CSCOPE is a systematic K-12 curriculum model designed, maintained and continuously developed by various Education Service Center personnel along with district educators. The purpose is to provide a common language, structure and process for curriculum development. The curriculum model is designed to align the written, taught and tested curriculum and is inclusive of research and best practices mentioned in the work of Drucker, Demming, English, Wiggins, Erickson, Guskey, Marzano, Feurstein and Jacobs. Each year the documents will continue to be aligned to the TEKS utilizing the continuous improvement process as a model for the resources offered to member districts.

CSCOPE

"Marzano concludes that a guaranteed and viable curriculum is the most powerful school-level factor in determining overall student achievement."

The CSCOPE development team, including Education Service Center personnel, and other content area experts have done extensive work adding specificity to the TEKS student expectations.  With this added specificity, Texas Educators who use CSCOPE are able to track the development and complexity of an objective, or group of similar objectives, as they progress across grade levels.  CSCOPE ensure that each standard from the TEKS framework includes specificity for each student expectation so standards and instruction are truly aligned between grade levels.

The Vertical Alignment, Year at a Glance, and Instructional Focus Documents along with the TEKS Verification Matrix comprise the curriculum documents in CSCOPE.  These documents are the foundation for all instructional planning.  The CSCOPE curriculum is a foundation curriculum, guiding the "what" of instruction.

Vertical Alignment Documents

Year At A Glance

The CSCOPE Year at a Glance is designed to present a snapshot of the entire year's instructional plan.  The Year at a Glance is a map and pacing guide for units of study.  It makes the curriculum viable by ensuring that the teacher has adequate instructional time to present the required content.

Instructional Focus Documents

CSCOPE Instructional Focus Documents are used to group the specified standards from the Vertical Alignment Documents and the Year at a Glance into a logical sequence for instruction.

Exemplar Lessons

The lessons represented in CSCOPE are exemplar lessons intended to inspire decision making, teacher creativity, and appropriate use of available resources.  They are resources which are intended to be models of what good instruction could look like.  Regardless of which curriculum a district uses, it is at the level of the lesson that teachers employ their expertise with the art of teaching, which incorporates their knowledge of individual student and their interests.  Teachers will use the exemplar lessons as a standard of rigor and relevance.  They share responsibility to address essential questions; however, methods, materials, and approaches may vary.

Unit Assessments

The CSCOPE Unit Assessments are designed to assess the students' understanding of unit concepts and their ability to apply those concepts in a different context.  Districts may choose to use the CSCOPE unit assessment data in a variety of ways: as formative or summative assessment data, graded or ungraded, completed by individuals or groups of students.

In order to sustain continuous improvement several attributes must be in place. 

·         a specific observable and measurable proficiency

·         ongoing collection of performance data; item analysis of those data

·         review both horizontally and vertically among the actual people responsible for instruction

·         adjustments to the instruction based on the item analysis

·         planning time on a regular basis for review of student performance among the people who share the care and instruction for the target population

·         sufficient time to allow for sustained growth among the students

These attributes are consistent with the CSCOPE curriculum.  Having CSCOPE is not enough.  The biggest impact of CSCOPE will be in the ongoing curriculum and instruction discussions around vertical alignment, instructional focus, lesson planning, and pedagogy.