Getting clear about curriculum in Goshen County

The Challenge

Goshen County School District in Torrington, Wyoming, a largely agricultural town with a population of about 6,000, had been working for years to improve the quality of instruction and leadership, with the goal of becoming one of the top districts in the state. While working on lesson design, however, administrators realized they first needed to align the curriculum with state and, eventually, Common Core standards and ensure all teachers knew and understood the content they should be teaching.

Strategic Solution

In early 2010, Goshen County contracted with McREL to help them get clear about content. The result was an intensive, year-long project aimed at creating a guaranteed and viable curriculum, with the overarching goal to elevate rigor and make it consistent—from classroom to classroom, grade level to grade level, and school to school. McREL worked with staff from all nine content areas on instruction fundamentals, such as how students learn, types of knowledge, and components of curriculum maps. They were then prepared to participate in several sessions over the summer to unpack standards and create curriculum maps. ACE intervention participants received a resource manual with techniques, criteria, and examples, and McREL facilitated professional development sessions, with assignments that included readings, reflections, and data gathering tools.

Results

Just six months into the work, teachers at the elementary level were using their mathematics, language arts, and science curriculum maps to plan instruction, and teachers at the high school level were using their maps in geometry, algebra, and social studies. Teachers have learned about pacing instruction and the level of rigor they should expect from students. According to Assistant Superintendent Roger Humphrey, they also have realized more requisite work is needed to help students increase the overall depth of content knowledge.

Next Steps

The district admits the maps are still a work in progress—not all of the content area maps are complete—but McREL is planning to go back in June 2011 to help the staff refine and/or finish their maps, improve sequencing, and further align instructional units. Next, they will focus on building assessments that are integrated into the units and aligned to the maps, as they move steadily toward a guaranteed and viable curriculum.