Between and rock and a...

The Principal as Curriculum Leader

Shaping What is Taught and Tested (Chapters 1&2)

1. What it means to be a curriculum leader: NCLB and Beyond

Current Trends 

• More rigorous reading levels (artificial lexile increases)
• non-fiction text taking a priority over literature in Communication Arts
• college and career readiness (data management systems tied to stimulus and federal grant money)
• literacy in the content areas (non-fiction texts)

Beyond NCLB to Voluntary National Standards for States

• curriculum narrowing (teaching to the test)
• school accreditation issues limits the resources flowing to schools who have the greatest need
• anemic curriculum as the core areas take precedent

Fantastic thoughtful take on the Common Core by Diane Ravitch 

My take away: "It's often not working through the initiate, but around it."

The Hallmarks of Curriculum Quality

• Structure and deliver the curriculum so that it facilitates the mastery of essential skills and knowledge of the subjects.
• Structure the curriculum so that it is closely coordinated.
• Develop an effective integrated curriculum.
• Structure the curriculum so that it results in deeper, less superficial coverage.
• Focus on the mastery of a limited number of essential curriculum objectives rather that trying to cover too many.
• Organize the curriculum so that it provides for multiyear sequential study, not stand-alone courses.
• Emphasize both the academic and the practical.
• Structure the curriculum so that it focuses on problem solving.

Principal as instructional leader in an high-accountability, public-accountability, and the ongoing debate of the viability of state and national standards for curriculum.

This is often not about the individual student, the question is then how does the principal take on the responsibility of the state and district mandates, while doing what is best for children? I believe we are in the age of privatization and capitalization of public education in America.

2. The Four Curriculum Levels: State, District, School and Classroom

The more principals understand this curricular  process in their local context the more they can be effective instructional leaders as they are not passive receivers of all the initiatives coming down the pipeline above them, but instead are creative problem solvers and innovators.  In my opinion innovation comes out of necessity not "ex nihilo" creativity and the current climate in American public education requires creative problem solving.