Core Knowledge Curriculum: Three-Year Analysis of Implementation and Effects in Five Schools. Report No. 40

摘要

This technical report presents third-year analyses of the progress of five Maryland elementary schools participating in a multi-school, multi-district implementation of the Core Knowledge curriculum. Third-year results are presented in the areas of implementation and outcomes. Factors clearly affecting implementation of Core Knowledge included the following: the availability and use of common planning time; the care taken to induct new teachers into the Core curriculum; level of success in negotiating any Core/local curriculum conflicts; finding ways to use Core Knowledge that are supportive of the state's student testing program; sustaining Core as a priority in the face of competing educational reforms; and continuing to acquire adequate resources after each school's two-year implementation grant expired. Achievement outcomes were measured through two tests: the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, Fourth Edition (CTBS/4) and the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). The relationship between the tests and the Core Knowledge curriculum was not tight, and individual school's level of implementation and outcome measures all varied between years one and three.