edit?usp=sharing; NJDOE 1, 2, 4, 5 - available at https://docs.google.com/a/tesc.edu/file/d/0B6VgPq3plRVvUmM1TVpoaFZTTGs/edit?usp=sharing).
On successful completion of this course, you should be able to accomplish the following:
You will need the following materials to complete your coursework. Some course materials may be free, open source, or available from other providers. You can access free or open-source materials by clicking the links provided below or in the module details documents. To purchase course materials, please visit the University's textbook supplier.
As a capstone experience in the Educational Leadership program, you will prepare an electronic portfolio that demonstrates your incremental achievement of the program standards. Each course in the program helps you to identify artifacts to place in your portfolio on completion of the course. To this end, you are required to purchase an electronic portfolio registration code upon your entry into the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership program. Basic directions for purchasing access to and using your electronic portfolio are posted within the Educational Leadership Students Organization (online community).
Standards-Based Curriculum Development, Pre-K–12 is a three-credit, graduate course, consisting of eight modules. Modules include topics, learning objectives, study materials (textbook readings and lecture notes), and activities. Module titles and topics/key ideas are listed below.
Topics/key ideas covered in this module include:
Topics/key ideas covered in this module include:
Topics/key ideas covered in this module include:
Topics/key ideas covered in this module include:
Topics/key ideas covered in this module include:
Topics/key ideas covered in this module include:
Topics/key ideas covered in this module include:
Topics/key ideas covered in this module include:
In addition to module activities, you are required to complete a curriculum unit or project. For information about the curriculum unit or project, see the discussion below or go to the Curriculum Unit/Project area of the course Web site.
For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in nine online discussion forums, complete nine written assignments, and submit a curriculum unit or project. See below for more details.
Consult the Course Calendar for assignment due dates.
One or more of your course activities may utilize a tool designed to promote original work and evaluate your submissions for plagiarism. More information about this tool is available in this document.
Each module in the course has an online class discussion forum (Module 5 has two forums). All discussion forums take place asynchronously.
Online discussions provide an opportunity for you to interact with your classmates. During this aspect of the course, you respond to prompts that assist you in developing your ideas, you share those ideas with your classmates, and you comment on their posts. Forum interactions promote development of a community of learners, critical thinking, and exploratory learning.
Please participate in online discussions as you would in constructive face-to-face discussions. You are expected to post well-reasoned and thoughtful reflections for each item, making reference, as appropriate, to your readings. You are also expected to reply to your classmates' posts in a respectful, professional, and courteous manner. You may, of course, post questions asking for clarification or further elucidation on a topic.
Each module in the course concludes with a short writing assignment of about 500 words (Module 5 has two writing assignments). The writing assignments require you to write well-reasoned and thoughtful papers on questions derived from the module objectives, making reference, as appropriate, to the readings and other sources of information. You are required to use APA format for your work and for all references. Written Assignment 7, in Module 7, requires a short PowerPoint presentation.
The curriculum unit or project constitutes a principal artifact for your portfolio and counts 37% toward your grade. Choose one of the following options:
You will complete your work on the curriculum unit or project in two stages: (a) by first submitting a proposal to your mentor for feedback and approval (Stage 1) and (b) by then submitting your completed unit or project for evaluation and grading (Stage 2). Please see the Curriculum Unit/Project area of the course Web site for further details and the Course Calendar for due dates.
The principal artifacts for this course are the essential question chart (Written Assignment 5.1), backward design (Written Assignment 5.2), PowerPoint presentation (Written Assignment 7.1), and the curriculum unit or project. Accompanying each artifact is a reflective narrative that describes the process and how the artifact meets specific standards and prepares you for school leadership.
Upload your artifacts to your electronic portfolio, and be certain to indicate their alignment to the applicable ISLLC standards.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:
A | = | 93–100 | B | = | 83–87 | |
A– | = | 90–92 | C | = | 73–82 | |
B+ | = | 88–89 | F | = | Below 73 |
To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., assignments, discussion postings, projects, etc.). Graduate students must maintain a B average overall to remain in good academic standing.
To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:
Consider the following study tips for success:
To ensure success in all your academic endeavors and coursework at Thomas Edison State University, familiarize yourself with all administrative and academic policies including those related to academic integrity, course late submissions, course extensions, and grading policies.
For more, see:
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