department of education
Office of the Secretary
FInAL
REGULATORY IMPLEMENTATION ORDER
502 Alignment of Local School District Curricula to the State Content Standards
I. Summary of the Evidence and Information Submitted
The Secretary of Education intends to adopt 14 DE Admin. Code 502 Alignment of the Local School District Curricula to the State Content Standards in order to fulfill the requirements of 14 Del.C. §122(b)(6) concerning the development of a recommended statewide uniform curricula for all public schools in the State. An additional statement was added in 5.3 to emphasize that the Department will be monitoring the Curriculum Alignment process and products.
Notice of the proposed regulation was published in the News Journal and the Delaware State News on May 24, 2006, in the form hereto attached as Exhibit “A”. Comments were received from the Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Children and the State Council for Persons with Disabilities. The Councils suggested that it may be a good idea to include parent and student organizations in the district decision making concerning alignment of the curriculum. The Department recognizes that curriculum analysis is a technical process but school districts may certainly choose to involve such organizations in the alignment process. The Councils also expressed concern that the documentation of curriculum alignment and effectiveness could be strengthened for students with disabilities. The analysis of disaggregated groups as required by No Child Left Behind includes children with disabilities and the Department will assure that data for children with disabilities is collected and analyzed by the districts.
II. Findings of Facts
The Secretary finds that it is appropriate to amend 14 DE Admin. Code 502 in order to fulfill the requirements of 14 Del.C. §122(b) (6) concerning the development of a recommended statewide uniform curricula for all public schools in the State.
III. Decision to Amend the Regulation
For the foregoing reasons, the Secretary concludes that it is appropriate to adopt 14 DE Admin. Code 502. Therefore, pursuant to 14 Del.C. §122 (b) (6), 14 DE Admin. Code 502 attached hereto as Exhibit “B” is hereby adopted. Pursuant to the provision of 14 Del.C. §122(e), 14 DE Admin. Code 502 hereby adopted shall be in effect for a period of five years from the effective date of this order as set forth in Section V. below.
IV. Text and Citation
The text of 14 DE Admin. Code 502 adopted hereby shall be in the form attached hereto as Exhibit “B” and said regulation shall be cited as 14 DE Admin. Code 502 in the Administrative Code of Regulations for the Department of Education.
V. Effective Date of Order
The actions hereinabove referred to were taken by the Secretary pursuant to 14 Del.C. §122 on July 5, 2006. The effective date of this Order shall be ten (10) days from the date this Order is published in the Delaware Register of Regulations.
IT IS SO ORDERED the 5th day of July 2006.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Valerie A. Woodruff, Secretary of Education
502 Alignment of Local School District Curricula to the State Content Standards
1.0 Purpose
The purpose of this regulation is to provide a process through which all Delaware school districts demonstrate the alignment of their local curricula with the State Content Standards in the content areas specified in the 14 DE Admin. Code 501.
2.0 Definitions
“Alignment Index” means a co relational measure of alignment between the Survey of Enacted Curriculum in a specific content area and the state standards used for comparison. The Wisconsin Center for Educational Research automatically calculates and reports the alignment index to schools and districts that use the surveys.
“Content Map” means a graphic depiction of local curriculum alignment automatically reported to schools and districts as part of the analysis of teacher survey data by the Wisconsin Center for Educational Research.
[“Department” means the Delaware Department of Education.]
“Grade Level Expectations” means the documents created and officially released by the Delaware Department of Education for English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies which detail student learning objectives in each content area for kindergarten through grade twelve.
“Scope and Sequence” means a curriculum plan, usually in chart form, with a range of instructional objectives and skills organized according to the successive levels at which they are taught.
“Statewide Recommended Curriculum Frameworks” means the Delaware Recommended Curriculum documents comprised of Academic Content Standards, Clarifications and Grade Level Expectations posted to the Delaware Department of Education website.
“Survey of Enacted Curriculum (SEC)” means the alignment survey sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. The SEC is a teacher survey tool based on scientifically based research which yields detailed information about the alignment of classroom instruction to state academic standards and state assessments. The survey is available for English language arts, mathematics, and science at the present time. A survey for social studies is in development. An analysis of results by grade level, school and district is completed by the Wisconsin Center for Educational Research with formal reports provided to the participating schools and districts.
“Tile Chart” means a graphic depiction of local curriculum alignment automatically reported to schools and districts as part of the analysis of teacher survey data by the Wisconsin Center for Educational Research.
“Unit Summative Assessment” means a performance measure of skills and knowledge mastered by students at the end of a unit as a result of classroom instruction. Examples of unit assessment measures include but are not limited to teacher constructed unit tests and commercially published measures such as those provided by curriculum publishers.
3.0 Alignment Requirement
All school districts shall provide evidence to the Department [of Education] that their school district curricula are aligned with the State Content Standards. As of 2006 State Content Standards exist in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, World Languages, Visual and Performing Arts, Health, Physical Education, Agriscience, Business Finance and Marketing Education, Technology Education, and the Family and Consumer Sciences. Content standards as developed by the Department in the future shall also be included under this section
4.0 Use of the Statewide Recommended Curricula Frameworks
School districts shall utilize the Statewide Recommended Curricula Frameworks including the State Content Standards, Content Area Clarifications and Grade Level Expectations as guides to the development or revision of their local curricula, syllabi, and Scope and Sequence in the content areas listed in 3.0.
5.0 Documentation of Curriculum Alignment
5.1 Evidence of curriculum alignment to the State Content Standards shall be submitted to the Department [of Education] no later than twelve (12) months following the official release by the Department [of Education] of the Statewide Recommended Curriculum Frameworks in each content area.
5.2 Documentation of alignment of school district curriculum to the State Content Standards shall be submitted through evidence provided by the school districts on forms as developed and required by the Department [of Education].
[5.3 Evidence of curriculum alignment submitted by school districts shall be subject to Department review during on site monitoring visits.]
6.0 Criteria for the Evaluation of the Alignment
6.1 School districts shall be required to submit evidence of local curriculum alignment for each grade cluster (K-5, 6-8 and 9-12) from at least two of the permissible categories of evidence in 6.1.1 through 6.1.6. One of the two categories shall be the evidence described in 6.1.1. The second required category and any additional submitted evidence shall be selected by the district from categories 6.1.2 through 6.1.6. The school district may choose to vary the choice of the second category of evidence by grade cluster level. Evidence of alignment to each standard in a given content area shall be submitted.
6.1.1 Category 1 is a narrative describing the local curriculum alignment evidence and the extent to which it addresses all student subgroups. For English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies, a required element of this narrative shall be an analysis of school district disaggregated student performance data on state assessments over the most recent three year period of available state assessment data. 6.1.2 Category 2 is the Grade level result (all teachers in at least one grade per grade cluster K-5, 6-8 and 9-12) of the Survey of Enacted Curriculum for the content area under consideration. The SEC results shall demonstrate an Alignment Index of .50 or higher, and include a graphic summary including either a Tile Chart or Content Maps.
6.1.3 Category 3 is one unit of study from each marking period with a corresponding Unit Summative Assessment, showing the academic standards addressed. Evidence shall be from grades 3, 5, 8 and 10.
6.1.4 Category 4 is a description of the Scope and Sequence with a matrix of the primary academic standards addressed for each grade cluster.
6.1.5 Category 5 is an external formal curriculum alignment report detailing a review of local instruction and documentation of standards alignment. The contractor’s credentials shall be submitted.
6.1.6 Category 6 is a grade cluster Scope and Sequence with a sample unit from each grade cluster, combined with student assessment results. Evidence of alignment of formative student progress to the State Content Standards shall be required. For districts using commercial student progress assessments, evidence shall include evidence of alignment of student progress assessments to the Delaware content standards.
6.2 Required documentation for specific student subpopulations
6.2.1 As part of its submitted evidence, the district shall make detailed comments on the extent to which any modification or enhancement of the instructional program for specific subgroups such as students with disabilities, gifted students, English language learners or any other special population of students is aligned to the State Content Standards in the content area where there have been modifications or enhancements.
7.0 Participation of Building Level Staff
All school districts shall describe and document to the Department [of Education] the method and the level of involvement in the alignment process by their building administrators, teachers and specialists.
8.0 Subsequent Review of Alignment
Each district shall resubmit evidence of alignment with the State Content Standards on forms developed and required by the Department [of Education] between three and five years from the initial approval and on a recurring cycle of three to five years as determined by the Department [of Education]. Further provided, the district shall be required to present evidence of curriculum alignment if there are major changes to the approved curricula.
