Montclair Educators Develop New Curriculum for Next School Year

At the Montclair Public Schools Board of Education meeting held July 15, Chief Academic Officer Gail Clarke reported that progress is being made on developing curriculum aligned with the state's common core standards and quarterly assessments.

The Common Core State Standards, whose phase-in began during the 2010-11 school year is scheduled to be fully implemented for all grades in the year that starts this September.

The newest part of the implementation involves the common quarterly assessments, which were introduced in the district’s strategic plan and will be used to check students’ progress toward learning objectives. 

Clarke explained to the school board that more than 100 teachers, coming from all grades and all MPS buildings are collaborating on 53 curriculum/assessment teams which began meeting in mid-June.

She said curriculum and assessments are being developed for grade K-5 reading, writing and math; grade 6-8 English/language arts, math, science and social studies; grade 9-12 math, language arts, science, social studies, and for themed learning communities within Montclair High School. 

The work is being “chunked” into four major topics and approached in the following sequence:  standards, student learning objectives, common assessments, and resources.  Before the full group of educators tackles each of the “chunks,” each receives professional development to facilitate the work in that area.

Middle school math teacher Emmett Murphy told the school board that aligning with the state's standards will be a benefit for Montclair students.

“The CCSS will serve our students better than the previous standards because they emphasize real-life application of formulas and math concepts and require students to explain in writing why a formula works,” he said. 

Drafts of the first of four units planned for the year in each subject area will be posted by the district in early August for all teachers to review and offer feedback; the final version for Unit 1 will be posted for use by mid-August.  Clarke emphasized that curriculum/assessment development is an ongoing, organic process and that feedback from teachers on curriculum units taught and assessments administered this school year, as well as assessment data, will be incorporated into next year’s curriculum and assessments to continually improve them.  

While curriculum writing initiatives have occurred before, the scope and numbers of teachers involved in this effort are unprecedented in recent history for the Montclair Public Schools.  

Middle school science teacher Delia Maloy cited the advantages of this widespread collaboration.

“The cross-grade and cross-school dialogue is fostering development of curriculum that is even more effective and better articulated between grades,” Maloy said.
  
Asked if she felt the common assessments would negatively impact the creativity or individuality of her teaching, middle school social studies teacher Davida Harewood assured the BOE that they would not.  

“This process is about much more than testing and data," said Harewood. "The other teachers and I take very seriously our responsibility to develop this CCSS-aligned curriculum and the assessments to reflect Montclair’s culture and values and supports our students’ learning in a way that would not have been accomplished with off-the-shelf materials available from text book publishers or other vendors." 

“I’m not at all surprised by the level of dedication to the teaching craft, the intellect, or depth of subject matter knowledge that the teachers are bringing to this work," Clarke said. "I knew we’d see that and I appreciate it greatly."