The start of the school year can feel like a rollercoaster for curriculum leaders. The ups and downs often include planning and facilitating teacher professional learning before students return, ensuring that teachers have both new and existing curriculum materials for the first weeks of school, and onboarding new staff to the district’s curriculum, assessment, and instructional frameworks.
As a former curriculum director, I remember sitting in my office during that first week, taking a brief, deep breath before diving back into setting up committee and task force meetings, and handling the intricate requirements of PK-12 data collections, such as Student Reporting in Iowa. Amid this hectic period, I often wondered how do I best prioritize my time — what do I need to know?
In this article, I want to share the top three things that new (and experienced) curriculum leaders should keep in mind.
1 – Focus on a few initiatives
In his book Leading with Focus, Mike Schmoker (2016) argues that districts often try to implement a “panoply of programs, trainings, and professional development options and initiatives” without making an effort to “monitor or refine the implementation” of any of them (p. 6). We all know that teachers today are managing more student challenges than ever before, and as curriculum leaders, we owe it to them to simplify rather than complicate the support system around them.
While there are state requirements, such as changing academic standards and new graduation mandates that curriculum leaders must facilitate, self-reflection may reveal that some of the changes in our schools were internally initiated, giving us permission to stop implementing them.
Curriculum leaders can begin by asking staff three simple questions to help narrow their focus:
- What should we continue doing?
- What should we stop doing?
- What should we do differently?
Staff will appreciate the chance to have their voices heard, as curriculum leaders focus their efforts on a few key initiatives.
2 – Monitoring is just as (or more) important than getting started
Mission statements, vision statements, strategic plans, and school improvement plans are all examples of essential work that helps unify the educational system around a set of core values and goals for a given school year. Any curriculum leader, new or experienced, knows how much time and energy it takes to help stakeholders launch a new initiative, project, or goal. However, launching the metaphorical train out of the station is only the start of a successful rollout.
Teachers need time, flexibility, and support to implement changes like instructional strategies and collaboration protocols. While a “hands-off, let the teachers get to work” approach may seem helpful given the demands on teachers’ time, experienced leaders recognize that this can be detrimental in the long run.
The late Harvard emeritus professor of education, Richard Elmore (2006), advocated for a reciprocal accountability framework in which leaders expect staff to perform while holding themselves accountable for providing the necessary support to meet those expectations. This process of reciprocal capacity-building requires curriculum leaders to monitor new approaches to teaching and learning while seeking continuous feedback from teachers to understand their needs for future professional development.
3 – Supporting projects and programs means supporting people
Many curriculum leaders can quickly become overwhelmed with task forces, committees, state reports, and the constant ticking off daily, weekly, and monthly to-do lists! While there’s certainly a reason each item has made it onto our lists, if you’re task-oriented like me, the project can sometimes take priority over the people. Todd Whitaker (2020) reminds us that investing in people, not programs, is the key to successful leadership.
Whitaker’s advice offers hope for curriculum leaders, reinforcing that the success of our programs depends on the people who implement them. It also encourages us to spend just as much time getting to know those around us, both personally and professionally. During my years as a district office administrator, I lost count of how often meetings began with someone sharing a personal or professional celebration. This norm of sharing not only fostered a more positive culture but also allowed us to learn about each other’s families, hobbies, and interests. To this day, I remember Jenny’s daughter excelling in gymnastics, Anna’s involvement with the booster club, and the excitement of Hannah expecting her first child (pseudonyms used), just as much as I recall our collective professional accomplishments. We laughed and even cried together because we knew that our collaborative efforts—whether in supporting teaming structures or promoting effective grading practices—would only be as strong as the trust we built with each other.
Trust grows with time and through supporting people in both their personal and professional lives.
New and experienced curriculum leaders, the job isn’t always easy, and the impact isn’t always immediate! However, by focusing on a few key initiatives, spending time monitoring progress, and supporting people, I believe our work can have a lasting impact across schools, districts, and even the entire state.
Note: This article was originally published in the Iowa ASCD e-newsletter, The Source on October 4, 2024.
References
Elmore, R. (2006). School reform from the inside out: Policy, practice, and performance. Harvard Education Press.
Schmoker, M. (2016). Leading with focus: Elevating the essentials for school and district improvement. ASCD.
Whitaker, T. (2020). What great principals do differently: Twenty things that matter most. (3rd edition). Routledge.