Follow the Road Map - Get to the Destination

If you are given a road map, but you do not follow the road map, is it fair to blame the passengers in the vehicle with you when you do not reach your desired destination? Most states have a list of standards which tell teachers what to teach in order for students to be successful on end-of-year tests. However, many teachers get upset when scores return and blame their failures on the children or the curriculum in general. However, they know that they have not followed their road map. This relay of responsibility is unacceptable.

To alleviate this, school districts should implement the following strategies: establish a standards or curriculum focus group within each school that assures that teachers are teaching the standards and previous test scores, implement and require school-wide common assessments and benchmark tests to monitor students' progress towards the standards, school districts should directly correlate students' scores to their content-specific teacher and look at the degree of progress from last year's standardized test scores. Doing these things will increase test scores and show teacher effectiveness. However, it does not throw teachers into a fire since they have ample time and data to improve student achievement before the standardized test is taken at the end of the year. School performance is improved because teachers are actually teaching the curriculum. Time in school is no longer wasted on frivolous projects and teachers can't sit behind their desks for 7 hours straight.

How can a curriculum focus group improve student achievement?
A standard or curriculum focus group can provide a wealth of knowledge to teachers. They can break down the standards and provide teachers with clear checklists on the curricula that needs be covered in order for students to be successful on standardized tests. These checklists have proven to be effective as teachers know exactly what to teach, so they are not left wondering in space. This curriculum focus group can do the same thing, and they can also present teachers with a clear example of a standards-based classroom which is the first step to acquiring knowledge of the state's standards. The focus group can be the "go to" group when teachers have questions about the state's standards and standardized test content descriptions.

School districts or teachers can also implement benchmark and common assessments in each subject area.

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