Curriculum Implementation

Educators involved in selecting and implementing a standards-based curriculum comment on how the process has changed, requiring more resources, particularly time. Time for establishing goals, building consensus, reviewing and working with different curriculum, designing staff development, monitoring the process–the list goes on. Although there is no shortcut through the process, there are many ways schools and districts can focus their efforts to make sure the time they spend is indeed time well spent.

Implementation Centers

The National Science Foundation is funding a number of national and regional centers that can assist schools through the many stages of implementing a standards-based curriculum.

IMPACT

A program of the Center for the Enhancement of Science and Mathematics (CESAME), IMPACT seeks to build the capacity of New England school districts to implement
standards-based mathematics and science programs. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project will identify and develop regional implementation centers, support the professional development of an implementation advisor at each center, and identify and support more than 100 CESAME certified curriculum trainers to deliver professional development in specific standards-based curricula to districts.

CESAME, 716 Columbus Avenue #378, Boston, MA 02120; (617) 373-2036, fax (617) 373-8496; cduggan@lynx.neu.edu; projects.terc.edu/impact

The National Implementation Centers for Standards-based Mathematics Curricula.

These centers (listed below) are dedicated to helping inform teachers, parents, and administrators about instructional materials that embody the vision of the NCTM Standards and to supporting the successful implementation of these curricula.

K—12 Mathematics Curriculum Center. Established in 1997 by Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), the center supports school districts as they build an effective mathematics education program using curriculum materials developed in response to the NCTM’s Curriculum and Evaluation Standards. By providing a series of seminars, resource guides, cases and other written material, referrals, and phone consultations, the center helps facilitate discussions and decision-making among district stakeholders. The center supports the 13 math programs developed with funding from the National Science Foundation and works with the three grade-level implementation centers.

EDC, 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02458-1060; (800) 332-2429, fax (617) 969-1527; mcc@edc.org;
www.edc.org/mcc

Elementary–ARC Center (Alternatives for Rebuilding Curricula). The ARC Center is a collaboration between the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP) and three curriculum-specific satellite implementation centers for the elementary grades: Everyday Mathematics (University of Chicago), Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (TERC), and Math Trailblazers (University of Illinois at Chicago).

COMAP, Inc., 57 Bedford Street, Suite 210, Lexington, MA 02420; (800) 772-6627,
fax (781) 863-1202; arccenter@mail.comap.com;
www.arccenter.comap.com

Middle–Show-Me Center (National Center for Standards-based Middle Grades Mathematics Curricula).
The center works in partnership with five satellite implementation centers: Connected Mathematics (Michigan State University), Mathematics in Context (University of Wisconsin-Madison), MathScape (EDC), MATHThematics—STEM (University of Montana), and Middle-School Mathematics Through Applications (Institute for Research on Learning).

University of Missouri, 104 Stewart Hall, Columbia, MO 65211; (573) 884-2099,
fax (573) 882-4481; center@showme.missouri.edu; showmecenter.missouri.edu/

High–COMPASS (Curricular Options in Mathematics Programs for All Secondary Students). COMPASS partners with five curriculum-specific satellite centers: Contemporary Mathematics in Context—Core-Plus (Western Michigan University), Interactive Mathematics Program—IMP (Interactive Mathematics Program), Math Connections (Math Connections), Mathematics: Modeling Our World—ARISE (COMAP), and SIMMS Integrated Mathematics (Montana State University—Bozeman).

Ithaca Collage, 306 Williams Hall, Ithaca, NY 14850-7284; (800) 688-1829,
fax (607) 274-3054; compass@ithaca.edu;
www.ithaca.edu/compass

Publications

This guide is intended for use by a range of administrators and teachers who are responsible for curriculum review and selection within a school district. It describes a process for reviewing standards-based mathematics

programs and raises questions and issues for readers to consider in their own processes.

K—12 Mathematics Curriculum Center
EDC, 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02458-1060; (800) 332-2429, fax (617) 969-1527; mcc@edc.org;
www.edc.org/mcc

The author details how to develop concept/process curriculum in a single discipline, in interdisciplinary units, and across grade levels. The book also focuses on how to align curriculum with state and national
standards, generate "big idea" topics, and set up appropriate performance assessments.

Corwin Press, 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320; (805) 499-9774, fax (805) 499-0841; order@corwin.sagepub.com;
www.corwinpress.com

The book presents a seven-step process for creating and working with curriculum maps, from data collection to ongoing curriculum review. Curriculum maps can be created using a standard computer word-processing program to collect real-time information about what is actually taught throughout the school year. The book contains more than 20 sample curriculum maps.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 1703 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311; (800) 933-ASCD; www.ascd.org

ENC Focus: A Magazine for Classroom Innovators

"Innovative curriculum materials" is the theme for the inaugural issue of ENC Focus: A Magazine for Classroom Innovators. In addition to feature articles, the magazine will include descriptions of K—12 mathematics and science materials from ENC's collection. While its primary audience is K—12 classroom teachers, the magazine also contains information of interest to school administrators and policy makers, teacher educators, parents, community members, and all those concerned about educational improvement. The publication was created by combining ENC Focus, which originally served as a mini-catalog of ENC resources, with the newsletter, ENC Update.

Forthcoming from the ENC, The Ohio State University, 1929 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1079; (800) 621-5785; info@enc.org;
www.enc.org

New On the Web

This web site is designed to support teachers implementing the Investigations K—5 mathematics curriculum. It offers a growing number of resources as well as discussion areas moderated by teachers experienced in using the curriculum. CESAME is collaborating with the Math Forum and the Lab at Brown to provide this resource.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is introducing a web site for K—12 practitioners. It includes publication announcements, descriptions of current
NCES research findings, and complete text
or summaries of NCES studies and reports. NCES is the U.S. Department of Education’s data-gathering agency for education statistics.

The TIMSS publication, To Sum It Up: Case Studies of Education in Germany, Japan and the United States is one of five publications in the Case Study Project, a component of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The Project was designed to provide in-depth information on education in three nations: Germany, Japan, and the United States. This publication reports the main findings about the education systems and the practices, attitudes, and beliefs of the participants in the education of primary and secondary students in the three countries.