As a principal, my vision of student access to the curriculum must be shared with all members of the professional learning community so that everyone has a clear direction towards which they are working (DuFour & Eaker, 1998). Ongoing dialog about the necessity of aligning the written, taught, and assessed curricula will help teachers to recognize and understand the impact of their instruction on student learning. Providing differentiated professional development focusing on the application of UDL and effective teaching strategies to relevant curriculum indicators will enable teachers to envision the aligned curricula. Utilizing strategies such as peer coaching and the clinical observation cycle while maintaining a focus on curriculum will allow teachers and administrators to observe and support instructional growth. Allocating appropriate and necessary resources toward professional development, common planning time for grade level and co-teaching teams, dedicating monies to technology renewal, and providing access to curriculum resources and experts will demonstrate my commitment to the efforts of teaching and assessing all students within the curriculum.
As teachers grow in their instructional expertise, student assessment data should reflect achievement gains. Continuous progress monitoring through formal and informal curriculum-based assessments will allow teachers to directly correlate student strengths and needs with curriculum indicators. In turn, this will allow them to plan for targeted instruction to meet the needs of their students. As a principal, I will lead teachers through the data collection and analysis process, partnering with teachers to serve as an advocate for students and their access to the curriculum. Through these various steps – sharing a vision, engaging in ongoing dialog, providing differentiated professional development, allocating appropriate resources, and implementing continuous progress monitoring and data analysis – I will use my role as instructional leader to ensure that students learn the intended content and meet high performance standards.
Resources
DuFour, R. and Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: best practices for enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IA: Solution Tree.
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Hi Christie-Your vision of curriculum implementation through continuous progress monitoring is what has yielded the greatest results in our county. The data points from benchmark assessments that are directly related to the VSC and curriculum maps are examined on a school, grade and student level. The differentiated staff development is key. Hopefully, we can all expand PD through PLCs and technology options.
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