PreK-12 Guaranteed, Viable Curriculum

What is a guaranteed, viable curriculum?

What are Power Standards?

How does an SU decide on these power standards?

What are Power Indicators?

So, is this guaranteed, viable curriculum the whole curriculum?

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What is a guaranteed, viable curriculum?

A guaranteed, viable curriculum is a subsection of a comprehensive curriculum document that fully outlines the content, concepts, and skills that are essential within an academic discipline and at each grade level to ensure all students have the opportunity to achieve proficiency. Sometimes referred to as the “core of the core,”  “the safety net curriculum,” or “the portable curriculum,” this document provides clarity and guidance to principals, teachers, students and parents about the core curriculum and its essential content and skills. Having this document in place, clearly indicating power standards, power indicators, and a common local assessment plan, means that individual teachers do not have the option not to teach this content and these skills, or to replace them with something else. Viability means the articulated content and skills can be taught and learned (not rushed and covered) within the timeframes available during the academic year.

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What are Power Standards?

The term was coined by Dr. Doug Reeves of the Center for Leadership and Learning in Colorado, and further developed by his colleague, Dr. Larry Ainsworth. Ainsworth defines Power Standards as a prioritized set of State Standards and Expectations that are essential, that is, critical for student success.  Here in our Supervisory Union, we have modified that definition. We believe Power Standards should represent a synthesis of the most essential "big ideas" from Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. They have been determined through a systematic approach to “balancing” curricular representation of multiple academic areas. They represent the ultimate learning goals we have for all students to achieve. They provide the PreK-12 focus for our SU, and move us away from a more arbitrary coverage model.  Although fully aligned, they are not a simple repetition of every single standard in the Vermont Framework.  They are representative of what is most vital in academic literacy. They are truly the backbone of a guaranteed, viable curriculum, and form a “safety net” of standards. Their indicators outline what all students must demonstrate to proficiency at each grade level or at benchmarked junctures of schooling.

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How does an SU decide on these power standards?

Educators in CCSU who are part of the PreK-12 Curriculum Leadership groups come to consensus on these essential standards and their grade-level indicators based on three identification criteria:

ENDURANCE – Is the knowledge and skill essential in order to be literate in this area beyond a single test (i.e. is there life-long value to this)?

LEVERAGE – Will the knowledge and skill prove to be valuable in learning essential content in other academic areas?

READINESS –Is the knowledge and skills needed in order for the student to be successful and achieve not only in this grade level, but in subsequent grades?

If the answer to all three questions is “yes,” then those concepts, content, and skills become part of the standards that make up the guaranteed, viable curriculum.

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What are Power Indicators?

Power indicators reflect the assessment evidence from specific learning expectations that we will accept at each grade level, or at benchmarked grade levels, that students’ learning is progressing along a continuum based on the power standard.  Since the power standards “endure,” meaning we are constantly learning in these areas, the power indicators reflect a local decision concerning leverage and readiness.  These indicators are the foundation of the CCSU Common Local Assessment Plan.

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So, is this guaranteed, viable curriculum the whole curriculum?

The guaranteed, viable curriculum is a part of a more comprehensive curriculum that includes a larger number of targets and indicators that are important to know and do and desirable to learn -- or worth being familiar with -- in order to provide a richer learning experience in the academic disciplines. We endeavor to ensure every student has met the indicators outlined in the guaranteed, viable curriculum by creating a local assessment plan that includes valid and reliable measures of those power standards and indicators and ensuring that our instructional strategies promote equitable opportunities to learn and succeed.

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Written and compiled by Linda Keating, CCSU, 11/20/06, revised on 9/20/07 and again on 6/24/08.   Formats adapted from documents created by Monadnock Regional School District, NH (Dr. D. G. Hodgdon) and Rockford Public Schools, IL (Terri Breeder and Martha Hayes)

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