Deciding What to Teach & Test: Developing, Aligning, and Leading the Curriculum, by

Fenwick W. English
Chapter 4 Notes: The Challenge of Curriculum Leadership in the Teaching and Testing
Nexus
One of the current challenges that educators face is the balance between teaching and
testing. English notes that just because a school experiences gains in testing areas does
not mean that the school is a happy place where students feel encouraged to learn and
explore, or that students feel valued for more than just their test scores, or that students
felt more open-minded because of their education (English, 2010, 105).
The author used Enron as a comparative example by talking about the culture of
numbers: The culture of numbers irrespective of the larger ethical, moral, or social
issues has infected many other organizations, public and private (English, 2010, 106).
Schools have also fallen victim to this. English also says that when numbers become the
focal point, rather than what leads to those numbers, we do a disservice to ourselves.
If schools become places where a preoccupation with the numbers has meant mindless
repetition, memorizing lists and dates over and over again, punishments and ridicule,
they have failed in their responsibility to students (English, 2010, 108).
We sometimes see cultural capital used in schools, where those in charge of things
decide what would be best taught in schools. This can be detrimental to education
because it limits educators and doesnt allow for equal exploration of a variety of cultures
(English, 2010, 111).
Tests do not measure the most important things (English, 2010, 113). That is clear,
because tests are only able to do so much, and their primary goal is to assess the level of
recall that students have. However, tests cannot test the full scope of any class, and so
they, by definition, leave out key elements.
The testing atmosphere that we find ourselves in currently attempts to tighten up school
curriculum; in other words, it attempts to eliminate any slack that may exist (English,
2010, 117). Logically, this may make sense. However, removing teachers abilities to
make decisions about their own classrooms would be disastrous. Our country would not
benefit from identical curriculums.
Understanding by Design, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
Chapter 11: The Design Process
Design is meant to be flexible; it is not meant to be a free-for-all. Some design plans,
while good in theory, do not work in actuality. Its important to test against the backward
design logic and standardsrather than to think of design as a step-by-step process
(Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 255).
Backward design does not have a lesson plan recipe. The developers found that its
impossible to create step-by-step instructions, because there are so many variants out
there.
 Individual instructors need to develop their own lessons, because doing otherwise omits
thoughtful responsiveness as the teacher focuses too much on making the lesson work
and not enough on the students reception of it (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 267).
Lesson-planning problems exist, a common one being trying to squeeze in big ideas in a
small time frame. The answer is not to solve the problem, necessarily, but to carefully
negotiate solutions. As is commonly said, a good compromise means no one is happy,
and so it may be with lesson plans (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 268).
One of the last key points I wanted to address is the idea of effective versus engaging.
Sometimes, teachers become too focused on providing fun lessons. While students
must be engaged, the content of the lesson must be highly effective, otherwise it loses its
purpose. We must keep our students interested, but also make them work and learn
(Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 270).
Chapter 12: The Big Picture: UbD as Curriculum Framework
As teachers attempt to rework their lessons into an Understanding by Design process, the
main items to focus on include what lesson plan designs that work on a large-scale level
will also help make teacher units more efficient, coherent, and effective (Wiggins &
McTighe, 2005, 275).
Essential questions can and should guide lesson planning and be the foundation upon
which units are built. The overarching and recursive nature of essential questions makes
them ideally suited to framing the macro curriculum f programs and courses (Wiggins &
McTighe, 2005, 276).
For skill-based lessons or classes, essential questions may be too broad. In that case,
identify questions or problems related to key performance challenges that require
intelligent use of those skills (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 283).
Incorporating cross-disciplinary questions and viewpoints will benefit students
tremendously in the long run. The ability for students to apply knowledge in a variety of
situations is very valuable, and one that teachers should try to encourage and foster
(Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 281).
The point of education is to provide students with skills that are transferrable. In fact, the
author notes that maximal transferability the effective use of stuff, not merely the
learning of stuff is what academia should be teaching (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 293).
Chapter 13: Yes, but
Nationwide standardized testing has (presumably unintentionally) done the opposite of
what it was intended to do. The intent was to prove that students are learning the
necessary skills and that teachers are performing well in their areas; the outcome has been
that teachers have pared down their teaching to cover the tested areas, resulting in the
minimalization of good teaching (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 303).
In order to fix this problem, teachers must do their best to recognize that they are
responsible for wellness, not the state, and it is up to them to continue teaching in the best
way possible (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 305).
 A study compared students in separate classrooms, one with a high level of authentic
pedagogy and one with a low level. The results were as expected: students in the
classroom with high levels of authentic pedagogy were helped substantially whether
they were high- or low-achieving students (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 306). Also, there
was a much smaller gap between high- and low-achieving students; in other words, the
low-achieving students achieved higher.
Studies also found that interactive teaching is best for all students, both high- and low-
achieving. Inclusivity, with the proper staff and implementation, tends to help students
more than pulling them out for specified instruction (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 307).
Textbooks are not the end-all, be-all. A textbook should serve as a guide and a resource,
not as the syllabus (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 310).
Comparing teaching in the United States to teaching in higher-performing countries (like
Japan) indicated that, while teachers in the U.S. cover more topics, teachers in Japan
cover topics more thoroughly. This is an important distinction; oftentimes, teaching in the
U.S. can feel like a race to the finish line, whereas in other countries, the amount of
content covered isnt nearly as emphasized as the depth of the content (Wiggins &
McTighe, 2005, 312).