One of the biggest obstacles to opening a new school is establishing an effective support network. The Alliance of Model Schools is a cost-free membership that provides resources, advocacy and networking for schools that implement a new school design. Learn more, click here

Do you have specific questions about curriculum alignment?

Email or call us! Dawn Downs, Director of Innovative School Models, 302-656-4737 or ddownes@innovativeschools.org.

Register for
March Events


Project Based Learning 101 Workshop
March 19-21, 2012
8:30am-4:00pm each day
Delaware New Tech Academy
399 North Market Street
Seaford, DE 19973

Group discounts available!
To register, click here.

Innovative Practices Showcase
March 22, 2012
1:00-5:00pm
Maple Dale Country Club
180 Maple Dale Circle
Dover, DE 19904

No cost to attend.
To register, click here.
 

Charter School Events

Do you have specific questions about a Solutions service?

Email or call us! Melissa Hentges, Director of Innovative School Solutions, 302-656-4737 or mhentges@innovativeschools.org

Thank you!
Innovative Schools would like to thank the Longwood Foundation for your support of the Innovative School Solutions Division.  Over the next two years, the Longwood Foundation has provided critical funding that will allow Innovative Schools to build out its Solutions services to increase access to these services for Delaware’s charter schools community.

Aligning Curriculum to Standards to Improve Student Achievement

Curriculum Alignment

Innovative Schools has organized a team of Delaware-based curriculum experts to develop customized curriculum maps and representative instructional units for all subjects taught at your school.

The curriculum maps define the content to be taught in each subject area and demonstrate how the content links into Delaware’s state standards. The instructional units provide a view into how instruction should look in a standards-based classroom. This process follows the backward design model for curriculum development advocated by Delaware’s Department of Education and takes into consideration current research in each subject area and standards-based instructional practices to ensure that all content standards are taught.

Alignment of curriculum to Common Core or Delaware Prioritized Standards includes a description of course materials and a scope and sequence document for each required subject area in each grade to be aligned.  The process of writing the scope and sequence documents and/or aligning the curriculum can be accomplished in one of two ways:         

Option One: Collaborative Curriculum Alignment*

An Innovative Schools instructional specialist will work with teams of teachers from the school at each grade level for each subject area to document current curriculum, align the curriculum to standards, perform a gap analysis, and develop a plan to fill curricular gaps.  This preferred option doubles as an exceptional professional development opportunity for teachers and increases ownership of curriculum documents.          

Option Two: Comprehensive Curriculum Alignment*

An Innovative Schools instructional specialist will work with our team of curriculum experts to develop a scope and sequence document for each required subject area in each grade level.  The work will be based on conversations with teachers and course materials and will demonstrate alignment to standards in the format preferred by DDOE.   

The benefits of curriculum alignment include:

  • Alignment of instruction with state standards
  • A clearly defined scope and sequence for each subject area
  • Understanding of how instructional decisions contribute to students’ overall learning
  • Communication and collaboration among teachers

Curriculum alignment work is time intensive, so schools are asked to reserve between three and six months for the process to be completed.