Curriculum Design & Development Flashcards

A principal is working with teachers to develop local curriculum to supplement state-adopted materials. Which consideration is MOST critical?

Answer: Verifying that locally developed materials align to TEKS and maintain academic rigor

Locally developed supplemental materials must align to TEKS and maintain rigor to ensure they contribute to, rather than detract from, standards mastery.

A school's curriculum team is debating whether to organize a social studies course thematically or chronologically. This decision involves which aspect of curriculum design?

Answer: Curriculum sequence

Sequence refers to the order in which content is taught, including decisions about whether to organize content thematically, chronologically, or by another logic.

Which action BEST demonstrates a principal's instructional leadership in curriculum design?

Answer: Facilitating collaborative curriculum development that is TEKS-aligned and data-informed

Effective instructional leadership involves actively facilitating collaborative, standards-aligned, and data-driven curriculum work with teachers.

When designing curriculum for English Learners in Texas, a principal must ensure that the campus approach addresses which regulatory requirement?

Answer: Students receive appropriate linguistic accommodations while still accessing grade-level TEKS content

Texas law requires that English Learners receive linguistic accommodations to access grade-level content while working toward English proficiency.

A principal wants to improve the quality of a curriculum unit on persuasive writing. Which revision MOST increases cognitive rigor?

Answer: Replacing a five-paragraph essay prompt with a task requiring students to write a letter to a real audience arguing for a school policy change

Authentic, real-audience writing tasks increase cognitive rigor by requiring students to apply persuasive skills in a meaningful, purposeful context.

What does the term 'null curriculum' refer to in curriculum theory?

Answer: Content and skills that schools choose NOT to teach, communicating what is considered unimportant

The null curriculum, a concept from Elliot Eisner, refers to content deliberately excluded from schooling, which implicitly signals its lack of value.

A principal reviews STAAR data showing that students perform below grade level in math problem-solving but proficiently in computation. Which curriculum adjustment is MOST appropriate?

Answer: Integrate more real-world problem-solving tasks that require multi-step reasoning

When students excel at computation but struggle with problem-solving, instruction must shift toward contextual, multi-step tasks that develop reasoning skills.