2210.02 - CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL

Newark City School District

Bylaws & Policies

2210.02 - CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL

Individual student achievement and students’ continuous progress toward learning objectives/indicators are the central focus of the District’s instructional model.

The key to the implementation of this model is a caring and highly skilled staff whose planning, delivery, and evaluation are characterized by energetic, observant, analytic, lifelong learners. This instructional model will enable students to take an active and responsible role in their own learning. This model of instruction is based on Ohio Department of Education standards for performance-based evaluation tools developed from the best and most current research on good teaching.

Instructional Planning

Instructional planning includes, in this order:

Becoming familiar with relevant aspects of students’ background knowledge and experiences.

		1.	Students’ prior knowledge of subject;
		2.	Students’ skills, interests, and motivation to learn;
		3.	Students’ home life and family;
		4.	Students’ experiences in previous grades;
		5.	Special needs of students;
		6.	Developmental levels;
		7.	Cultural background and experiences.

Articulating clear learning goals for the lessons that are appropriate to the students.

		1.	Goals must be performance-based.
		2.	Goals must be observable and measurable.
		3.	Goals can be clearly distinguished from activities.
		4.	The teacher can provide a clear rationale for the goals selected.
		5.	Different goals for different groups of students or individuals can be explained and justified.

Creating or selecting evaluation strategies that are appropriate for the students and that are aligned with the goals of the lesson.

		1.	The teacher identifies what a student should know and be able to do at the conclusion of the lesson.
		2.	The teacher identifies what product (i.e., test, writing assignment, project, presentation, etc.) a student needs to complete in order to demonstrate s/he has mastered the objective or goal of the lesson.
		3.	The teacher can explain how s/he will use the results from the evaluation to plan future instruction.
		4.	Evaluation will be an authentic assessment and will mirror assessments which students will complete in state-wide testing.

Demonstrating an understanding of the connections between the content that was learned previously, the current content, and the content that remains to be learned in the future.

		1.	The teacher has an in-depth understanding of the structure or hierarchy of the discipline.
		2.	The teacher has an understanding of appropriate sequence for the content area.

Creating or selecting teaching methods, learning activities, and instructional materials or other resources that are appropriate to the students and that are aligned with the goals of the lesson.

		1.	The methods and activities are appropriate to students’ developmental level and provide for the varied styles of participation.
		2.	The resources which are utilized are not only from the classroom but are also from the community.
		3.	The activities accommodate students who have physical, emotional, behavioral, or learning differences.
		4.	Various methods of student groupings are used.

Instructional Delivery

Instructional delivery includes two (2) components: environment and teaching.

Environment includes these elements:

Creating a climate that promotes fairness.

		1.	Classroom interactions between student and teacher and between students themselves are characterized by fairness.
		2.	The teacher ensures all students have access to learning.
		3.	The teacher works to ensure that all students feel equally valued in the classroom.
		4.	No observable patterns of exclusion or over-attention exist in teacher-student interactions.
		5.	The teacher does not exhibit evidence of stereotyping students.
		6.	The teacher refrains from inappropriate negative remarks to students.
		7.	The teacher responds to unfair or hurtful comments by students to other students.

Establishing and maintaining rapport with students.

		1.	The teacher relates positively to and shows concern for all students.
		2.	The teacher tailors personal interactions according to the individual characteristics of students.
		3.	The teacher’s attempt to establish rapport is appropriate to the students’ development levels.

Communicating challenging learning expectations to each student.

		1.	Teachers’ words, actions, attitude demonstrates that every student is capable of meaningful achievement.
		2.	Students demonstrate a clear understanding of the teacher’s expectations for achievement.
		3.	Learning expectations are challenging but within students’ reach (Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development).

Establishing and maintaining consistent standards of classroom behavior.

		1.	Clearly established routines and procedures, based on benchmark programs such as The Effective Teacher by Dr. Harry K. Wong, are in place in every classroom.
		2.	The teacher models respectful and appropriate standards of behavior at all times.
		3.	Established routines and procedures convey respect for everyone in the classroom.
		4.	The teacher responds appropriately and fairly to serious behavior problems.
		5.	The teacher responds to inappropriate behavior consistently and appropriately.

Making the physical environment as safe and conducive to learning as possible.

		1.	There is harmony between the arrangement of the physical environment of the classroom and the planned lesson or activity.
		2.	Accommodation is made for students’ diverse physical needs.
		3.	The classroom or learning environment is safe.
		4.	Resources necessary for the lesson are readily available to the teacher in the classroom.
		5.	Student work is displayed; there is diversity in the displays; the classroom work space is attractive and appealing as a place for learning.
		6.	The classroom is a print-rich environment.

Teaching includes these elements:

Making learning goals and instructional procedures clear to students.

		1.	Goals are communicated explicitly or implicitly.
		2.	Instructional procedures are clear.
		3.	Students with different educational, social, or cultural backgrounds are assisted in understanding the goals of the lesson and the instructional procedures.
		4.	Students are able to carry out the instructional procedures.

Making content comprehensible to students.

		1.	The teacher communicates content clearly and accurately.
		2.	Content is communicated equitably for all different types of students.
		3.	Students are engaged with the content.
		4.	The lesson as a whole has a coherent structure.
		5.	The teacher utilizes presentations, small-group or individual work, student initiated projects, clear and accurate explanations, descriptions, examples, analogies, metaphors, discussions, demonstrations, modeling, and/or questioning.
		6.	There is adequate amount of time for students to practice new skills.

Encouraging students to extend their thinking.

		1.	The teacher recognizes and uses opportunities to help students extend their thinking.
		2.	The teacher is able to use the content being taught to help students springboard to independent, creative, and critical thinking.
		3.	The teacher challenges students’ thinking in ways that are related to their background knowledge and experiences.
		4.	The teacher structures specific learning activities that encourage students to extend their thinking.

Monitoring students’ understanding of content through a variety of means, providing feedback to students to assist learning, and adjusting learning activities as the situation demands.

		1.	The teacher monitors students’ understanding during the lesson and provides appropriate feedback to the students. Based on the monitoring, adjustments to the lesson are made.
		2.	The teacher uses verbal and nonverbal signals to monitor understanding as well as checking written work, asking questions, and listening to group discussions.
		3.	Feedback is substantive and specific. It can be both verbal and/or nonverbal.
		4.	The teacher uses monitoring to assess the effectiveness of the particular instructional approach.
		5.	The teacher recognizes "teachable moments."
		6.	Monitoring, feedback and adjustments are done equitably.
		7.	Based on information from monitoring, the teacher determines whether to begin teaching a new objective, to reteach the current objective, or to provide enrichment opportunities for one (1) or more students.

Using instructional time effectively.

		1.	Students are on task most of the time.
		2.	Established routines and procedures allow the teacher to maximize the time available for instruction.
		3.	When non-instructional interruptions occur, instruction is resumed efficiently.
		4.	All students have meaningful work or activities during the entire instructional time.
		5.	The pacing of the lessons and the transitions between activities are appropriate for the students being taught.

Evaluation and Ongoing Instruction

Evaluation requires the teacher to compare the learner’s status with the desired objective in measures of broad learning as well as measures that are sensitive to subtle changes in a learner’s status on specific objectives. In day-to-day practice, the focus is on analysis of a learner’s response to the delivery of instruction. Some of this analysis is carried out as part of the monitoring phase of instructional delivery. The accumulated information about a student’s progress on specific and broad learning objectives/indicators is combined by all who work with a student. This information is used to guide selection of new objectives for the student and to design future instructional strategies. Instructional decisions are not based on single sources of information but are built on converging evidence from a variety of sources.

Evaluation includes these elements:

Reflecting on the extent to which the standards, benchmarks, and indicators/objectives were met.

		1.	The teacher is able to analyze a lesson in terms of both successes and areas needing improvement.
		2.	The teacher uses this analysis to plan his/her next step for individual or groups of students and to improve his/her teaching skills over time.
		3.	A teacher can honestly and constructively critique his/her own performance in the classroom.
		4.	The teacher can support his/her judgment with evidence.

Demonstrating a sense of efficacy or responsibility.

		1.	The teacher attributes the degree of students’ success in meeting standards, benchmarks, and indicators/objectives to factors within the classroom rather than factors outside it.
		2.	The teacher regards student difficulties in learning as challenges to their own creativity and ingenuity.
		3.	The teacher actively searches for better techniques to help students learn.
		4.	The teacher has several alternative plans of action for students who have difficulty learning and conveys a sense of commitment to persisting in the search for an effective approach so every student can meet the standards, benchmarks, and indicators/objectives.

	C.	Building professional relationships with colleagues to share teaching insight about content knowledge or about students.
		The teacher knows which colleagues within the school can provide instructional help that is relevant to the students or to the content and consults these colleagues regularly in order to improve his/her planning.