Curriculum mapping committee - overview
An excellent curriculum is central to American School Macedonia (ASM) being able to follow through with its Mission Statement and Belief Statement.
Established in 2016/17, the CMCs (then known as the Curriculum Committee) primary purpose is to continuously improve the educational program, in line with ASM’s overall Vision, Mission and Belief. It does this via research, curriculum development, and review of recommendations for changes in curriculum and/or primary learning materials that the CMC studies and scrutinizes. After approval by the CMC, potential curricular changes are communicated to the School Improvement Committee (the School Principal is a permanent member of the SIP). The SIP will then consider and discuss what should be implemented in the SIP based on Curriculum Mapping Committee recommendations.
This CMC also assists in teacher training and development pertaining to all aspects of curriculum. Furthermore, the work of the committee also spreads into career guidance for students by planning and implementing a Job Shadow Program, aimed at 12th grade students. As such, the committee has embraced its work as not only being specifically focused on ‘the curriculum’, but also about enriching the curriculum to provide opportunities for our students and teachers to grow and develop – again, always with our Vision, Mission and Belief in mind.
The CMC presents all of its findings and recommendations to the SIP in June (the end of the academic year).
What the CMC has done
The Curriculum Mapping Committee, in a joint effort with selected teachers and the school leadership, has implemented a revised and updated curriculum for English (Grade 1 through 12) and Math (Grade 1 through 12) that is Common Core aligned and that can be accessed electronically via TODCM. Teachers enter the data electronically and share immediate access to the data, so they can find out what curriculum is being taught and when it is taught across the school.
Two curriculum guides have been made available to teachers, one for English and the other for Math, both of which exist in electronic format and are available to teachers at all times. Both guides contain instructions and coaching questions for developing a quality unit map and may be further amended and improved as the CMC gains new insight into the implementation of the curriculum, using various sources of information and assessment tools, such as curriculum meetings, review of classroom data, formal classroom observations by the School Principal, etc.
The TODCM database has been extended with New Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Computer Science Teachers’ Association (CSTA) and NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies) for Science, IT and Social Studies, Geography, World History and Macedonian classes respectively. They are, however, currently in their initial stages of development/implementation.
The Future
The work of the CMC is expanding each year, and we envisage the following undertakings over the coming years, based upon our work to date:
- Extend curriculum alignment to internationally recognized standards in other subject areas across all grade levels;
- Ensure curriculum development by maintaining a quality curriculum mapping process across the school;
- Provide professional development on evolving and effective teaching strategies, including such that promote differentiated and interdisciplinary learning;
- Develop and support cooperation and collaboration among teachers and focus such efforts on individual student achievement;
- Develop programs that increase technological competencies within the school, both for teachers and students;
- Create initiatives for community involvement;
- Maintain and develop programs for educational and career counseling for students.