INTRODUCTION
A curriculum analysis considers how the explicit, null, and implicit curriculum address learners’ academic needs and nonacademic needs, such as character development, social-emotional wellbeing, and cultural relevance. A curriculum analysis is used by educational leaders to locate gaps or areas for improvement within the curriculum.
To begin this task, you will choose an entire, multi-unit curriculum you have previously used in your classroom. Using the attached “WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet,” you will conduct a five-step curriculum analysis. The following two steps will be provided to you:
1. the goal of the curriculum analysis
2. three guiding prompts
You are encouraged to move through Tasks 1 through 4 in sequential order. It is beneficial for you to use the same curriculum as you work sequentially through tasks.
SCENARIO
You are the curriculum specialist at your school, and you have been asked to conduct a curriculum analysis using a whole-course curriculum currently taught at your school. The goal of your analysis is to consider the development of nonacademic skills in the curriculum and where specifically to include a focus on nonacademic skills.
REQUIREMENTS
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The similarity report provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.
You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Tasks may not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc., unless specified in the task requirements. All other submissions must be file types that are uploaded and submitted as attachments (e.g., .docx, .pdf, .ppt).
A. Select a whole-course curriculum containing at least four units you have previously used. Using the attached “WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet,” conduct a curriculum analysis as follows:
1. Identify the type of curriculum you selected:
• subject area
• grade or level
B. Select four units within the curriculum identified in part A. Unpack the explicit and implicit curriculum by doing the following for each selected unit:
1. Identify the content area(s) or topic(s) addressed.
2. Provide the full description of each standard covered in the unit (explicit curriculum), including each of the following:
• source (state or organization)
• alphanumeric code
• content area or subject
• standard text
• date of standard publication
3. Identify the nonacademic skill(s) covered in the unit (implicit curriculum).
a. Describe how each nonacademic skill is connected to the academic content of the unit.
C. Analyze the curriculum to make recommendations by answering the following guiding prompts:
1. Using evidence from the curriculum selected in part B, discuss whether the explicit curriculum emphasizes or detracts from the development of a specific nonacademic skill described in B3.
2. Using evidence from the curriculum, discuss an area of potential bias within a specific area of the curriculum.
a. Discuss the change(s) you would make to the curriculum to address the potential area of bias discussed in C2.
3. Explain how you could incorporate two additional nonacademic skills (null curriculum), which do not appear in B3, into the curriculum.
a. Justify why you selected the two nonacademic skills in C3 to incorporate into the curriculum.
D. Acknowledge sources, using APA-formatted in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
