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Chittenden Central Supervisory Union
Serving the Essex Junction, Essex Union #46, and Westford Schools

Chittenden Central

Comprehensive Curriculum

In CCSU, we work constantly to ensure that all our curricula are standards-based; simply put, we begin our deliberations and design of curriculum with the standards first. Rather than “match” the standards to current practice, our CCSU Curriculum Leadership Teams continue to dedicate time and expertise to continuous rethinking and revision of curricula based on a  design that is fully aligned with an articulated set of agreed upon standards, expectations, and indicators.  Sharing and communicating such a design for such difficult work has been essential. The CCSU Curriculum Leadership Teams have used the process of “Backwards Design,” developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe and outlined in their book Understanding by Design, for curriculum development and revision that articulates the following Stage I design components: goals, enduring understandings, essential questions, and knowledge and skills.

Our Comprehensive Curriculum documents outline Stage I of Backwards Design, the desired results. In this stage the teams consider the big ideas that endure and transfer to other learning, provocative and engaging essential questions that encourage critical thinking and inquiry, what we want our students to know and be able to do, and those concepts and skills that are key to that learning. Our Guaranteed Viable Curriculums ensure that the knowledge and skills that are most essential to achieving those desired results will be the focus of both teaching and learning. Other important and desirable learning experiences outlined in the Comprehensive Curricula are designed to support what we have determined to be essential learning.

In order to support 21st century learners, reforming the development of curriculum and designs for implementation are critical. Toward that end, CCSU’s Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction Design is an attempt to illustrate shifts toward establishing a Guaranteed, Viable Curriculum --  a means toward the ends (Stage I Desired Results) --  that is the articulated subset or core of Comprehensive Curriculum. The subject area Comprehensive Curriculum is designed to provide rich and diverse learning experiences that emphasize critical-thinking, problem-solving , communication , creativity and innovation , collaboration , contextual learning , and information and media literacy through core content subjects, which are the skills outlined in The Framework for 21st Century Learning.