ASH Curriculum Planning Process 1

The American School of The Hague (ASH) Curriculum Planning Process

C&T 802

Megan Docherty
ASH Curriculum Planning Process 2

In any school, curriculum planning can be considered a complex process

with a lot of factors that help determine decisions about curriculum. When

looking at processes of curriculum planning it is very different for international

schools. The international school where I currently work, The American School

of The Hague, is an example of how different this process is compared to schools

in the United States. Since my school is not federally, state, or locally funded the

curriculum planning process is different than what I have experienced when I

first started teaching 10 years ago, read online or in textbooks. Our school

depends on research done not only in the United States but by people that

research international schools as well in order to drive our decisions about what

is best practice in terms of curriculum for our school. I conducted interviews

with the Middle School Principal, Peter Coombs, Danette Sack the Learning

Support Coordinator in charge of the Learning Support curriculum review, and

Dawn Eitjes the English chair in the high school to inquire about the curriculum

planning process at our school. From these interviews, I learned that while we do

use a lot of research and sometimes resources from the United States to help

structure our curriculum planning process, our school has a lot of freedom to

make decisions that are best for the students that attend our school, and there is

still a lot of work to be done to make sure our students are successful with the

curricular decisions we make.

At the American School of The Hague, each subject area goes through a

five-year review process where at the end of the fifth year a review is written in

order to guide the next five years. The five-year planning cycle is similar to the

ADDIE design model of analysis, design, development, implementation, and

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evaluation (Glatthorn, Boschee, Whiteheard and Boschee 2016, p.191). Year one

is considered the Visioning Program Level or the analysis phase. This is where

we review or revise the program philosophy to make sure that these align with

our school’s mission and vision. The subject area team agrees to the PK-12

standards, enduring understandings, and essential questions. Teams also work

on vertical alignment of expectations for each grade level and collect resources

for review and evaluation. In the second year it is the Unit Writing/Revision

Grade/Course Level and Assessment component. In this year, teams identify

appropriate technology integration, differentiation, core values, and service

learning. They identify and design common assessments and rubrics, and design

a plan of professional development if it is needed. The third year is the

implementation year where teams implement a new curriculum if necessary,

update unit maps, design formative assessments, and suggest new learning

activities, resources or strategies. The fourth year is evaluating and modifying.

Subject area teams evaluate implementation and review and revise unit level

maps. The fifth year, the last year, is evaluation. This is where teams continue

assessment, interventions, and modifications for all students, continue to review

and revise unit level maps, and research best practice and changes in the

particular discipline.

Our school goes through the curriculum planning process because it is

best practice and important for us to do in order to stay up to date for our

students. Danette Sack states, “It’s important to have a cycle of research,

implementation, and evaluation in order to ensure students are offered a

curriculum that is up-to-date, meets the philosophy of the school and provides

opportunities for good differentiation in its implementation and contains true or

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accurate information without cultural bias.” It is also important for our school to

go through the curriculum planning process because sometimes there are

changes to the standards or to the different approaches or structures that we

have in place at our school like the AP (Advanced Placement) or any of the IB

(International Baccalaureate) programmes, PYP, MYP, and DP which are used in

a lot for international school curriculums. Another reason we do this review is to

update any of our materials, resources or textbooks. Curriculum planning is

important to go through because it is best for our students.

The curriculum planning process structure varies from that of a structure

of a school in the United States. In our school, we have a curriculum director that

facilitates the planning processes and has a different member of the subject area

teams lead a meeting at different times throughout the year. The subject area

teams are composed of teachers from PK-12. Elementary teachers are separated

into subject area groups and the teachers from middle and high school are

assigned to the subject area group that they teach. Ideally there would be a

subject area leader that is given direction from the curriculum director in order

to smoothly run these subject area meetings, but that is not the case in our

school. It is also ideal if the process is inclusive and includes a variety of

stakeholders such as parents, students, administrators and community members

at the beginning of the review process for feedback. Then in the following years

teachers and administrators would work together to ensure the fidelity of

instruction occurs. Unfortunately, throughout this process teachers are left to do

most of the work without a lot of input from the curriculum director and from

administrators, at least in the Language Arts subject area meetings according to

Dawn Eitjes. “The key is to identify and analyze leadership functions required at
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both the district and school levels (depending on size of district) and then

allocate functions to those best able to perform them” (Glatthorn, Boschee,

Whiteheard and Boschee 2016, p.197). This part seems to be missing from our

curriculum planning structure of allocating leadership responsibilities to help

ensure that the process is smooth and streamlined.

Since our school is both and American school and an International school

we have to consider our student population and which standards to adhere to.

Our school is always making sure that our curriculum matches our school

philosophy and not just the American, UK, or international philosophy. There is a

lot of information and factors that inform our curriculum planning practices.

During the process, we look at evidence-based curriculum and whether we can

implement it with the intended fidelity. Our school uses the AERO (American

Education Reaches Out) standards, which were designed for American overseas

schools to use and they are aligned to the Common Core State Standards.

Therefore, we make sure that we are up to date if there are any changes that are

made to these standards. Teachers restructure their classes in the high school

English department if there are any changes made to the AP or the IB. As an

international school, we also look to see what other ‘like’ international schools

are doing or using. When looking at assessments we may look at MAP (Measures

of Academic Performance) testing that is done in grades 2-8, and other

assessment data to determine where our students excel or where they are

challenged. In the high school, the English teachers review their students’ IB and

AP scores as a way of reviewing student data. Presently within the Language Arts

subject area, there is only common assessments in the high school and they are
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working towards deciding on common assessments in the elementary and

middle schools.

When the curriculum planning process is finished different products are

produced such as unit guides, curriculum maps, and a report. While working

through the process, different curriculum guides are made to help with vertical

alignment and to make sure teachers know what they are expected to teach to

get their students ready for the following year. “When vertical teams are most

successful, the curricular changes they initiate create support structures that

make high achievement a reality for more students because they institutionalize

a continuum of knowledge and skills that build from grade to grade” (Schlosser

2015). Vertical alignment is a crucial part of the process in order to make sure

teachers have clearly communicated with one another to ensure students will be

successful and not learning the same topics throughout the different grade levels.

Then the teachers work to input the unit/lesson planning into a school wide

platform, which is Atlas Rubicon. At this time, the teachers with the help of the

curriculum director might produce a report outlining the process of choosing a

curriculum or the decisions that were made in the planning process and how to

proceed. We’re not so big on accountability as compared to the states.

When looking at the curriculum planning process and the professional

development that teachers may need and the assessment and evaluation of the

impact of the new curriculum on student learning, our school handles this a bit

differently than that of a school in the United States. If our school decides to

implement a new curriculum or one that requires new methods of teaching, the

curriculum director and administrators make plans for some type of professional

development. If there are any changes especially to the AP or IB programs, then

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the teachers that teach those specific classes must have the training necessary to

implement the proper curriculum. “The intent here is to update teachers’

knowledge about new developments in the field, to give them the skills they need

for writing curriculum and instructional materials” (Glatthorn, Boschee,

Whiteheard and Boschee 2016, p.209). Since there is the issue of transient

teachers, making sure that our teachers have the correct training and

professional development is key in implementing any kind of curriculum or

program. When it comes to evaluating and assessing the impact of the new

curriculum on student learning, we are not so big on accountability as compared

to the states. Teachers look at their formative and summative assessments, if

applicable they look at AP or IB scores, but there is no formal testing that is done

yearly or nearly as often as what is done in the United States. This is not

something that our current administrators are looking to change, and it is not a

topic or issue of high importance at the present moment.

In conclusion, the curriculum planning process at The American School of

The Hague, where I work, is very different than most of the schools in the United

States but the goals for the process are similar. Throughout the process, student

learning and achievement are the focus, which I believe all schools have this

common goal. As an international school, we do not need to follow any federal,

state, or local laws. As a stand-alone school organization, a lot of decisions are

left up to administrators and teachers usually in a group setting. The curriculum

planning process is complex and lots of steps need to be taken in order to

successfully implement a curriculum with the proper resources, professional

development, and assessments to ensure student learning.

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References

Glatthorn, A., Boschee, F., Whitehead, B., & Boschee, B. (2015). Curriculum
Leadership: Strategies for Development and Implementation. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Coombs, P. (2017, March 14). Personal Interview.

Eitjes, D. (2017, March 17). Personal Interview.

Sack, D.(2017, March 16). Personal Interview

Schloss, L. (2015, April). Transistion by Design: The Power of Vertical Teams.

AMLE Magazine.