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LAE Interpretation of LDE Comprehensive Curriculum Memo emailed Oct 25, 2005 and LDE FAQ’s Revised 10/26/05.

Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum:

Purpose and Design

The CC is a valuable resource that provides districts with an opportunity to align content, instruction, and assessment and to provide uniformity in content taught across the state in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The Grade-Level Expectations (GLEs) identify the essential content for each grade, while the activities within the Comprehensive Curriculum indicate various instructional strategies based on best practices for teaching. The units in the curriculum have been arranged so that the content to be assessed will be taught before the state testing dates. Samples of performance-based classroom assessments are provided to assist teachers in determining if students are making progress towards mastery of the GLEs.

Flexibility to Use Professional Judgment (Activities)

The state has not mandated that the curriculum be taught exactly as presented.

The activities in the Comprehensive Curriculum are intended to be sample activities. They are not designed to be taught in isolation. They are to be incorporated into lesson plans which introduce students to one or more of the activities, provide background information and follow-up, and prepare students for success in mastering the Grade-Level Expectations ( GLEs) associated with the activities.

Districts may adjust the required number of activities while ensuring that each GLE is adequately addressed by the activities that are used. Districts also have the flexibility to allow modification of activities based on student needs or to allow substitutions of equivalent activities and to determine who may make decisions relative to modifications and substitutions.

Lesson plans should address individual needs of student’s and should include processes for re-teaching of a concept or skill for those who need additional instruction. Teachers of students who are working below grade level should consider using the extra time to provide additional lessons which prepare students for the Comprehensive Curriculum activities. Other ideas include the use of a different teaching strategy for an activity to better fit student learning styles and/or the use of a different book which is equivalent in content to one recommended in an activity.

New or modified activities should be more rigorous than the sample activities for students performing at higher levels. Appropriate accommodations must be made for students with disabilities.

Incorporation of activities into lesson plans is critical to the successful implementation of the Comprehensive Curriculum.

Flexibility to Use Professional Judgment (Timeline)

The state does not advocate the use of a day-by-day pacing guide. The timeframes are the writers’ best estimates based on their experiences in the classroom and the number of activities in a unit. The time needed to master the GLE’s in each individual class may vary based on a variety of issues including class size and make-up, prior student performance/ readiness, missed days, etc.

It was suggested to districts that a curriculum map be developed for each course. In a curriculum map, the timeframes are matched to the school year calendar and serve as a way for teachers to pace themselves as they teach the units. This mapping may require adjustment as the year progresses, with the understanding that all the content for a particular course must be taught prior to the end of the school year. Districts that have missed several weeks of school may need to modify their curriculum maps in order to cover the material. These districts may need to adjust timeframes and the number of activities used.

Flexibility to Use Professional Judgment (Order of Units/ Activities)

The order of the Comprehensive Curriculum units ensures that all the Grade-Level Expectations (GLEs) to be tested are addressed prior to administration of the state assessments. Districts may change the order of the units, but should do so cautiously in order to preserve the alignment of the GLEs with the assessments.

The order in which activities within a unit are taught is not as critical as the order of the units for a course; however, it is important to recognize that many of the activities which address the same GLEs are often purposely spread throughout a unit. This allows students to revisit concepts and skills over an extended time period. Reordering of unit activities based on groupings of activities that address the same GLEs would defeat this "spiraling" approach.

Flexibility to Use Professional Judgment (Content/ Materials)

The textbook can and should be used as a resource for both teachers and students; however, the GLEs and curriculum, respectively, should determine the content taught and the order of presentation. The textbook is to be used as a resource of information in the same way that other supplemental resources might be used. For example, the textbook may provide background information, definitions, introductory information, and practice exercises which can be used with an activity in designing a lesson plan.

Department staff members developed a guide for using textbooks and other resources in coordination with activities from the curriculum and demonstrated its use at our July 2005 LEADS Conference held in New Orleans. The department has also recently developed a short guide that can be used to determine if two activities are equivalent. These guides are available at http://www.louisianaschools.net/lde/ssa/1914.html .

Errors, Omissions, Revisions, Suggestions

Districts have written improvement plans to consider how they might improve the curriculum so that it better addresses the needs of students after one year’s use. The state will also make revisions to the curriculum over time based on input from users. We consider the curriculum to be a work in progress. At the present time, we do not have a specific process to evaluate changes or alternatives to activities in the current version of the curriculum.

To report errors send an email to Carolyn.Sessions@la.gov noting the content area, grade/course, unit, activity number, and information about the error. Corrected files and the list of corrections are posted on the Department’s website at http://www.louisianaschools.net/lde/ssa/2108.html.

If you need additional information, from LDE please call Carolyn Sessions at 225-342-1152 or e-mail her at Carolyn.Sessions@la.gov  You may also call Ms. Sessions on a toll free line at 1-877-453-2721.

For information from the Louisiana Association of Educators contact Wayne Free, Director of Instructional Advocacy email wayne.free@lae.org or call 225-343-9243 X 208.