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The New Jersey Department of Education is deeply committed to ensuring that schools are safe, welcoming and inclusive environments for all students regardless of race or ethnicity, sexual and gender identities, mental and physical abilities and religious beliefs. The New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) are designed to support the development of curricula that highlight the contributions and experiences of individuals with diverse abilities, cultures, identities and perspectives.

This website provides a wide range of resources that can be used to develop curricula, facilitate professional learning and engage community stakeholders in conversations on incorporating diversity and inclusion throughout the kindergarten through twelfth grade learning environment. The featured lessons, activities and resources were selected to support educators in implementing the new legislative requirements of the 2019 History and Contributions of Individuals with Disabilities and LGBT (N.J.S.A. 18A:35-4.35-6), Diversity and Inclusion statutes (N.J.S.A. 18A:35-4.36a).  For more clarity on the requirements and differences between these two laws, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions.

All students deserve equitable access (N.J.A.C. 6A:7) to a high-quality education that is inclusive and reflective of the rich diversity of our state. This can be achieved through consideration of diverse histories, experiences and perspectives that promote the dignity and respect of all individuals.

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equity & inclusion educational resources

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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Educational Resources

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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Educational Resources

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Diversity and Inclusion in Social Studies

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Diversity and Inclusion in Social Studies

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Cathy A.R. Brant
On Monday March 1, 2021 Governor Phil Murphy Signed Assembly Bill No. 4454 of which Section C.18A:35-4.36a which mandates that New Jersey K-12 public school curriculum to include instruction on diversity and inclusion:

Beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, each school district shall incorporate instruction on diversity and inclusion in an appropriate place in the curriculum of students in grades kindergarten through 12 as part of the district's implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. b. The instruction shall: (1) highlight and promote diversity, including economic diversity, equity, inclusion, tolerance, and belonging in connection with gender and sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, disabilities, and religious tolerance; (2) examine the impact that unconscious bias and economic disparities have at both an individual level and on society as a whole; and (3) encourage safe, welcoming, and inclusive environments for all students regardless of race or ethnicity, sexual and gender identities, mental and physical disabilities, and religious beliefs (New Jersey Legislature, 2021)

For many teachers, it is a relief that it is now state law that issues of diversity and equity are mandated parts of the curriculum. In fact, in my work with pre-service teachers one of the most common threads I hear from my students is that they want to address issues of equity, racism, inclusion, homophobia, and other diversity related issues but have concerns about push-back from their colleagues, their administrators, and their students' parents. For other teachers, it can seem like a daunting task to address these topics in an age-appropriate way, especially in the elementary grades. In addition to the new diversity and inclusion law on June 3, 2020, the State Board of Education adopted the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) (State of New Jersey, Department of Education (2020), which go into effect during the 2022-2023 school year. This article lays out how this new curricular law could be covered in age-appropriate elementary grades using the new 2020 social studies standards. Additionally, curricular resources will be provided to help teachers address these topics.
New Jersey Diversity Law
The new NJ Diversity law has three areas of focus. The first area is highlighting and promotion of diversity. This instruction should help children understand the differences that exist between people due to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, religious differences, etc. The goal of this law, in the elementary school setting, is for young students to understand the ways in which diversity exists in the world and to see the commonalities between their lives and the lives of others. This idea is not new. Multicultural Education (MCE) has been around for decades (cite). Multicultural education "an approach to teaching and learning that is based upon the democratic values and beliefs and that affirms cultural pluralism within culturally diverse societies in an interdependent world" with the goal of fostering "the intellectual, social, and personal development of all students to their highest potential" (Bennett, 2003, p. 14). Students who engage in a robust multicultural curriculum learn about aspects of identities, to appreciate and value the diversity of others in the world, and to help students develop cross-cultural competence to prepare them for lifelong interactions with people who are different from themselves.

The second part of the law focuses on understanding unconscious biases. Unconscious biases, or implicit biases:

...are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one's tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing. Unconscious bias is far more prevalent than conscious prejudice and often incompatible with one's conscious values (University of California-San Francisco, n.d.)

Children need to understand the ways that they may unintentionally engage in biased behavior that impacts others as well as understand the ways that bias, and discrimination exist at an institutional level.

The third section talks about the instruction itself in including encouraging safe, welcoming, and inclusive environments for all students. In other words, the instruction should include the elements presented in the first two parts of the law but should also "[accept] and [affirm]the pluralisms (ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities and teachers reflect" (Nieto and Bode, 2008, p. 44) in a way that all students feel welcomed in the classroom and school community. The law explicitly articulates that this instruction should include topics of race or ethnicity, sexual and gender identities, mental and physical disabilities, and religious beliefs.

It is clear why this law was enacted. Students need purposeful inclusion of cultural education in the elementary classroom (McCarty, 2010). As the children of New Jersey grow up, they continue to interact with those of different races or ethnicities, sexual or gender identities, mental and physical disabilities, and religious beliefs and will need to be prepared to be aware of the local as well as the global community (Kirkwood, 2001). They will be aware of global issues that go beyond their backyards such as global pandemics, the climate crisis, poverty, and other global inequities and transnational migration. Teachers, both explicitly and implicitly, make daily instructional decisions about "how students perceive their own culture, their nation, the lives of people around the world, and the issues and conflicts facing the planet" (Merryfield, 2002, p. 19), so there needs to be a deliberate shift in making this instruction explicit so that students can become productive citizens of their community and the world.
2020 New Jersey Social Studies Student Learning Standards
One of the major changes to the new NJSLS is the re-banding of the standards from K-4, 5-8, 9-12 to the following bands: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12. The new standards lay out the core ideas which "represent the knowledge and skills that they should be able to apply to new situations outside of the school experience" (State of New Jersey, Department of Education, 2020, p. 22). Curriculum writers and educators can use these core ideas as the basis for formative, summative, and benchmark assessments. Additionally, the standards describe the performance expectations, what students should know and be able to do by the end of the band.The 2021 NJSLS have 18 key disciplinary concepts from the four main disciplinary domains of social studies: civics, geography, economics and history. See Table 1:

Table 1: 2021 NJSLS key disciplinary concepts:

Civics, Government, and Human Rights Civic and Political InstitutionsParticipation and DeliberationDemocratic PrinciplesProcesses and RulesHuman and Civil RightsCivic Mindedness

Geography, People and the Environment Spatial Views of the World Human Population Patterns Human Environment InteractionGlobal Interconnections

Economics, Innovation and Technology Exchange and Markets National EconomyGlobal Economy

History, Culture, and Perspectives Continuity and ChangeUnderstanding Perspectives Historical Sourcing and Evidence Claims and Argumentation

In addition to the core disciplinary concepts, the new standards also present core ideas under each of these disciplinary concepts which students should be able to achieve by the end of a grade level. It is easy to see how many of these can be connected to highlighting and promoting the diversity of others. For example, under the concept of History, Culture, and Perspectives: Understanding Perspectives, by the end of Grade 2 students should be able understand that 1) Two or more individuals can have a different understanding of the same event, and 2) Respecting and understanding the views of others helps one learn about various perspectives, thoughts, and cultures. By the end of grade 5, students will be able to understand 1) Respecting and understanding the views of others helps one learn about various perspectives, thoughts, and cultures, and 2) Events may be viewed differently based on one's perspective (State of New Jersey, Department of Education, 2020, p. 18). This is just one example of the explicit connections between the new standards and the diversity law, but what is even more important are the pedagogical practices on how to teach these concepts.
Lesson Ideas
In this section I will highlight four specific indicators, three from the K-2 band and one from the 3-5 band. These indicators have been selected as they directly relate to the new legislation. This should serve as affirmation for elementary grade teachers that they can and are required to teach this content. One of the best ways to help students see themselves reflected and affirmed in the curriculum, and to provide windows into the lives of others who may differ from them is through high quality children's literature (Sims Bishop, 1990). In addition to discussing how the standards can be addressed in the curriculum, I will highlight high quality multicultural children's literature that will help teachers do so. The kindergarten through second grade standards opens up spaces in elementary classrooms to lay the foundation for addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The third grade through fifth grade band allows teachers to add layers to what the kindergarten through second grade teachers introduced. Once students understand that differences exist, how stereotyping and prejudice is problematic, and promoting ideas of tolerance and respect for others, teachers and students adapt a more critical lens, going beyond their own experiences to focusing on the experiences of others and greater system issues of discrimination and marginalization.
6.1.2.CivicsCM.3: Explain how diversity, tolerance, fairness, and respect for others can contribute to individuals feeling accepted.
With young children, we need to scaffold their understanding of the concepts of diversity, tolerance, fairness, and respect. Even in the youngest grades, teachers can have conversations with children about their identities, affirming their identities, and helping them appreciate and value the differences between their identities and the identities of others (Teaching Tolerance, 2018). Setting this groundwork in the early grades can allow for explicit instruction, in later grades, on more complex aspects of these topics such as personal biases and systemic oppression. The Day You Begin written by Jacqueline Woodson (Woodson, 2018) is a perfect book to help introduce the concepts of diversity, tolerance, fairness, and respect to young children, and helping students see the commonalities between each other. Angelina comes to school and notices the many ways in which she is different from her peers, including her skin color, hair texture, and is nervous to share the fact that she and her family did not go on any big or exciting trips over the summer vacation. Rigoberto, an immigrant from Venezuela, is embarrassed when his classmates laugh at his accent. Another student is upset when a classmate criticizes her lunch of meat, rice and kimchi. Woodson, then, has Angelina share her story about her summer vacation, and other students begin to make connections. Woodson encourages the reader to not only recognize the difference between people and not to treat people poorly because of them, but for each reader to have a sense of pride in the ways in which they are different and special.
6.1.2.HistoryUP.3: Use examples from the past and present to describe how stereotyping and prejudice can lead to conflict.
In almost every elementary classroom, teachers have heard students say phrases like, "Girls can't do that" or "That's a girl's toy, not a boy's toy," or "Pink can't be your favorite color, you're a boy!" Pink is for Boys by Robb Perlmann and illustrated by Eda Kaben (Perlmann, 2018) is a book that would serve as a great entry point to talk about how stereotypes and prejudice can lead to conflict. The book goes through the various colors of the rainbow and states that the color is for both boys and girls. The book encourages children to do what they love, regardless of the gender stereotypes associated with that activity. A teacher can read this book and have explicit discussions with children about the times that they were made fun of or criticized for liking things that were stereotypical for another gender. The teacher could lead the students to engage in critical work to think about why certain colors, toys, clothes, etc. are marketed to a specific gender instead of to all genders. This text could also lead into conversations about children who do not fit into the gender binary. After beginning a lesson or a unit on exploring gender stereotypes, the teacher could then introduce a book about a transgender such as When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff. This text tells the story of Aidan, who when he was born, everyone thought he was a girl, but was really a transgender boy. The book discusses how Aidan's self-image changed when he was able to be his authentic self. This book is an excellent resource to introduce the topic of transgender individuals and how they should be treated.
6.1.5.CivicsPD.3: Explain how and why it is important that people from diverse cultures collaborate to find solutions to community, state, national, and global challenges.
The goal of this standard is for students to take the skills that they have started to learn in earlier grades about understanding and valuing cultural differences to begin to understand how people with those cultural differences can work together. This is important for students to understand the problem solving that goes on in their communities, their state, their nation, and in the world. Students can begin to see how issues like global warming, war and poverty are relevant in the United States but across the globe and that everyone needs to do their part to work together to begin to solve these problems. Harlem Grown by Tony Hillery is a great place for young students to see how people can come together to make a difference in their community. This book is the true story about how the author, with the help of his community, turned an empty lot in Harlem, New York into a community farm (Hillery, 2020). The book shows the way that This book could be paired with Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman. Seedfolks is a similar story set in Cleveland, Ohio in which a young Vietnamese girl plants seeds in an empty lot near her home. As her plants began to grow, other neighbors from diverse backgrounds began to plant their own fruits and vegetables. The book shares the rich diversity of the neighborhood and how the community garden brought these very different people together.
6.1.5.HistoryCC: Evaluate the impact of ideas, inventions, and other contributions of prominent figures who lived in New Jersey.
In addition to celebrating New Jersey heroes like astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, author Judy Bloom, and inventor Thomas Edison, we need to be explicit in highlighting the contributions and accomplishments of New Jersey who come from diverse backgrounds including jazz artist Count Basie, Joe Black, the first African American to win a World Series Game, suffragist Lucy Stone, and actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson. Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey, was an All-American football player at Rutgers College (now Rutgers University), and then got his law degree. Despite having a degree in law, Robeson became a singer, actor and activist. Robeson believed that part of his responsibilities as a celebrity was to fight inequity and injustice. Grandpa Stops a War: A Paul Robeson Story is one example of a book that can be shared with upper elementary students. In the book the author, Susan Robeson (Paul Robeson's granddaughter), shares the story of her grandfather using his singing talent to help raise funds for those displaced during the Spanish Civil War. What is especially poignant about this book is that fact that Robeson used his natural gifts, of song, to help make a change. A book, such as this, can help students see the ways that they can be who they are and positively impact their communities and the world. This book could also be combined with others about other activists for equality such as Lucy Stone, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez.
Concluding Thoughts
These are just four examples of the intersections between the new New Jersey Assembly Bill No. 4454 and the 2020 Social Studies NJLS. One of the challenges that teachers face when thinking about enacting these two elements are resources. Teachers want to know where to find information that will provide them with the background knowledge, they need to teach these concepts and the tools needed to effectively do so. There are a few resources I specifically recommend. First, I highly recommend that all teachers review Learning for Justice's (formerly Teaching Tolerance) website, and more specifically, their Social Justice Standards ( https://www.learningforjustice.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/TT-Social-Justice-Standards-Anti-bias-framework-2020.pdf). The Zinn Education project ( https://www.zinnedproject.org) is another valuable resource for teachers with downloadable lessons and materials for teachers to use to promote the experiences, voices and perspectives of those not typically highlighted in textbooks such as people of color, Indigenous people and women. Another place that teachers can find resources is the National Council of the Social Studies Notable Trade Book list ( https://www.socialstudies.org/notable-social-studies-trade-books). This annually released list of books is a phenomenal resource for teachers, as the books are reviewed by both university faculty and classroom teachers and are annotated with a brief summary that includes the appropriate grade levels for the text.

While the new curriculum and the new New Jersey diversity law can seem daunting for New Jersey elementary social studies teachers, it is important to know that these two documents are supportive of each other. The new standards are more explicit in the emphasis on issues of equity, tolerance and difference, and the law mandates that teachers teach this content. The goal is to prepare the youth of New Jersey to work, live and play with others in our ever increasingly diverse state and country.
Picture Books Cited:
Fleischman, P. (2004). Seedfolks. HarperTrophy.

Hillery, T. (2020). Harlem grown: How one big idea transformed a neighborhood. Simon Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books.

Lukoff, K. (2019). When Aidan became a brother. Lee & Low Books.

Perlman, R. (2018). Pink is for boys. Running Press Kids.

Robeson, S. (2019). Grandpa stops a war: A Paul Robeson story. Triangle Square.
References
Bennett, C. I. (2003). Comprehensive multicultural education: Theory and practice (5th ed). Allyn and Bacon.

Kirkwood, T. F. (2001). Our global age requires global education: Clarifying definitional ambiguities. Social Studies, 92(1), 10. https://doi-org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/10.1080/00377990109603969

McCarty, D. M. (2007). Using multicultural National Council for the Social Studies Notable Books in the elementary classroom. Social Studies, 98(2), 49-53. https://doi-org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/10.3200/TSSS.98.2.49-53

Merryfield, M. M. (2002). The Difference a Global Educator Can Make. Educational Leadership, 60(2), 18.

New Jersey Legislature (2021) Chapter 32. Retrieved from https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2020/Bills/PL21/32_.PDF

Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education (5th ed.). Longman.

Sims Bishop, R. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3), ix-xi.

State of New Jersey, Department of Education (2020), New Jersey Learning Standards. Retrieved from h ttps://www.state.nj.us/education/cccs/2020/2020%20NJSLS-SS.pdf

Teaching Tolerance (2018). Social justice standards: The teaching tolerance anti-bias framework, https://www.learningforjustice.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/TT-Social-Justice-Standards-Anti-bias-framework-2020.pdf

University of California-San Francisco (n.d.). Unconscious Bias. https://diversity.ucsf.edu/resources/unconscious-bias

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New Law? New Curriculum? What Do I Do? Cathy A.R. Brant On Monday March 1, 2021 Governor Phil Murphy Signed Assembly Bill No. 4454 of which Section C.18A:35-4.36a which mandates that New Jersey K-12 public school curriculum to include instruction on diversity and inclusion: Beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, each school district shall incorporate...

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Using Atlas to Support the QSAC Process in New Jersey

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Using Atlas to Support the QSAC Process in New Jersey

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Using Atlas to Support the QSAC Process in New Jersey

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Atlas can be configured to support the QSAC process requirements for schools and districts in New Jersey, and provides a unified platform for curriculum to be developed, documented and refined.

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Atlas - Guide- Support Curriculum Review with Reports in Atlas_v5.pdf

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Training Resources for Developing Curriculum in Atlas

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To access the complete Help Desk for Atlas, check out: onatlas.zendesk.com

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NGSS video explaining how the pieces fit together

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NGSS video explaining how the pieces fit together

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How to Read the Next Generation Science Standards

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Suggested Topic Arrangements for Science using NGSS

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Suggested Topic Arrangements for Science using NGSS

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To learn more about the standards and to view the NGSS Appendices, click here.

Download a PDF of all performance expectations grouped by topic. You may also view DCI arrangements of standards or search for individual performance expectations. To the right under Related Resources are Storylines and PDFs of related standards.Storylines are statements that describe the context and rationale for the Performace Expectations (PEs) in each grade band and section.

The topics arrangements of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) include the same PEs as in the DCI arrangements, but the PEs are bundled differently. At the beginning of the NGSS writing process, the writers arranged the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) into topics around which to develop the standards in order to eliminate potential redundancy, seek an appropriate grain size, and seek natural connections among the DCIs. However, the codes (names) of individual PEs are based on the DCI arrangement of the standards. Some states prefer to use the topical arrangements of the standards, whereas other states prefer to use the DCI arrangements of the standards.

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To learn more about the standards and to view the NGSS Appendices, click here . Download a PDF of all performance expectations grouped by topic. You may also view DCI arrangements of standards or search for individual performance expectations .

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NGSS Evidence Statements provide educators with additional detail on what students should know and be able to do. These Evidence Statements describe a detailed look at the NGSS performance expectations.

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Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills 

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Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills 

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6 Tips for Teachers in Developing Curriculum - Atlas

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TIP 3. FILTER STANDARDS AS YOU GO What math standards would complement my science unit? What standards do I have left to cover? Is there a standard that addresses "community"? Answer these questions and target your standards with intention. Browse the standards by subject area, grade, and strand; search the standards for a keyword; and [...]

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Articulating the Why and How Behind Curriculum Mapping

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Articulating the Why and How Behind Curriculum Mapping

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"To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction."
Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
As educators, we know it is important to help our students understand how academic content connects to the larger world- we are better, more engaged participants when we understand the "why" behind what we are doing. However, when we work with adult learners, like teachers, sometimes we forget that it is equally important to articulate the "why" to help them understand the importance of tackling a new challenge. Maureen Cohen understood this need to articulate the reasons behind curriculum mapping when she pioneered the role of Curriculum Director at Mendon-Upton School District in Mendon, Massachusetts.

As Maureen introduced curriculum mapping, she created and shared with her teachers a centralized curriculum website to communicate why this process is worth everyone's valuable time and provided a variety of resources. She opened the website by outlining the importance of the work in relation to the district's strategic plan:

In identifying the reason why we are embarking on the curriculum-mapping journey, the best starting point for us is to look at our district strategic plan. Highlighted and underlined below are the many references to curriculum within our district plan. We will continue to come back to the district strategic plan as we travel upon this journey to improve student achievement for our students. Any successful journey needs a map (our curriculum) and a guide (our teachers) to take the passengers (our students) to their destination (college and career readiness). In addition to connecting the curriculum maps to the strategic plan, she provided a wealth of information on the website. Here is an excerpt from the Table of Contents:

Introduction & Strategic Plan

Implementation Plan & Benchmarks

Purpose of Curriculum Mapping

10 Tenets of Curriculum Mapping

Types of Curriculum Maps & Curriculum Mapping Process

Atlas

Understanding by Design

Start with the End in Mind

And more!

Breaking down the "How"
All of this information not only built initial knowledge for teachers, but it created a resource hub that could be referenced again and again.

Once Maureen built in the "why" (the vision and purpose of mapping), she added resources to support the "how." One resource that is particularly helpful for teachers is a rubric. Though units are continuously re-visited, revised, and re-invented with no "end point", when teachers' maps reach a "Proficient" status on the team's rubric, they are ready to go "live" and be published to a public site for parents, students, and community members to see. Maureen shared that, as a parent, she appreciates the idea of transparency even more, so she can know what's occurring in her child's classroom and support that learning at home.

You can find below the rubric teachers use to review their units and create a shared language to talk about their work and prioritize their time. Click on the image below to download this resource- use it to spark conversation at your own school!
"Why are we doing this?"
And there you have it: Maureen brought the whole process full circle.

To reach our students, at school and at home.

To make their learning journey full, rich, and comprehensive.

To constantly improve.

Not only did Maureen answer the "why"; she also answered "how" to make it happen, all with her teachers' support. The teachers at Mendon-Upton School District have now been mapping for about 7 years, demonstrating that laying a strong foundation leads to lasting results!

Megan Davenport is a member of the professional development team for Faria Education Group. Megan's passion for education is at the forefront of her work. Megan earned her master's degree in education from Arizona State University and bachelor's degrees in sociology and business management from the University of Montana. Thanks to her academic background, Megan takes a well-rounded approach to working with schools and benefits from knowledge of organizational structure as well as change management paired with classroom experience and a love of helping children learn. Megan has consulted with public and independent schools both domestically and internationally and enjoys synthesizing knowledge gained from working with a wide variety of schools to provide training and professional development for educators.

Dr. Maureen Cohen is the Assistant Superintendent in the Mendon-Upton Regional School District located in Mendon, Massachusetts. With twenty years experience in education, Maureen has worked across urban and suburban school settings in as a high school teacher, school building administrator and district leader. She earned her bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in government and legal studies; a master's degree in political science and international relations from Northeastern University; and a doctorate in educational leadership from Northeastern University. Her doctoral research focused on the strategies high school administrators use in leading 1:1 schools in Massachusetts. A frequent presenter at the MSSAA Summer Institute and assistant principal conferences, her presentation topics include: Understanding your Leadership Style, Mentoring, Educator Evaluation, Common Core, and Web 2.0 for administrators. She has presented at MASScue on Transformational Leadership on her dissertation findings and MASS/MASC 2017 Conference on the topic of social-emotional learning. In 2012, Dr. Cohen was the MSSAA Massachusetts Assistant Principal of the Year and was selected as one of 3 national finalists for NASSP Assistant Principal of the Year. Currently, she serves as a member of the Grafton School Committee and as Co-Chair of the Blackstone Valley Curriculum Consortium.

You can follow her on her district website: http://mursdcurriculum.weebly.com/.

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Articulating the Why and How Behind Curriculum Mapping - Atlas

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"To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction."

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Written by Megan Davenport and Elizabeth Clarkson, Ed.D, Faria Education Group
As professional development facilitators at Faria Education Group, we spend a tremendous amount of time with school leaders and teachers discussing curriculum and unit plans. We coach teachers to build strong content and skills that are aligned to standards while using the unit plan as the major organizing structure in their curriculum. We facilitate conversations around the components of a solid backwards design unit plan. We support school processes and structures to ensure unit plans are reviewed and revised on a consistent basis. It's a natural question to step back and ask ourselves, "But why plan at the unit level?"

Great question! To listen to an audio clip from Curriculum Conversations click here, or keep reading to understand the benefits of unit planning from an administrators' and teachers' perspective. We'll also offer three tips on building buy-in from teachers that will help them to invest their time and effort into the process of unit planning.

How is curriculum organized?
Let's review a few key terms and orientate ourselves to the conversation. Think of these components as building on each other.

Curriculum Mapping is the process of capturing the written curriculum.

A Unit of Instruction is a section of the curriculum map and involves dividing the course and its information into logical segments, usually about 2-4 weeks in length.

A Lesson Plan describes one learning session within that unit.

Depending on the perspective of one's roles and responsibilities in the school, unit planning offers different benefits that can help achieve the goals.

1. Efficiently Provide Evidence of Alignment:
School leaders, including instructional coaches, department heads, or building principals, are responsible for certain curricular tasks, such as vertical alignment. They are also responsible to agencies and organizations, such as accreditation and licensing agencies. When they have systems in place to capture their unit planning work, they can quickly and effectively provide evidence of various parts of their curriculum alignment to these agencies.

2. Ability to Review and Revise:
Curriculum work is constantly evolving over time. When schools have a strong practice of unit planning in place, their curriculum is easier to review and revise for alignment. WIthout that unit structure, information can be disorganized. It can be difficult to identify gaps, redundancies, opportunities for collaboration, and spiraling. With a unit planning structure in place, the process of curriculum review and revision becomes a manageable task and allows for multiple people or teams to contribute at the same time.

3. Time Management:
Teachers need strong lesson plans to help them organize their day, but an instructional leader might have limited time to review these lessons in meaningful ways. Unit plans offer a higher level look at Stage 1 and Stage 2 components of a backwards design unit. Reviewing a unit plan is more realistic and allows time for quality feedback and thoughtful reflection that will be more helpful to the teacher.

4. Structuring your PLC Time:
Educators all know how valuable PLC or grade level meeting minutes are. When a school has an agreed upon unit plan and format to guide them, teachers can make the most of their time together. This is a benefit for teachers and administrators!

5. Smooth Transition:
Teacher transitions in schools will inevitably happen - teachers move from grade to grade, maybe even changing subjects. International schools work with visa issues requirements and routinely transition teachers in and out of their school communities. When schools are using unit plans to organize their written curriculum, that scope and sequence of information becomes part of the educational fabric of the school and its curriculum. Students will ultimately benefit because incoming teachers have a solid place to pick up for that grade or subject and outgoing teachers leave behind the best of their own contributions. A smooth transition for teachers helps keep a strong curricular alignment and a viable and guaranteed curriculum.

1. Wise Investment of your Time:
Think of units as a teachers' professional portfolio, a collection of one's best professional work. An initial investment in time quickly pays dividends in the future. Although curriculum review and revision are a healthy part of a school's culture, with solid units in place from the year before, teachers can easily adapt, adjust, and improve their units based on new resources, feedback from observations or students, and reflection on the unit's overall effectiveness from the year before. If you are a new teacher to a grade or subject, the units are a great place to quickly get up to speed on the expectations for that grade level.

2. Pacing:
Units are organized in a pacing calendar and can be easily adjusted at the beginning of the year to ensure appropriate time is given to each unit. By pacing these units in advance, teachers can ensure the more challenging units are given appropriate time and/or spiraled throughout the year. Once this pacing calendar is complete, teachers can quickly see if their teaching is on track and can make adjustments for future weeks.

3. Less Dependent on Specific Resources:
Teachers might find that a textbook's material is not a match for students' academic level at a given time in the year. We also know that information, especially in subjects like science or social studies, change and printed material could be out of date. When units are written to address standards, content, and skills, a teacher has more flexibility to change and update resources as better ones become available. The units are the basic structure of a grade or course and they remain the backbone.

4. Collaboration:
Teachers, in addition to administrators, also see planning at the unit level as beneficial because it provides an established structure to PLC and grade level meetings. Conversations can stay focused and allows for more productive collaboration during these meetings.

1. Make the process of unit planning a useful and authentic part of your school culture:
We want to make the process of unit planning part of the long term operations of the school. Once this process is embedded and sustainable, schools can quickly get the information they need to inform conversations and decisions. They could use the curriculum maps, organized by units, to 1) review assessment data, 2) offer feedback during classroom observations, 3) talk to prospective students and families at the admissions level, and 4) showcase grade level content during open house sessions or share with the public on other platforms. Unit planning then becomes helpful to both teachers at the instructional level but also for administrators within the larger school context.

2. Get creative and find the time for teachers to work together:
Finding time during the busy year for unit planning conversations can be a challenge and will require some creativity and persistence. Unit planning should not be a stand-alone initiative, but something that is built into existing school processes. There may need to be additional time dedicated to documenting curriculum for the first time, but after that, teachers should focus on maintaining and revising units as one way to support larger goals. Get creative! Think about formal (early release and late start days, long term PD schedules, PLC meetings) and informal times (support from specialist teachers, early morning donuts and coffee, after school snacks) and focus on collaboration!

3. AVOID unit planning as a compliance task:
Schools want to avoid treating the task of unit planning like a one time only initiative or ONLY for compliance purposes. Strive for building it into the school culture (see Tip #1). Teachers get discouraged if they see unit planning as the "next new thing" added to their to-do list, and will wait for the next new initiative to land on their plate tomorrow. Unit plan with a purpose and tie that purpose to student success at your school!

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As professional development facilitators at Faria Education Group, we spend a tremendous amount of time with school leaders and teachers discussing curriculum and unit plans

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2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS)

The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) supports schools, educators and districts to ensure all of New Jersey's 1.4 million students have equitable access to high-quality education and achieve academic excellence. To be prepared for postsecondary success, students must become effective thinkers, problem solvers and communicators, and have the skills needed for high-skilled, high-demand jobs. The NJDOE's standard review and revision process () provides us with an opportunity to ensure our standards are rigorous and relevant.

On June 3, 2020, the State Board of Education adopted the 2020 NJSLS in the following content areas:

These standards truly represent a foundation from which districts will build coherent curriculum and instruction that prepares each New Jersey student with the knowledge and skills to succeed in our rapidly changing world. They will put New Jersey again at the forefront of national education by including the following:

Climate Change across all content areas, leveraging the passion students have shown for this critical issue and providing them opportunities to develop a deep understanding of the science behind the changes and to explore the solutions our world desperately needs;

Computer programming in all grade bands K-12, ensuring all students receive a 22nd century education in the critical computational thinking skills that are the underpinning of so much of our work and so many of our transactions; and

National standards for science and visual and performing arts, ensuring access to, and opportunity in, science and the arts, for every New Jersey public student.

The New Jersey Student Learning Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics were adopted by the New Jersey State Board of Education in May 2016 and are not currently under review. English Language Arts Instructional Units and Mathematics Instructional Units were created in collaboration with educator teams to assist districts in creating standards-based curriculum and assessment.
Curriculum Implementation Schedule
The NJDOE has heard from stakeholders in all 21 counties that the disruptions due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency have made it difficult to engage in curriculum writing processes this year as planned. Therefore, to provide relief to districts and to allow districts to focus their efforts and resources on ensuring safe and healthy school environments and providing high-quality instruction in a variety of learning environments, adjustments have been made to the original 2020 NJSLS curriculum implementation schedule.

The NJDOE will provide professional learning, resources, and technical assistance for districts as they prepare to implement the 2020 NJSLS. Districts are required to adopt curricula based on the 2020 NJSLS according to the following implementation schedule:

The NJDOE appreciates the great strides many districts have made so far in aligning curricula and instruction to the revised standards and encourages districts to proceed with curricula planning. Districts undergoing the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (NJQSAC) review process:

In school year 2021-2022, would be considered compliant using district board adopted curricula aligned to the 2014 or 2020 NJSLS.

In school year 2022-2023, would be considered compliant using district board adopted curricula aligned to the 2020 NJSLS.

Educator Review Teams
The NJDOE would like to express its appreciation to the 130 educators from public (including charters) and non-public elementary, middle, and high schools, higher education, parents, and representatives from non-profit organizations, business, the military, and health fields from across New Jersey who shared their time and expertise as members of the standards review teams in each of the seven content areas, as well as the members of the public that provided feedback during the public review period.

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2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) supports schools, educators and districts to ensure all of New Jersey's 1.4 million students have equitable access to high-quality education and achieve academic excellence. To be prepared for postsecondary success, students must become effective thinkers, problem solvers and communicators, and have the skills needed for high-skilled, high-demand jobs.

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Introduction

The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), in collaboration with the Partnership for Collaborative Professional Learning ¹, proudly presents K-12 instructional units based on the 2016 New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. The instructional units maintain the rigor of the standards and provide school districts and professional learning communities with a meaningful resource from which to build standards-aligned curriculum, instruction and assessment. In this version, the student learning objectives (SLOs) identify the skills and conceptual understandings that students must master to meet the expectations of the NJSLS in ELA and mathematics.

In 2019, NJDOE assembled and led teams of educators (teachers, coaches, supervisors, principals and higher education faculty) from across New Jersey to unpack the 2016 NJSLS in ELA and mathematics. The teams utilized the Connected Action Roadmap (CAR) process to guide the work of unpacking the standards. The CAR process is endorsed by the Partnership for Collaborative Professional Learning and helps drive a process of continuous school improvement by building and leveraging the capacity of educators. CAR helps educators to connect standards-aligned curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional learning to a school culture that promotes ongoing reflection on, and growth in, student learning.

The NJDOE supports schools, educators and districts to ensure all of New Jersey's 1.4 million students have equitable access to high-quality education and achieve academic excellence. In pursuit of this shared mission, we would like to thank each of the educators who contributed to this project, as well as the districts who allowed them to lend their time and talent. Their expertise made it possible to develop this valuable tool to improve teaching and learning.

The units with standards and SLOs can be accessed by clicking the English Language Arts/Mathematics Instructional Units on the left. For districts interested in using the CAR process, the standards and SLOs are also posted in the CAR template on the left.

[1] The Partnership for Collaborative Professional Learning includes the American Federation of Teachers, Garden State Coalition of Schools, Learning Forward New Jersey, New Jersey Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, New Jersey Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, New Jersey Association of School Administrators, New Jersey Department of Education, New Jersey Education Association, New Jersey Parent Teacher Association, New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, New Jersey School Boards Association, New Jersey State Professional Learning Committee and The Madison Institute.

These instructional units were developed using the CAR framework, a tool for instructional improvement. Both are part of a larger toolkit the Department is developing, in collaboration with partner associations and organizations, to assist all districts to deliver high-quality, standards-based curriculum, instruction and assessment. Although the tools are available free of charge, school districts are not mandated to use them. Instead, school districts are free to choose, and use, the tools that they feel are best suited for the success of the students they serve.

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The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), in collaboration with the Partnership for Collaborative Professional Learning 1, proudly presents K-12 instructional units based on the 2016 New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics.

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The powerful forensics tools in Standards Analysis allow you to generate and save your own custom reports on Standards and assessments. The questions below will help you begin an investigation into any area of the curriculum to find out exactly which standards are being taught, and where and how they are being assessed.

Videos - Scan the QR Code to watch the videos on your phone!

Standards Analysis

Assessment Methods

Standards Alignments

I'd like to see...

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The powerful forensics tools in Standards Analysis allow you to generate and save your own custom reports on Standards and assessments. The questions below will help you begin an investigation into any area of the curriculum to find out exactly which standards are being taught, and where and how they are being assessed.

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From Standards Overview, you may:

Generate reports on selected subjects and /or grades from your set of academic standards, including those from local, state or other professional organizations.

Quickly identify skills that may be assessed or not assessed.

Identify forms of assessments for individual benchmarks.

Application

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From Standards Overview, you may: Generate reports on selected subjects and /or grades from your set of academic standards, including those from local, state or other professional organizations. Q...

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A Unit Overview Report allows you to create a Scope and Sequence with a side-by-side comparison of sequential unit titles for selected courses. You might use this to compare unit sequencing across multiple courses or classes, such as exploring if all four Grade 6 Math courses are covering topics at approximately the same time.

Application

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A Unit Overview Report allows you to create a Scope and Sequence with a side-by-side comparison of sequential unit titles for selected courses. You might use this to compare unit sequencing across multiple courses or classes, such as exploring if all four Grade 6 Math courses are covering topics at approximately the same time.

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Center for Teaching and Learning

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Cite this guide: Bowen, R. S. (2017). Understanding by Design. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/understanding-by-design/.

Overview

Understanding by Design is a book written by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe that offers a framework for designing courses and content units called "Backward Design." Instructors typically approach course design in a "forward design" manner, meaning they consider the learning activities (how to teach the content), develop assessments around their learning activities, then attempt to draw connections to the learning goals of the course. In contrast, the backward design approach has instructors consider the learning goals of the course first. These learning goals embody the knowledge and skills instructors want their students to have learned when they leave the course. Once the learning goals have been established, the second stage involves consideration of assessment. The backward design framework suggests that instructors should consider these overarching learning goals and how students will be assessed prior to consideration of how to teach the content. For this reason, backward design is considered a much more intentional approach to course design than traditional methods of design.

This teaching guide will explain the benefits of incorporating backward design. Then it will elaborate on the three stages that backward design encompasses. Finally, an overview of a backward design template is provided with links to blank template pages for convenience.

The Benefits of Using Backward Design
"Our lessons, units, and courses should be logically inferred from the results sought, not derived from the methods, books, and activities with which we are most comfortable. Curriculum should lay out the most effective ways of achieving specific results... in short, the best designs derive backward from the learnings sought."
In Understanding by Design, Wiggins and McTighe argue that backward design is focused primarily on student learning and understanding. When teachers are designing lessons, units, or courses, they often focus on the activities and instruction rather than the outputs of the instruction. Therefore, it can be stated that teachers often focus more on teaching rather than learning. This perspective can lead to the misconception that learning is the activity when, in fact, learning is derived from a careful consideration of the meaning of the activity.

As previously stated, backward design is beneficial to instructors because it innately encourages intentionality during the design process. It continually encourages the instructor to establish the purpose of doing something before implementing it into the curriculum. Therefore, backward design is an effective way of providing guidance for instruction and designing lessons, units, and courses. Once the learning goals, or desired results, have been identified, instructors will have an easier time developing assessments and instruction around grounded learning outcomes.

The incorporation of backward design also lends itself to transparent and explicit instruction. If the teacher has explicitly defined the learning goals of the course, then they have a better idea of what they want the students to get out of learning activities. Furthermore, if done thoroughly, it eliminates the possibility of doing certain activities and tasks for the sake of doing them. Every task and piece of instruction has a purpose that fits in with the overarching goals and goals of the course.

As the quote below highlights, teaching is not just about engaging students in content. It is also about ensuring students have the resources necessary to understand. Student learning and understanding can be gauged more accurately through a backward design approach since it leverages what students will need to know and understand during the design process in order to progress.
"In teaching students for understanding, we must grasp the key idea that we are coaches of their ability to play the 'game' of performing with understanding, not tellers of our understanding to them on the sidelines."
The Three Stages of Backward Design
"Deliberate and focused instructional design requires us as teachers and curriculum writers to make an important shift in our thinking about the nature of our job. The shift involves thinking a great deal, first, about the specific learnings sought, and the evidence of such learnings, before thinking about what we, as the teacher, will do or provide in teaching and learning activities."

The Backward Design Template

A link to the blank backward design template is provided here ( https://jaymctighe.com/resources/), and it is referred to as UbD Template 2.0. The older version (version 1.0) can also be downloaded at that site as well as other resources relevant to Understanding by Design. The template walks individuals through the stages of backward design. However, if you are need of the template with descriptions of each section, please see the table below. There is also a link to the document containing the template with descriptions provided below and can be downloaded for free.

Backward Design Template with Descriptions (click link for template with descriptions).

References

1. Sample, Mark. (2011). Teaching for Enduring Understanding. Retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/teaching-for-enduring-understanding/35243.

2. Wiggins, Grant, and McTighe, Jay. (1998). Backward Design. In Understanding by Design (pp. 13-34). ASCD.

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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by Ryan S. Bowen Print Version Cite this guide: Bowen, R. S. (2017). Understanding by Design. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/understanding-by-design/. Overview The Benefits of Using Backward Design The Three Stages of Backward Design The Backward Design Template Overview Understanding by Design is a book written by Grant Wiggins and Jay...

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Understanding By Design- Episode 1

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Grant Wiggins - Understanding by Design (1 of 2)

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Understanding by Design- Episode 2

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Grant Wiggins - Understanding by Design (2 of 2)

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Comprehensive Health and Physical Education

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Comprehensive Health and Physical Education

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Atlas is designed for rapid access to the curriculum tools and information you need most, and personalized to accommodate the way you work.
Click here to watch a 30 minute Atlas Navigation webinar.
Navigating in Atlas

My Atlas: access your dashboard, courses assigned to you, your lessons, your favorite units, your standards report, and your saved reports.

All Curriculum: in All Courses, find specific maps in your Atlas system by using the filters to view maps by the school, grade, subject, course name, user, and by the academic year. In Adopted Standards section you can access the standards that are available in your Atlas, and References of virtual library of academic resources.

Reports: create custom scope and sequence, curriculum analytics, and standards reports.

Communities: Go beyond your Atlas system to connect with educators and schools around the world. A link to your Atlas Public Site is listed here as well.

Search: Search all maps in your Atlas system by keyword or phrase to find out where a specific topic or concept is taught. Click the magnifying glass in the Search bar.

Support: Find technical support through helpful resources and Atlas training tools by clicking the life-saver icon next to your account name.

My Dashboard

Your personal My Dashboard is fully customizable and dynamic, providing immediate, real-time access to curriculum analysis and reporting.

Quick Links on My Dashboard contain direct links to curriculum reports generated and saved from the system, and system metrics that you will find relevant to your curriculum process.

Notifications Center

You can send and receive several types of messages and notifications from wherever you might be working in Atlas. Atlas organizes messages you receive into four key communication channels in the Notifications Channels (the envelop icon located at the top right side of your Atlas, next to your account name). This provides a central location to quickly access these targeted and relevant communications.

The red number badge indicates the number of new and unread messages you have in each communication channel.

The communication channels are located on the left side of the screen throughout Atlas for easy access.

Personal Settings

My Settings allows you to change your password, reset and select a default for your My Atlas dashboard, update your email address, and manage email notifications.

Context-Sensitive Support

Get immediate support, tips and instructions by clicking the question mark icon on the upper right side of each page in Atlas.

Sign Out of Atlas

It is important to sign out of Atlas after each session. This will prevent anyone else from making changes to your curriculum maps.

1. To sign out, click Sign out in the drop-down menu under your name. It is also a good idea to close the browser window once you have logged out of Atlas.

2. If you need to log back into Atlas before closing your browser window, you can click on the Atlas icon and sign back in.

Actions Menu

The Actions menu is available in every Atlas page (top right corner), and it contains a variety of relevant, content-specific tools in one central location.

For example:

Personalize My Atlas - View your saved reports in the My Atlas menu by default.

Add to Favorites - Save the unit to your favorites panel on My Atlas.

View Activity - View all relevant real time activity occurring in the curriculum.

Print - Send the current view to your printer.

Export to Word - Export the current view to a Microsoft ® Office Word document.

Copy Unit - Make a copy of the unit for inclusion in one of your Courses.

Share - Send curriculum or a report to a colleague.

Printing From Atlas

From the view of any report, map, or course, you can print out the page by clicking Actions then selecting Print.

Export To Word

From the Unit Planner, Map or any report view, click Actions and select Export to Word or Export to Excel

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Atlas is designed for rapid access to the curriculum tools and information you need most, and personalized to accommodate the way you work. Click here to watch a 30 minute Atlas Navigation webinar. My Atlas: access your dashboard, courses assigned to you, your lessons, your favorite units, your standards report, and your saved reports.

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Your Unit Calendar by Year is similar to a road map; it allows you to see the big picture, set overarching goals, and chart a course for your curriculum. Each Unit is a destination along your class…

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Implementing the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards

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Implementing the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards

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Introduction to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards: Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills 

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Introduction to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards: Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills 

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Introduction to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards: Science Curriculum Writers 

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Introduction to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards: Science Curriculum Writers 

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Introduction to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards: World Languages Curriculum Writers 

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Introduction to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards: World Languages Curriculum Writers 

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Introduction to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards: Visual & Performing Arts Curriculum Writers 

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Introduction to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards: Visual & Performing Arts Curriculum Writers 

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The New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) are designed to prepare students to understand how and why climate change happens, the impact it has on our local and global communities and to act in informed and sustainable ways. The website is designed to foster an interdisciplinary approach to climate change education that is evidence-based, action-oriented and inclusive.

Message From First Lady Tammy S. Murphy

Dear New Jersey Educators,

Year after year, New Jersey's public education system is ranked one of -- if not the best -- in the nation. This achievement is a point of pride for our state and would not be possible without the dedication, creativity, and skillfulness of our educational professionals.

Your work is not simply job preparation. You teach each generation to communicate, to think critically, and to be curious about the world around them.

As we face the reality of the climate crisis as a state, we must also help the next generation of leaders prepare for the environmental challenges of the future. Through the incorporation of climate change education across our New Jersey Student Learning Standards, your classrooms and communities can become even greater incubators for cutting-edge ideas, critical and creative thinking, and practical problem-solving, to best cultivate a generation of solutions and plans that are sustainable.

The challenge ahead of us is great. But, with the Governor's commitment to reaching 100 percent clean energy by 2050 and a host of other green initiatives, New Jersey is positioned to be a leader of the climate movement - now and in the future. Together, we can ensure that our students are equipped with the knowledge and resources needed to combat the climate crisis, no matter what career they choose.

I know our students couldn't possibly be in better hands, and I thank you all!

My very best,

First Lady Tammy Murphy

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The New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) are designed to prepare students to understand how and why climate change happens, the impact it has on our local and global communities and to act in informed and sustainable ways. The website is designed to foster an interdisciplinary approach to climate change education that is evidence-based, action-oriented and inclusive.