Rigorous Curriculum Design: How to Create Curricular Units of Study That Align Standards, Instruction, and Assessment

by Larry Ainsworth

One of the pillars of the educational reform movement is curriculum. The curriculum needs to meet two (1) Students need the breadth and depth of content knowledge not just facts for tests (2) But students also need to be taught what they need to know to pass high-stakes tests. Rigorous Curriculum Design is straightforward, sequential and explicit in presenting a step-by-step process educators/curriculum designers can follow to create units of study in any grade, course or content area that answers both these goals.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching

485 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 15, 2011

About the author

Larry Ainsworth is the author or co-author of more than 20 books, including his most popular titles: Rigorous Curriculum Design; Common Formative Assessments 2.0; Prioritizing Common Core State Standards; Power Standards; “Unwrapping” Common Core State Standards, and “Unwrapping” the Standards.

Larry’s comprehensive new book series, Integrating Teaching and Learning: “Timeless Essentials” for Creating Integrated Units of Study (2024), explains and illustrates in detail how PK-12 educators can develop quality units of study that intentionally align standards, assessments, instruction, and data analysis to positively impact student learning.

Currently an independent author-consultant, Larry served as the Executive Director of Professional Development at The Leadership and Learning Center in Englewood, Colorado, from 1999 to 2013. He traveled nationally and internationally to assist school systems in implementing best practices related to standards, assessment, curriculum, and instruction across all grades and content areas. Throughout his career as an education consultant, Larry has delivered keynote addresses and breakout sessions across North America and in Argentina and Switzerland, and regularly worked on-site and virtually to assist leaders and educators in understanding and implementing “timeless” education practices in all content areas, pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

Drawing upon 24 years of experience as an upper elementary and middle school classroom teacher in demographically diverse schools in several U.S. states, Larry brings a varied background and wide range of professional experiences to each of his presentations.

Reviews

[Joyce Yattoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biggest take away for me as we endeavor to prioritize standards is that the priority skills associated with reading, writing, speaking and listening can be integrated into units. In this way we are always cycling back to these skills so it is not one and done. #teachskills #donotteachtothetest

[James]

Overview of BookThis book is divided into four parts. Here is a brief overview of each part:Part 1, Seeing the Big Picture Connections First, defines curriculum in terms of rigor, provides the background of this model, connects curriculum design to the “big picture” of standards, assessments, instruction, and data practices, previews the step-by-step design sequence, and introduces end-of-chapter reader assignments.Part 2, Building the Foundation for Designing Curricular Units, explains the five steps that must first be taken to lay the foundation upon which to build the curricular units of study, and provides explicit guidelines for applying each step.Part 3, Designing the Curricular Unit of Study—From Start to Finish, gives the “nuts and bolts” directions for designing a rigorous curricular unit of study, from beginning to end, and concludes with an overview of how to implement the unit in the classroom or instructional program. Formatively assessing students along the way, educators analyze resulting student data to diagnose student learning needs and then adjust ongoing instruction accordingly.Part 4, Organizing, Monitoring, and Sustaining Implementation Efforts, addresses the role of administrators in beginning and continuing the work of implementation. These final three chapters provide first-person narra - tives and advice to administrators from administrators who have personally led the implementation and sustainability efforts of curriculum redesign and related practices within their own school systems.I have endeavored to pull together all of the elements necessary for designing a rigorous curriculum, to position these elements in a sequential order, and to provide a step-by-step approach for constructing each one. My hope is that this road map will not only “show you the way” to design your own curriculum, but also allow you the flexibility of customizing it to fit your own purpose and needs.As with the realization of any lofty vision, it will take a great deal of time, thought, energy, and collaboration to create and revise a single curriculum, let alone multiple curricula. The best advice I can offer is to regard whatever you produce as a continual “work in progress,” to be accomplished over one, two, or three years, or even longer. As my friend and colleague Robert Kuklis points out, curriculum designers “shape and modify the process as they move through it. It is important that they know this is not a rigid, prescriptive procedure, but rather an opportunity for learning, adapting, and improving. This preserves fidelity to the process, encourages flexibility, and promotes local ownership.”Whenever people’s spirits need lifting because the work seems so demanding, remind everyone that it is a process, not a one-time event. You are creating something truly significant—a comprehensive body of work that is going to serve your educators, students, and parents for years to come!

[Qasim Zafar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally learn better on my own, and I've been looking for resources which can help me structure my approach to the things I'm I interested in. Though, this book is for educators, it has helped me a lot... I wish I had this when I was studying for my IT certifications.

[Melissa Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The content was good but 90% of it were things I’ve already done during my 7 years of teaching. I would completely recommend this to a new teacher but I did get the use out of it I would have thought. 🤷🏻‍♀️