Introduction
The paper will be focused on the discussion of the Pre-kindergarten Elementary Math’s Curriculum developed and adopted by the Pre- kindergarten school. The mechanism towards the achievement of any mission or a vision of the school is pegged on the existing e curriculum employed and implemented by such schools. The school mission statement and the vision statement are directly linked to the goals and objective that a given school aims at achieving. The underlying factor in Pre-kindergarten school is the need to excel and produce student that can match the job market (Olivia & Gordon, 2013).
Despite the several attempts and wishes of the pre-kindergarten school to achieve its visions, on the contrary, the realized results have in many occasions failed to reflect the school purpose and goals at inception Olivia & Gordon, 2013). The previous researches have indicated that most schools fail to meet their goals due to poor curriculum adopted and implemented. The pre-kindergarten Elementary Math’s Curriculum employed by the kindergarten school will form my main area of discussion. References will be drawn from this school in terms of how their Curriculum works. This will help us explain the significance of developing and implementing a good curriculum.
Pre-kindergarten Elementary Math’s curriculum
Mission: To be an academic excellence center via offering education for self-reliance.
Vision: To facilitate competency in education by ensuring that our products are full-baked, to meet the ever changing trends in the job-skills match situation in the job market is achieved and to ensure that professionalism remains our driving force (UMASD, 2014)
The following goals are outlined as the necessary goals in the Pre- kindergarten Grade-level;
Under the number and numerations, the students are verbally expected to count numbers until past 10, in a sequential manner. The aim is to show flexibility in accounting and count in either direction. The pupils are also expected to be able to count the objects on one by one basis and to master the number of objects as indicated by the final object to be counted Olivia & Gordon, 2013). Under measurement and references, the children are expected to start understanding the measurement concept of units. The students are also expected to realize that, measurements are quantifiable.
Related mission/vision- related goals
The mission and vision statement are in line with the goals set as the competency talked about in their vision is seen to be met in their goal statements. As stated by the vision statement, competency forms the basis for ensuring that the children do better in their assessment, this explains why the student are as stated under the goal of measurements and reference, understanding clearly the units of measurement will ensure a competent product (The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, 2009)
The benefits of the curriculum to the students in future
The benefits of the elementary curriculum to the children will help them in future when they advance to the other levels of education. The goal is ensuring that children are able to measure and state the units of measurement and this will go a long way high in their education process. Once the student has master all the elementary concepts in mathematics at this level, and with the mentioned competency in mind, such a child will have no problem dealing with more complex mathematics problems as education is based on getting to understand unknown from the known.
Comparing mission/vision/purpose statement with its original mission
Olivia and Gordon’s model differs from the previous schools mission in terms of the curriculum development and implementation. Whereas Olivia and Gordon incorporates every stakeholder, the previous curriculum, on the contrary ignores the incorporation of students in the formation of the curriculum. In Gordon and Olivia’s Model, the incorporation of beliefs, student’s needs and recognition of the fact that an individual or a community need differs from the other leads to a proper curriculum. Olivia and Gordon call for research to first determine such factors before implementing a given curriculum (Olivia & Gordon, 2013).
This, when done will help implement a curriculum that will match every characteristic of an individual, and this will be better since one will be able to do what he feels matches him (Olivia & Gordon, 2013). Unlike the previous curriculum where student’s incorporation is ignored, Olivia and Gordon’s model is realer since the students are included in every step of the development and the implementation of the curriculum. Students are further incorporated in the formation of instructional strategies and establish the methodology of student’s evaluation and assessment. The model further separates the instructions from curriculum that was not captured in the previous curriculum which posed several challenges in education. The model distinguishes instructional goals and objectives from the curriculum.
The Olivia and Gordon’s model helps us understand the aim of education. Once every stakeholder has understood the aim, specific goals and objective of education, teamwork is built with one aim of achieving the objective (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). Unlike previously discussed curriculum that did not predetermine the education, teamwork will be lacking, and hence achievement of a goal will be difficult. The model further distinguishes words such objectives, purposes, goals and aims that were misused in the previous session. This helps the school to understand what is expected in terms of its products. The models help us globally understand the aim of education and how to derive the aim of education.
The model further focuses on the significance of the development of philosophy in education and helps fix the challenges faced in the development and implementation of philosophy. This was not established in the initial curriculum. The way school districts as discussed in part one conveys the information about them in terms of mission and vision statements were far much below the standards needed. One would take time finding this information, the lack of the knowledge on how to develop philosophies has contributed to poor curriculum used in school which ultimately transforms to poor performance. As per Wiggins and Mc Tighe school missions and vision are expected to be of a long term focus. This enables the students to keep memory of what is learnt since they would expect to use the same acquired knowledge in future.
Areas of strength the curriculum addresses in the school mission/vision/purpose related-goals
The areas of strengths are such areas as, working towards the achievement of the mission related goals. The schools are seen to have developed ways of assessing their children and also have come up with ways of issuing instructions to their children. This is seen to be in line as per the Design Rubrics for self-assessment as explained by Wiggins G. According to Wiggins G, the school mission and vision should have some forecast aims outlined in its Curriculum. This is achieved by the Pre- kindergarten since they have forecast in coming up product that will be competent enough in meeting the requirements of the job markets.
Areas of improvement the curriculum fails to address in its mission vision/mission/purpose –related goal
The area of curriculum that needs improvement is failure by the management of schools to predetermine the societal needs and the children needs before drawing the curriculum. They have also failed to distinguish specific words such as purpose and objectives which they use inter-changeable hence failing to understand the aim of the education. Another area of weakness is the inability to develop and implement philosophies due to dissenting arguments and different needs of the stakeholders. The way the schools communicate their information via the web is still low as one would take much time to look for such information.
Conclusion
Understanding the main aim of a school is vital for the management and the performance of the school. Establishment of better philosophies is a fundamental feature in the curriculum development. Separating the instructions from curriculum is a driving force for the success of the school management (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). The school management should come up with an all-inclusive predetermined and a proactive strategy in developing school curriculum while incorporating every stakeholder including the school children before developing and drawing any curriculum. Societal needs are an importance factor to be considered when drawing curriculum to ensure success in schools.
References
(UMASD, 2014) Available at>http://www.umasd.org/umasd
Olivia P.F. & Gordon, W.R. (2013). Developing the curriculum. Boston, MA: Pearson. Press.
The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, (2009). Everyday Mathematics Pre-Kindergarten Grade-Level Goals. Available at<http://www.umasd.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=2776&dataid=6953&FileName=Pre-K_Math_Curriculum.pdf
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
