They compared notes, shared lesson plans and analyzed data for math, English, science and social studies.

After three days of discussions, the teachers compiled an “aligned curriculum,” a sort of teaching blueprint that all local schools could follow.

Organized by Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13, the effort was designed to develop a core curriculum based on state academic standards.

“When a child graduates from high school and is ready to compete in the United States and in the world, there are a set of standards we believe this child needs to know,” James Scott, IU 13’s executive director, said.

“Let’s bring a whole bunch of teachers together and say what can we commonly teach that would deliver a curriculum that would help each child in these schools reach these standards.”

Teachers from Lampeter-Strasburg, Solanco, Warwick, Ephrata, Columbia, Donegal, Manheim Central and Elizabethtown school districts participated.

Many districts now are using the aligned curriculum as a guide as they develop lesson plans to meet state standards.

Martin Hudacs, assistant superintendent of Solanco School District, is a proponent of the aligned curriculum.

“Every district will have its own curriculum, but every curriculum should be very closely aligned to the standards,” Hudacs said.

By comparing its curriculum with the IU 13 blueprint, Solanco has been able to identify areas that need to more closely match standards.

The aligned curriculum highlights the most important information students should learn in every grade in four core subjects — math, English, science and social studies.

For every lesson, teachers identified key vocabulary and essential questions students must be able to answer, said Brian Barnhart, IU 13 director of instructional services.

“We asked them to take off their individual school district hat and put on an IU 13 hat, a best-practice hat,” Barnhart said. “Don’t tell us what you have been teaching; let’s talk about what we should be teaching.”

But, Scott said, teachers were not asked to “teach to the test.”

Educators have complained the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment testing program forces them to teach lessons that prepare students to answer questions they may encounter on the PSSAs.

But, students also are expected to “reason, explain, interpret and quantify,” Barnhart said.

“Standards are a combination of a number of skills,” Scott said. “We are aligning curriculum to prepare students to be very creative in answering those questions.”

All students are expected to be “proficient” on the PSSAs by 2014 under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Currently, schools must have 45 percent of their students proficient in math and 54 percent proficient in reading.

Those benchmarks will continue to increase until 2014, when 100 percent of students are expected to be proficient.

While many argue the goal is difficult, Scott said it’s worth trying.

“How can you argue with an ideal that says everybody will be up to speed?” he said.

IU 13 officials hope the aligned curriculum can be a continuing project, but no future teacher meetings are scheduled.

“There’s something to be said that as school districts improve, we all improve,” Barnhart said.

“We can be the best teachers in the whole world, but if we’re not teaching the right thing … this project was an answer to make sure we’re teaching the right stuff.”


Colby Itkowitz's e-mail address is citkowitz@lnpnews.com. blog comments powered by Disqus