Maximizing your Curriculum Management Platform

Providing all students with a relevant and rigorous curriculum is a dynamic, ever-evolving process that requires a well-thought-out, articulated curriculum management plan. This curriculum management plan needs to be all-encompassing to:

• Provide the various stakeholders with relevant information; 
• Be responsive to new student learning needs, mandates, and instructional methods; 
• Fully implement a curriculum platform that houses the curriculum and provides a systematic approach to the work; and 
• Ensure the curriculum is periodically reviewed and revised.

As a recently retired district administrator working in various roles in my career, I have found that there are common threads to successfully implementing and managing curriculum. These common threads include the following:

• Vision and Purpose
• Comprehensive Development Process
• Systematic Vertical Approach
• Focus on Coherency
• Defined Process for Develop-Review-Revise

In working with Eduplanet21, I know that these threads are common to their customers - individual schools and school districts, small or large. Let's dive a little deeper into each of these threads.

Vision and Purpose

Successful schools/districts have a vision and purpose for their school/district in regard to curriculum, with clearly defined goals. A vision statement serves as the foundation to convey the core values, purpose, and focus of the school/district; upon which curriculum goals are established and decisions based.

Comprehensive Development Process

Successful schools/districts have a comprehensive process for developing their curriculum and units of study that is consistent across all disciplines. A standardized approach details the sequence of student learning outcomes, provides consistency across classrooms, highlights alignment in addition to any gaps or redundancies, and provides transparency to all stakeholders.

Systematic Vertical Approach

Successful schools/districts have a systematic vertical (PK-12) approach to setting up and utilizing their management platform. To produce a formal, coherent curriculum document it is necessary to identify or develop standardized naming conventions, coding, templates, formats, etc., and to provide clear expectations of the requirements and what is optional for all users.

Focus on Coherency

Successful schools/districts have an approach to strive for coherency across all grades and disciplines to ensure clean data for analysis, a polished product for publishing, etc. On-going training, support, and monitoring are essential, so all users understand how to use the platform to meet the expected requirements and with fidelity. 

Defined Process for Design-Review-Revise

Successful schools/districts have a systematic system to develop, review, and revise their curriculum within the platform over time. Curriculum development is a cyclical process, which needs to be responsive to changes in the educational sector and student learning needs. Hence it is imperative that each discipline engages in a full curriculum review periodically utilizing a predefined process.

Maximizing Your Curriculum Management Platform

A curriculum management platform is just one component to successfully implementing and sustaining your curriculum. And in order to maximize the platform, all other “threads” are essential for success. This is where Eduplanet21 can help!

To assist and support customers with the challenges they might be experiencing in organizing, developing, and implementing their curriculum management plan, I am excited to be working with Eduplanet21 to offer Curriculum Consultation Services. 

Curriculum Consultation Services

This service is in addition to the EP21 Customer Success model, providing schools/districts with more expertise, individualization, and assistance in planning to target their needs specifically. 

Curriculum Consultation Services are available for all of the essential “threads.” These are areas I have experience with, have successfully maneuvered through in my roles, and can help other organizations with. 

Below are samples of the topics and activities that can be supported:

Planning & Goal Setting

• identifying short and long-term goals for implementing Eduplanet21
• developing a detailed master plan for curriculum management, development, and review and revision  

Eduplanet21 Platform Management & Alignment

• creating naming and coding conventions
• organizing current data, information, and templates to streamline setup
• identifying ways to monitor and maintain curriculum in Eduplanet21 over time
• developing and facilitating training for users

Curriculum Vision, Purpose, Processes & Procedures

• establishing or refining a multi-year curriculum review cycle
• crafting a curriculum process and purpose message for stakeholders
• creating a curriculum review process and protocol

Curriculum Development, Review & Revision

• taking an inventory of current curriculum processes and status for all disciplines
• identifying strengths to build upon, growth areas needed, and barriers to address
• running and analyzing reports to determine current curriculum status

The Next Steps: Connect with Us 

As you think about your curriculum management plan - regardless of where you are in the process - consider the essential threads mentioned in this blog. Are there any threads you could use additional support with? If so, we would love to help.

How to connect with us about Curriculum Consulting Services:

• Current Eduplanet21 Customers: Your Customer Success Manager can talk with you about scheduling a brief consultation with one of our Curriculum Consultants to assess your needs and discuss how to best move forward.
• New to Eduplanet21: If you are new to Eduplanet21, talk with a Sales Manager about how these services can set you up for success on Day 1.

It’s always easy to reflect back, and as someone who played a role in implementing and sustaining Eduplanet21 for many years, establishing this plan was critical to our success. Keeping the focus on establishing a coherent, visible curriculum and having a plan to continuously make improvements and create better learning experiences for our students helps us become better educators.

Welcome, Dr. Donna Nestler-Rusack!

Eduplanet21 is excited to welcome Dr. Donna Nestler-Rusack to our team. She will be our primary Curriculum Consultant and a valuable resource to our company and customers. Donna is a recently retired Connecticut educator who held various positions during her career. She taught grades 3-12, held building-level administrator positions, and served in different senior leadership roles. 

For the last decade, she served as the Assistant Superintendent for Avon Public Schools. Over the course of her career, Donna had the opportunity to work and lead in different districts, providing her with a wide range of academic and socio-economic experiences. Donna is not only a curriculum expert, but she is also an Eduplanet21 “Super User!”