100 word response 1 reference
Young
In situations where educational organizations solicit the services of outside consultants, the experience may vary based on the level of investment in student learning the consultant possesses. According to Ornstein et al., “Anyone charged with developing and delivering curriculum has a conception or conceptions of curriculum and its components” (p. 158). Thus, the consultant’s skills in the curriculum should reflect in their assessment of the curriculum’s evaluation. In my former experience with a curriculum consultant whose work was solicited to assist teachers in implementing a new English III curriculum, the consultant demonstrated competency in the content but lacked in the student investment area. The consultant was responsible for leading professional development sessions for teachers and for observing classes as a follow ups to make sure the curriculum was being properly implemented and instructed. It was evident that the consultant held extensive knowledge of American literature, and she clearly understood the instructional strategies that were suggested in the curriculum. In those ways, the consultant was a worthwhile use of the district’s time and money because she helped teachers navigate through the digital and physical curriculum resources.
However, the consultant lacked interest in student investment, and she held mixed feelings about teachers customizing the instructional strategies. Because the consultant derived from a different cultural background than the background of many of the students and teachers, she failed to make meaningful personal connections with students and in turn, she failed to accept that teachers were adjusting the strategies provided in the curriculum in order to best fit the needs and interests of our students’ cultural backgrounds. When describing a study on curriculum alignment and performance, Ziebell and Clarke (2018) state, “This study shows that the flexibility afforded to teachers has resulted in good outcomes in terms of the diversity of performance types evident in the enacted curriculum” (p. 200). This notion of teacher flexibility in the curriculum is a notion that was foreign to the curriculum consultant. She struggled to understand why teachers would use an alternative tactic or resource when delivering instruction to students. Because of this, the organization could have selected a consultant that was familiar with our specific demographic of students, rather than allowing a random individual to evaluate teachers with a disconnected or unfamiliar background.
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