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Report: Institute to Align Curriculum - Fall 2006
In fall 2006, with funding from a Title V cooperative grant, Cochise College hosted an Institute to Align Curriculum of math, English and science. Ninety-five teachers attended; participants included 68 teachers from high schools throughout Cochise County (public and charter), 23 faculty from Cochise College and four faculty from the University of Arizona (south and main campuses), who spent three days in intense, collaborative work groups with their colleagues. The guiding focus of each work group was to have participants identify the obstacles created by disconnected high school through college curriculum that affect student success and to determine strategies to remove the obstacles.
The participants were charged to take a pro-active approach to align curriculum in the 9-20 grade pipeline to ensure students’ readiness to succeed in post-secondary education or in the workforce. Read the full report.
The planning committee established five intended outcomes for the institute:
- To generate a curriculum document that delineates the specific performance objectives of subject area coursework at the high school and college levels.
- To articulate a set of curricular objectives designed to promote students’ college readiness
- To recommend at which level of instruction course objectives should be introduced and emphasized
- To determine the best teaching methodologies by subject area
- To consider the need/interest in holding an annual forum to discuss and manage curricular issues for the 9-20 pipeline of Cochise County
Although five outcomes were identified, the participants in each work group guided the discussions toward additional issues that they felt needed to be addressed, such as the gap between when students complete math for high school graduation and when they enter college. The planning committee did not foresee these additional issues; however, the issues became very important to the overall success of the institute. Many of these issues are captured in the work group summary pages of the report.
Three of the five intended outcomes were met, and additional discussions demonstrated the need to continue the dialogue. It is the intent of the college to hold another institute in late summer or early fall 2007.
The institute participants did come to consensus on the following six items:
- That the curriculum for math, science and language arts is basically in alignment for the 9-20 grade spectrum
- That the curricular gaps occur not necessarily in content but in the length of time between when students complete high school requirements and then enter college; the math group noted that students should complete more than two years of math to be prepared for college-level work
- That there is a need for specific instruction to teach students how to study for different subject material
- That there is a disparity between school districts’ funding available for course materials and instructional technology
- That there must be an increase in per-student funding and teacher salaries
- That participants see the value in the curricular discussions and they appreciate receiving compensation for using their personal time to attend the Institute
Recommendations
The planning committee submits three recommendations for future institutes:
- That the institute be held annually
- That the Cochise College Foundation be approached to consider providing stipends for participants to attend ($500)
- That the above list of intended outcomes continue to be a focus for the institute
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