Establishing Essential Curriculum Maps

Q: What made you decide to work on building/creating Essential Curriculum maps?

Q: How did you translate the purpose of developing Essential Curriculum maps to teachers?  What was their reaction?

Q: As you reflect on the process you have established for creating the Essential Curriculum maps, what is one big takeaway you have?

Q: In establishing the Essential maps, what was the most difficult part of the process? How long did it take to sustain the process? Are all levels using the same process for alignment and review?

Q: How do you continue to utilize your Essential maps as a Corporation, Building Admins, teachers and SPED/Coaches?

Q: Have you received any compliments from Administrators, Teachers or the community for establishing the Essential Curriculum Maps? 

Q: If a District or Corporation was just beginning this process, what advice would you give them?

Q: What challenges or surprises did your team encounter, and how did you overcome them?

Q: What specific advice or recommendation would you give after going through this process?

"Our journey has not been quick or easy. It has taken a dedicated and patient administrative team to guide staff in the implementation of our essential maps. Teachers have been able to see student achievement gains along the way during weekly PLCs through data from formative assessments, benchmark testing and even state-mandated assessments. We regularly celebrate these small, incremental successes and these gains have fueled the momentum to continue the use of the maps as our guide for instruction. In Indiana, our state-mandated assessment is used for accountability purposes and we are proud to say that for the 2016 assessment, Brownsburg Community School Corporation placed #1 in the state for the percentage of students passing both the ELA and Mathematics portions of the assessment. There are several factors that contribute to a #1 ranking – an excellent staff, the PLC process, fidelity to programs – but our guaranteed and viable curriculum is also a large part of that success story. Rubicon has provided us with a means to make that curriculum accessible to all. What we are doing is working for us and we are happy to share our story with others who are interested!"

Want to find out more about how Atlas supports the Essential Curriculum process? Email us at [email protected]