College Access Summit

Curriculum Alignment

Working Group

A COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP OF CENTRAL FLORIDA K-12 SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, AND UCF

COMMUNITY COLLEGE PARTNERS

History of Curriculum Alignment

• Sponsored by UCF Regional Campuses, Undergraduate Studies, and Interdisciplinary Studies.

• Started with a need to look at digital media – which lead to a Banner Center being awarded to Seminole State College.

• The Chief Learning Officers of the consortium colleges saw a need to address math, then chemistry, physics, and biology. The most recent addition was computer programming through the awarding of a National Science Foundation grant in 2010

• On October 27, 2010 first regional Curriculum Alignment conference was held at Valencia Community College.– First time to include K-12 schools in the alignment discussion

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Begin alignDigital MediaBetweenCC’s and UCF

RegionalDigital MediaEducation AndWorkforceDevelopmentInitiative

Begin alignMathCC and UCF

Begin alignChemistryCC and UCF

Begin alignPhysicsCC and UCF

Begin alignBiologyCC, SC,and UCF

Continue alignSTEM DiscCC, SC, UCF

Math BeginMultidiscAlign CC, SC,UCF

Begin ExploreWays forPreK-12 toWork with CC, SC,UCF

Curriculum Alignment Work-To-Date

Key Successes

• Alignment of topics and learning outcomes across the 7 educational institutions.– Changing courses to improve student success.– Mutual agreement on topics covered in key courses.

• Sharing of best practices:– Discussions at the workshops.– Postings on the web site.

• Changing curriculum and courses.– Changing 4 UCF Digital Media courses from 3xxx to 2xxx so that

the community college partners had a common set of transferrable courses.

– Adding MAC1140 at UCF.

Curriculum Alignment ConferenceOctober 27, 2010

• Purpose: To bring together instructors and administrators from K-12, Community Colleges, State Colleges, and UCF to begin working together on curriculum alignment from K-20• Meet each other and determine to work together• Identify concrete goals for the upcoming year• Discuss next conference scheduled for October, 2011• Set long term goals

• Special guest Mary Jane Tappen, Deputy Chancellor for Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Services from DOE

Goals and Action Items• Biology

– Improve biology lab skills for entering freshman. – Standardize HS biology curriculum beginning with labs. – Improve pedagogical and content knowledge of MS/HS teachers. – Increase ongoing support from CC/Univ to MS/HS. – Improve general college readiness of HS Students.

• Chemistry– Academic transition readiness - Students will be prepared to enter the next level

of the chemistry curriculum– Students will demonstrate mastery of core concepts and skills, eg. scientific

method, experimental design, data collection and analysis, results communication (written and verbal), inquiry labs are a tool for accomplishing this

– Students will demonstrate strong problem solving and critical thinking skills and scientific curiosity

– Students will have established successful learning strategies including basic study, note taking, and time management skills

– Establish and maintain a supportive communication, resource network, and meeting schedule for K-16 and industry

Goals (continued)

•  Math– Continue and initiate more dialogue between high school and college levels.– Provide constant communication of course descriptions and ongoing

assessments between levels.– Discuss and align placement process from secondary to post secondary (6-20).– Develop a consistent alignment of concepts taught and tools used in the K- 20

levels.– Share data to modify instruction to achieve desired learning outcomes.

• Physics– Develop a Lab Curriculum/List of Suggestions– Clear communication between K-12 , colleges, and FDOE– Improve Public Relations– Implement STEM Competition (JETS, Physics Olympiad) hosted by the regional

college– Align physics curriculum (middle school – college)

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2020

First JointK-12, CC, SC,UCF Meeting

Begin alignSTEM DiscHS,CC, SC,UCF

Cont. alignSTEM HS,CC,SC, UCF

Incorp.MiddleSchools

Cont. alignSTEM MS, HS,CC, SC, UCF

Cont. alignSTEM ES, MS,HS, CC, SC,UCF

Incorp.ElemSchools

Begin crossDisciplinaryalignment

Cont crossDisciplinaryalignment

Curriculum Alignment Future Work

More Information

• http://www.curriculumalignment.ucf.edu