NAGC Curriculum Studies Award
Competition Guidelines
Contact Information
Please contact Christine Briggs of the Curriculum Studies Network at cbriggs@louisiana.edu with any questions on the information below.
Submission Deadline
All submissions must be postmarked by June 1, 2010. Please send your materials to:
NAGC
Curriculum Studies Award
1707 L Street, NW
Suite 550
Washington, DC 20036.
Documents Required
Submission Limitations
Competition Fee
A $15.00 submission fee is required per unit (no more than 2 units per individual, institution, or organization). Please make your checks out to NAGC and include with your materials.
Award Distribution
No more than six (6) awards will be given by the Network to individuals collaborating on one unit. Additional awards (apples) are available for purchase through the Curriculum Network for units with more than six authors. Awards will be presented at the 2010 NAGC Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in November.
Scoring Information
Any unit receiving two (2) scores of 2 on rubric attributes will be eliminated from the competition.
If a score of 2 is earned in either the differentiation or talent development, the unit will be eliminated from the competition.
Implementation of curriculum is required. Evidence of student(s)' growth is a critical rubric element.
Feedback
Lead authors of winning curriculum units will be notified in writing no later than August 17, 2010 to ensure winners can make arrangements to attend the NAGC Annual Convention to receive their award and take advantage of early registration. While qualitative feedback will be sent to the lead author, actual copies of rubrics used by scorers will not be distributed.
Required Parameters
Before a unit will be evaluated the following must be present:
A goal statement for unit/objective tied to national or state standards and benchmarks.
Unit to rubric explanation: For each attribute in the rubric, explain how the submitted unit addresses the criteria found in that attribute. This might include highlights of lesson elements that address differentiation, opportunities for talent development, how student growth is measured, etc. For example, Evidence of Use: "The unit was used in two 4th grade, heterogeneous classrooms. Students demonstrated growth through pre/post tests, reflective journals and teacher-student interviews. The results indicated increased knowledge of the content and skills in the area of cultural anthropology." State concepts, principles, methodologies and dispositions in unit explanation.
Self-assessment: For each of the criteria included in the rubric, explain how the submitted unit addresses the criteria/attributes. For each section, include a summary of the ways the unit demonstrates the criteria. For example, this might include highlights of lesson elements that address differentiation, opportunities for talent development, how student growth is measured, etc.
Unit submissions must be self-contained. Everything that is needed for evaluating the unit must be submitted with the unit. Evaluators will not do outside research.
To be considered for an award, submitted units must include evidence of effectiveness (student growth). This can include copies of student work samples, pre/post assessments, student case study describing individual student growth as result of this unit.
The unit must demonstrate appropriate challenge for use with gifted students grouped in heterogeneous instructional settings or gifted classrooms.
Written components of the unit must be complete and substantive. For example: unit must be written to allow outside teachers to implement individual lessons. This would include activities, resources, step by step instructions, teacher questions/talk, and background information for teacher knowledge.
Rubric
The rubric will only be applied to those units meeting the above criteria. For more information on scoring, take a look at the rubric used. In 2009, the Curriculum Studies Network piloted a revised rubric. Each qualifying unit was assessed with the ORIGINAL RUBRIC and the PILOT RUBRIC. For 2009, the ORIGINAL RUBRIC was used to make award decisions. After this pilot year, a committee will review the results and make a decision for 2010 competition. We appreciate any feedback and or suggestions you might have regarding the PILOT RUBRIC. Please send any comments to cbriggs@louisiana.edu.