Curriculum Development

Developing the Official Documents that Teachrs Use to Guide Themselves, and Their Students, Throughout the School Year

Curriculum development represents a structured set of materials prepared for students, and foe the teacher, to follow throughout the school year in a disciplined and organized fashion. These structured mnaterials are written, edited, reviewed, and finalized into a set of printed materials that teachers can rely on. Besides being helpful, curriculum development is required by state and local education departments and school districts.

When building a curriculum, teachers spend a good deal of time learning about their specific student population and what that population needs to best learn the subject being taught. The teacher determines the best methods for delivering specific points of instruction (discussion, presentation, student work, and more), as well as the best ordering of those specific points. Teachers also determine what set of materials (assignments, tests, and more) contribute to learning the subject.

Teachers maintain a good deal of independence in deciding how their curriculum should be structured and what specifically goes into that curriculum. However, there is generous room for interpretation of materials (and students' responses to it) and for choosing among different approaches. Since there are often many valid routes for developing and delivering a curriculum, tachers often need direction and advice during curriculum development.

A professional educational consultant can bring knewldge that spans across various schools, subjects, and populations, in order to give teachers a wider context to develop their curriculums.