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Designing Instruction: Making Best Practices Work in Standards-Based Classroom: Review, Analysis and Action Plan
Verna V. Santos

Questioning, thinking, understanding these three processes must interact in a dynamic fashion to advance student learning, performance and achievement. It in this light that the book Designing Instruction: Making Best Practices Work in StandardsBased Classroom by Judith K. March and Karen H. Peters caught my attention. The book was published in 2008 by Corwin Press. The 336-page book provides step-by-step approach to a complete standards-based curriculum and the integration of best practices into the delivery and assessment of instruction in every classroom. La Consolacion College Manila - Basic Education Department (BED) never ceases in upgrading its curriculum. It continuously searches for innovations and breakthroughs to meet local and international standards as the whole institution participates actively in global initiatives. The quality of education that students rightfully deserve is the primary reason why La Consolacion College Manila had to think and act logically and affect globally. With this in mind, the BEDs plan of action must be proactive and could adopt international standards in its quality management system in order to meet global standards of quality and excellence in its quest for transformation. Teacher behavior and teaching methods consistently relate to student achievement (Ornstein, 1992). The problem is that many teacher behavior and teaching methods that seem to have an effect in one situation may be inappropriate and ineffective in another. According to Slavin, there are four components of instruction: (1) quality of instruction; (2) appropriate level of instruction; (3) incentives to work on instructional tasks; and (4) time needed to learn the task. All of these would be satisfied if teachers are not burdened of their daily lesson plan writing (as
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cited in Ornstein, 1992, p. 12). It is much advisable for them to exhaust themselves with other worthwhile endeavors like remediation and enrichment. As part of the schools concern, the administration with the faculty must devise development programs to sustain competency and effectivity. To ensure that the instructional program is in line with the advancement of technology, transformation is necessary. Aside from the book in review, other related references/sources are likewise cited to fortify the understanding and reflections concerning classroom practice.

Review and Analysis School Reform Instructional Design as the catalyst for successful school reform. The book defines Instructional Design as a comprehensive, research-based process to increase student achievement and reduce the performance gaps among various sub-groups of students. It is built around a standards-based curriculum and uses the Best Practices methods to deliver and assess classroom instruction. In contrast to many other approaches to classroom reform, Instructional Design is not a one-size-fits-all model. It is a process that takes its shape and substance from the unique features of the district and its schools infrastructure to increase the likelihood it will succeed. Instructional Design represents a combination of the published work on standards-based curriculum and the research on Best Practices teaching and testing strategies, strategically interspersed among the following eight elements of successful school reform, namely: (1) honest selfappraisal done through an assessment of current levels of academic achievements, areas related to academic achievement (discipline, attendance, etc.), the alignment of the school curriculum with world class standards, each schools classroom practices, school reform initiatives, and the perceptions of the key stakeholders (parents, alumni, community); (2) board commitment; (3) a narrow directed focus; (4) student achievement (more than test scores); (5) adoption of a standards-based
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curriculum for all students (6) a process to deliver and assess classroom instruction; (7) continually monitoring student and staff performance; and (8) linking it all together integrating the reforms into the schools deep culture. Likewise, particular emphasis is given to constructivist learning strategies, differentiation for enrichment as well as remediation, and the provision of accommodations and modifications for students with special needs. Throughout the Instructional Design Process, it is necessary to have a continual monitoring of student and teacher/staff performance to document the daily practice of every teacher and administrator and provide a mirror by which the reform effort is assured and evaluated.

Performance Indicators: The passkey to standards-based curriculum. The Instruction Design process begins with its endpoint: what students are expected to master, or the indicators of successful academic performance. It includes test results as a secondary or indirect measure of academic success. The primary or direct measures are the academic performances demonstrated by each child by the end of a grade level in each subject. We call these Performance Indicators (PIs). PIs wrap together several skills or processes, place them into an authentic or life-related context, and are demonstrated with an observable product or process that reflects mastery. PIs ask students to construct meaning for themselves and apply what they have learned to a new or unfamiliar situation PI examples are solving life-related problem, perform a task, compose on original piece or construct a model or an object.PIs involve higher-order processing skills so that students are required to think beyond the literal or memory level, to think analytically and inferentially and to use creative and critical problem solving that goes beyond what was discussed in the classroom.
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The school may prefer to reference a sample form from another source but the team should review its own content standards to determine (1) which are too narrow and are best combined; (2) which are overly dense and should be split; and (3) which are satisfactory as they are and need only the addition of content or a product By using a rubric of criteria which they could derive from samples, the school academic Team can craft their own Performance Indicators for each grade level and subject targeted in the Action Plan.

Planning Curriculum Mapping. Traditional curriculum models feature the content and activities of a unit as the INPUT to be provided to students. In a standardsbased curriculum, the focus shifts to an OUTPUT model, and the Performance Indicators are what students are expected to do. In the Instructional Design process, the linkage of the Performance Indicators to the Unit topics is the first step toward the Curriculum Map. Once developers identify the other components they feel would make an effective Map and select a physical lay-out, the Map becomes the year-long planning guide by which teachers organize their course content across the school year. With the use of Curriculum Maps, each teachers implementation of the Performance Indicators is not left to chance. The Principals involvement with Curriculum Mapping includes: (1) maintaining an aerial view of each class and grade level for the year; (2) asking teachers to use the Map as the basis for lesson plans (if they are required); (3) using the Maps as a tentative schedule for passing the years curriculum and to determine better or worse times for assemblies, field trips and special events; (4) distributing the maps to parents/guardians or community members at orientation or open house; (5) determining equipment and materials needed; (6) providing professional development for specific areas of staff weaknesses; (7) referencing the Maps during pre-observation and post-observation Conferences as part of teacher appraisal; (8) obtaining teacher feedback about
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components of the Map that may need revision; and (9) using the Maps as the focus of Team meetings to discuss student performance Each year, the developing Team should evaluate the Curriculum Map for completeness, accuracy, validity to guide instructions and user -friendliness. Unit Planning. The Institutional Design approach to the Unit Plan begins with the Performance Indicators on which each unit is based and identifies specific strategies to provide instruction and to assess student learning. The simple, one-page format has been developed from the principles of learning theory, authentic and constructivist teaching, and the more recent Best Practices research. There are certainly worst practices in the classroom instruction, in even the best schools. Listed below are the worst practices encountered by the authors and opposite are how the Instructional Design format has tried to correct them.

Unit Plan format. Unit Plan clock face. In devising the Instructional Design approach to Unit Planning, the authors pulled together several theories about learning and how students successfully process information, including experiential learning, the process-product research, constructivism, and performance assessment, differentiation and the more recent Best Practices method.

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Table 1 Instructional Design Format Versus Encountered Classroom Instruction Worst Practices
Instructional Design Format The Instructional Design Unit Plans are built around the standards in the form of Performance Indicators assigned to Units in the Curriculum Map. Encountered Classroom Instruction Worst Practices Units that are planned around provocative themes or topics and with interesting activities but not connected to academic standards. The Worst Practice here is the deception that the standards will be covered without planning for them. Units that are disconnected from those that precede and come after, adhering to the Worst Practice that each series of learning experiences should be a thing of beauty on its own, untrammeled by links to other units.

Because the Instructional Design Unit Plans for each grade level or course are developed from the Curriculum Map, they are developmentally linked to each other. Each Unit builds on the skills and understandings from prior Units. For example in intermediate Science, if one Unit deals with the atomic and molecular systems, the next dealing with the solar system will build in the concept of systems. It can actually use the understanding of how electrons revolve around the nucleus as an advanced organizer for how the planets revolve around the sun. The Instructional Design Unit Plans provide for the various levels of Blooms Taxonomy, both to strengthen a students mental versatility and to provide for Differentiation.

Units that pay little or no attention to the various mental processes (called cognitive demand in the academic standards book) required of students to demonstrate independent mastery. These units illustrate the worst practices of (a) limiting expectations to memorization and low-level skill applications, or (b) skipping directly to the upper levels without an adequate foundation. Units that make no provision for determining what students already know about the topics involved or what skills they already have. These units make the worst practice assumption that students know nothing and should be dragged through the entire unit, regardless of their entry level skills or special needs.

The Instructional Design Unit Plans provide for determining what students bring to the Unit and make adjustments accordingly. In fact, one of the Best Practices is for teachers to use this entry-level information to help students set at least one personal and one academic goal for each Unit Plan.

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Instructional Design Format The Instructional Design Unit Plans include several different activities to help students master the Performance Indicators, including various modalities and learning channels and various options for students to demonstrate what they have learned. Each Unit Plan provides for Differentiation, including strategies for intervention or remediation as well as enrichment. For students with Special Needs, specific modifications and accommodations are included. By contrast, the Instructional Design Unit Plans identify for each activity a Best Practices teaching strategy and an active engaged response from each students. The priority is for every student to construct meaning, and the teacher role is to monitor individual student mastery, even in group activities.

Encountered Classroom Instruction Worst Practices Units that assume all students learn at the same rate and can be successful using identical activities, using the Worst Practice of one size fits all.

Units that are largely workbookdriven and/or teacher-centered, relying on (a) a majority of teachertalk, with students playing passive roles; (b) limiting the bulk of student activity to drill-and-practice worksheets or study guides, with very little opportunity or requirement to construct new meaning; and (c) group activities in which accomplishments are attributed to all student as mastery, overlooking the reality that some students may be missing vital skills. Units in which there is no concern for triangulation (i.e., congruence) among the teaching-learning activities, the intended outcomes, and the means of assessment, resulting in such Worst Practices. Units that end with a paper-pencil test and provide no real performance or authentic assessments, compounding that error with an even worse Worst Practice of labeling frivolous activities as performance assessments. Among the actual examples we have encountered are collages, coats of arms, food fairs, imaginary animals, and rap.

The Instructional Design Unit Plans focus on triangulation from the very outset and monitor it throughout the development process. Class activities and assessments are congruent to with Unit objectives. In comparison, the Instructional Design Unit Plans require that several authentic or performance assessments be completed by each student to demonstrate independent mastery of the Performance Indicators. Even though some of these may be group activities, they are constructed to determine each students mastery.

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The Unit Plan clock face is divided into four quadrants as illustrated in Figure 1.
Performance Indicators:

_____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________


Quadrant 4 Culmination Quadrant 1 Motivation

Quadrant 3 Assessment

Quadrant 2 Information

Figure 1. Unit Plan clock face.

Quadrant 1, called Motivation, draws the students into the Unit, determining what they already know and dont know, setting expectations by previewing the culminating activities and helping students set academic and personal goals for the Unit Quadrant 2, called Information, is a variety of teachinglearning activities, through which students are provided the knowledge and skills they need to master the Performance Indicators. Each activity has a delivery strategy and learning Construct appropriate to the concepts and ideas embedded in the indicators and a student response. Quadrant 3, called Assessment, designates tests and observations that measure student mastery of the Indicators in a traditional way. They are teacher-divided and deliberately constructed to yield diagnostic data that will indicate the need for reteaching or other intervention.
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Quadrant 4, is the Culmination quadrant. These activities are holistic tasks or performances through which students demonstrate independent mastery of one or more Performance Indicators. Students create or develop a product or a process, solve real-world problems, or evaluate the merits of certain criteria. This was rubric evaluation tools.

Unit Plans replacing daily lesson plans. The authors mentioned that they strongly urge school decisions-makers to consider the Unit Plan as a better approach over daily lesson plans. According to them, although most Unit Plans include a few pages of attachments such as hand-outs, activity guide, tests, performance assessments, prompts, and one or more scoring rubrics, the essence of each unit is captured on its face pages, or those pages that reflect the four quadrants. Since the original intent of lesson plans was to help teachers organize their instructional delivery, that purpose is served even more comprehensively by the Unit Plan. And since a secondary reason for lesson plans was to keep the building principal informed, the combination of Curriculum Maps and Unit Plan is far more functional than a collection of piecemeal. In knowing how to interpret the Curriculum Maps, the principal has an immediate wide-angle view of the years curriculum, how the Performance Indicators have been assigned to Unit Plans and how these units have been sequenced the whole year through.

The three-year time frame. The process of developing and piloting the Unit Plan is fairly complex. But it is nonetheless a critical step in the instructional Design Process, since the Unit Plans guide the delivery and assessment of classroom instruction. And they are indeed the course tool for making it possible for students to demonstrate mastery of the Performance Indicators. The sample time line in Table 2 shows how Unit Planning fits into the big picture of the entire process.

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Table 2 Unit Planning Process in Three-Year Time Frame


Year 1
Performance Indicators (PIs) Curriculum Maps Unit Plans Continuous Monitoring Benchmark Assessments Unofficially keep track of student mastery Collect classroom tests measuring PIs Develop, Pilot Critical Friends Develop, Pilot Critical Friends

Year 2
Revise, Implement Revise, Implement Develop, Pilot Critical Friends Develop, Pilot Critical Friends

Year 3
Continue (annual review) Continue (annual review) Revise, Implement Revise, Implement

Develop, Pilot Critical Friends

Revise, Implement

Best Practices in Unit Planning and Delivery Motivation and Information. The Motivation activities are the essential first steps in the teaching/ learning process. Here, teachers help students not only to become familiar with the unit content best also to anticipate what will be expected by the end of the encounter. In these initial activities, good teachers illustrate and reinforce a classroom culture that values high level performance and pride in workmanship, not necessarily perfection. It is not necessary to have a Motivation activity for each Indicator but rather to design two or three activities that capture the big picture of the Unit. The students are closely guided through these activities, not only to ensure their readiness for the remainder of the Unit but also to give the teacher as overall idea of their level of interest in and knowledge of the topics to be addressed.

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The criteria for effective motivation are: (1) Actively involve students in a direct experience; (2) Determine what students know and dont know; (3) Make connections to prior and subsequent learning; (4) Pique students interest; (5) Set expectations for completing the unit; and (6) Help students set personal learning goals. Information is the primary teaching portion of the Unit. The Information quadrant reflects the full intent of the Performance Indicators in the Unit by detailing what needs to be taught and how it is best presented to help every student achieve mastery. In effect, the concepts, skills, and ideas that underlie the Indicators are addressed in the Unit Plan. The criteria for effective information activities are: (1) Delivery Strategies and Student Responses Match the Performance Indicators; (2) Students have an active, constructive role; (3) Grouping; (4) Indicate how all performance indicators will be taught; and (5) Require multiple continual assessment and substantive feedback. The book also provided a discussion of Bloom and the use of the Taxonomy to help teachers distinguish among levels of thinking and to establish a readiness for Differentiation. Learning Constructs. The book has attempted to provide a brief but useful look at the eight most prevalent Learning Constructs that we believe are one of the two pillars that support the Best Practice methods essential to every classroom. As a synopsis, students who master the entire array of all eight will be able to: (1) analyze the Organizational Patterns of writer and spoken text on their own; (2) take Notes using the Organizational Patterns; (3) analyze Math problems to determine what is needed and apply the correct Math Problem-Analysis and Solving strategy without teacher prompting; (4) predict the meaning of difficult Vocabulary words from Syntactical, Structural, or Context Clues as well as identify the type of clue they used and whether the word has a positive, negative or neutral connotation; (5) interpret a Graphic Organizer supplied by the teacher, but also devise their own appropriate Graphic Organizer to demonstrate comprehension; (6) answer questions at varying levels of difficulty, but also develop their own
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Level I, II, and III Questions; (7) categorize information and create their own Categories from noncategorical as well as categorical material; (8) interpret and generate T-charts, Venn Diagrams and comparison Matrices to demonstrate proficiency in Comparing and Contrasting; (9) identify the distinguishing or Critical Attributes of a concept and distinguish it from others; (10) interpret Metaphors and develop their own; and (11) interpret Analogies and devise their own. This means that students have taken all the samples provided by their teachers and textbooks and internalized them to the point that they can construct the Construct, and it doesnt get any better than that.

Delivery Strategies. Together, the Learning Construct and Delivery Strategies are the two pillars that bear the weight of classroom reform in the Instructional Design process. Since there are dozens of strategies, the teachers toughest decision is to select those that are congruent with the Performance Indicators in the Unit. But there are some hints. In most cases, the teams who developed the Performance Indicators should have discussed how best to teach each indicator, and the team who put together each Curriculum Map must discuss what teaching-learning activities would go best with each Unit. The book thoroughly discussed several Delivery Strategies as listed below and for each Delivery Strategy, the following format is used: 1. The Definition: including its key attributes and how the Strategy delivers information. 2. When to Use It what concepts and skills lend themselves to this strategy 3. How-To use it, specifying the role of both the teacher and the student. 4. Some Cautionary Notes about the Strategy; those things learned the hard way.
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The Delivery Strategies are as follows: (1) Explanation; (2) Demonstration; (3) Guided Discussion; (4) Inquiry or (Hypothesis-Testing); (5) Learning Circles; (6) The Socratic Seminar; (7) Action Research; and (8) The Advance Organizer. Delivery Strategies must be structured to fit nicely into the Motivation and/or the Information quadrants of the Unit Plan. Another Important thing in using any Best Practice is to know which ones and in what combination, best help students master the particular cluster of Performance Indicators in which Unit is based.

Assessment and Culmination The Output side of the Unit Plan, the Assessment and Culmination, is the payoff for all the hard work and effort that has gone into the design and delivery of the unit. For many developing teams, the output side is the best place to begin planning and then move backwards* to achieve those Motivation and Information activities most likely to yield the intended results. Assessment features what are primarily traditional measures of student mastery, the best known of which is the old familiar paper-pencil test. Less-often mentioned but equally viable are the teacher-observation checklist, pages from a journal or log, and selected homework assignments. Assessment could be as follows: 1. Progressive - developed continually throughout the Unit and are cumulative as the Unit progresses. In here, students should be provided with regular feedback along the way to guide their progress and help them self-correct. 2. Formative measures progress at intervals to help the teacher determine mastery. These measures information the teacher as to who needs what in terms of reteaching, remediation, or even enrichment. The current trendy term is assessment for learning.

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3. Summative - the final test does not occur until the end of the Unit when students are expected to know the material, and the class is ready to move on. This is considered the final or summative assessment, also known by its trendier term assessment of learning.

The criteria for assessment are the following: 1. They are traditional tests to determine mastery (paperpencil or teacher observation). These include multiplechoice items (validly constructed; match the Performance Indicators; congruent with teaching-learning activities) and constructed response items. 2. They are diagnostic to identify needed intervention. 3. They are selective to infer mastery from a sampling test/quizzes that parallel high-stakes tests, such as multiple-choice items (with choices that are diagnostic upon analysis) and short answer items that involve problem-solving, making inferences, evaluating, making judgements and explaining. 4. May also include observation checklists, journal entries, maps, data compilation, homework and so on.

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Table 3 Comparison of Assessment with Culminating Activities


Assessments (1) selective and representative, measuring key items addressed in the Unit which imply a wider mastery; students respond to these items in ways that mimic or closely parallel classroom practice (2) both formative and summative; the formative measures check for understanding during the Unit; the summative measures (aka the Unit Test) determine mastery at the end of the Unit (3) teacher-developed prompts with exact (or limited range of acceptable) answer(s) that correspond to a scoring key; extended responses may be creative but are still fairly convergent, and the product is typically paper-pencil (although observation works well, too!) (4) design to approximate highstakes testing (e.g. Iowa, SAT, tests used for NCLB) by including multiple-choice and extended response items and by being timed (1) Culminating activities holistic projects or tasks providing direct measures of mastery; students apply skills and concepts learned during the Unit to solve problems, complete projects, create original products beyond those done in the classroom more summative than formative; they are intended to show independent mastery of the Performance Indicators and the ability to apply what was learned in a different context student-constructed products with a wide range of options to complete and more than one right answeralbeit within guidelines; evaluated with a rubric that reflects the Performance Indicators being assessed and typically result in a concrete display or product design to approximate real-life situations (i.e., entire problems to solve, products to develop, processes to complete, etc.), including more flexible time frames

(2)

(3)

(4)

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The Criteria for Culminating Activities Culmination (Concrete - Production) 1. holistic, life-related tasks extending beyond the classroom 2. draw together the Unit learning experiences 3. allow students options for completing these tasks 4. help students measure their own goals 5. scored with a rubric based on the Performance Indicators 6. writing an original piece of literature or a composition 7. devising a treaty or a contract between two parties 8. collecting, displaying, and analyzing data 9. designing and conducting an original experiment 10. analyzing error patterns in a series of solved problems 11. developing original problems to solve 12. preparing a script for a TV talk show or newscast 13. formulating arguments Capacity Building at a Glance If the reforms that a staff has worked so hard to accomplish are to survive and yield significant and lasting gains in student performance, the changes must become fully integrated into each schools deep culture. They must become the way business is done there every day. To make this a reality, the administrative and teaching staff must begin developing the capacity to sustain their reforms from the very outset of the project. This includes the continual use of data to provide more effective classroom instruction and to inform the districts strategic planning, the development and support of teacher-leaders to help implement the reforms throughout the building, the direct involvement and accountability of each district administrator in the reform process, and the use of Collaborative Observation to help teachers and administrators work as partners in the implementation of the specific course tools and processes in each classroom. Figure 3 represents these capacity-building elements for accomplishing the goal of improved student achievement.
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Stewardship

BENCHMARKING
Improved Student Achievement Through Instructional Design

USING DATA

Building Leadership Teams

Collaborative Observation

ACTION PLAN

Figure 3. Capacity-building elements for accomplishing the goal of improved student achievement.

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LCCM Basic Education Department Action Plan A curriculum develops through a dynamic process and is subject to periodic evaluation, which produces recommendations for modifications or even major changes. The philosophy of education, which should be the ultimate basis of any curriculum design or reform, has to be relevant and responsive to the rapidly changing world. To actualize a gracious life in this changing world, Filipino learners need an educational system that empowers them for lifelong learning or enables them to be competent in learning how to learn anywhere, even when they are left to themselves. Lifelong learning meets the challenges posed by a rapidly changing world but it is nearly impossible today for anybody without functional literacy which includes essential skills like linguistic fluency and scientific-numerical competence. Thus, it should be asked: Are LCCM-BED learners attaining functional literacy? The 2008 PAASCU Team for the Basic Education Department (BED) gave a recommendation for Instruction Area, to continuously review and update its curricular offerings and at the same time commended the same area for its provision for various enrichment programs that address the different needs and interests of the students. With this, the BED is more than willing to stand on the conviction that it favors for a curriculum which aims to empower the learners to be capable of self-development throughout ones life and to be patriotic, ecologically aware and most of all, godly. This entails the acquisition of life skills, an enduring understanding, internalization of Augustinian principles and values, and the development of the persons multiple intelligences. Thus, in the restructured curriculum, BED desires to design, features such as training in life skills, identification and living-out of Augustinian values and the recognition of multiple intelligences permeate all learning areas. Using the book in review Designing Instruction: Making Best Practices Work in Standards-Based Classrooms by March and Peters as the primary reference, plus the now popular Understanding by Design (UbD) by Wiggins and McTighe (2005), BED has taken initial actions to meet students achievement goals. Since the entire LCCM academic community has started using Performance Indicators for every Annual Operational Plan and at the same time implemented the use of backward design in
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its Strategic Planning Framework, the BED curriculum design might as well adapt this formula, considering the fact that UbD is really about backward design model or identifying the desired results and then work backwards to develop instruction rather than the traditional approach which is to define what topics need to be covered. Their framework identifies three main stages: (1) Identify desired outcomes and results; (2) Determine what constitutes acceptable evidence of competency in the outcomes and results; and (3) Plan instructional strategies and learning experiences that bring students to these competencies. On the other hand, the book in review illustrates this Instructional Design Process:
Begin here

Curriculum Mapping
Yearlong overview Units placed in context

Performance Indicators Academic Targets


Based on state standards Require higher- order thinking Imply teaching methods Imply or directly state student products

What is taught

Unit Planning How is taught


Based on Best Practices research Motivation activities Information Assessment Culmination

Annual Revisions

Benchmark Assessments
Monitoring
Mastery of Performance Indicators

Figure 4. Instructional Design Process.

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Thus, by identifying the desired outcomes, these would serve as the Performance Indicators (PIs). In here, it is not only the course goals and objectives which are considered but most especially the learning that should endure over the long term. This stage requires training for the academic leaders and teachers for best results. However, it is still acceptable for them to come together to map the yearlong curriculum and then proceed to the Unit Planning, Monitoring and Assessment. With this, the following is proposed for the BED Instructional Design.
Formulation of Key Performance Indicators or Standards

Step 1

Step 2

Curriculum Mapping for all Subject Areas Horizontal and Vertical Articulation

Lesson Planning
I. Lesson Portfolio a. Syllabi b. Weekly Lesson Plan II. Test Bank a. Table of Specification b. Standardized Tests c. Rubrics

Step 3 Step 3

Step 4

1. 2. 3.

Monitoring 1. Quarterly Classroom Observations Quarterly Classroom Observations 2. Monthly Area Meeting Monthly Area Meeting 3. Regular Teachers Training Regular Teachers Training Benchmark Assessment
1. 2. Revisions Upgrading

Step 5

Figure 5. Proposed Instructional Design by the Basic Education Department of La Consolacion College Manila.
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Conclusion
To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where youre going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. (Covey, 1989, p. 98).

The primary aim of education should be the maturity and deepening of student understanding. Thus, effective curriculum development must provide students with genuine opportunities to explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empathize, and selfassess the six facets of understanding. School academic reforms must help in avoiding problems such as textbook coverage and activity-oriented teaching, in which no clear priorities and purposes are evident. Also, student and school performance gains are achieved through habitual reviews of results of instruction Teachers become most effective when they seek feedback from students and peers and use that feedback to adjust approaches to designing curricula and teaching. Where appropriate, authentic assessment shall be encouraged, the results of evaluation shall determine what adjustments might have to be made on the content, materials, teaching-learning process in order to achieve the desired learning outcome. Pre-implementation, process and post-implementation monitoring and evaluation of the curriculum shall be conducted to assess progress and provide intervention where necessary. Lastly, the best quality of support provided to the BED shall also be solicited to contextualize the results, improve policies and maximize resources and implementation.

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References Begum, F. (2004). Modern teaching of Home Science. New Dehli, India: Anmol Publications. Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people. New York: Free Press. Ediger, M., & Bhaskara Rao, D. (2004). Teaching Science successfully. New Dehli, India: Discovery Publishing House. Glass, K. (2007). Curriculum mapping: A step-by-step guide for creating curriculum year overview. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. March, J., & Peters, K. (2008). Designing instruction: Making best practices work in standards-based classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. Ornstein, A. C. (1992). Strategies for effective teaching. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. Serdyukov, P., & Ryan, M. (2008). Writing effective lesson plans: A 5-star approach. Boston: Pearson Education. Wiggins, G., & Mctighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

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