A crucial aspect of curriculum change is to base curricular goals on authentic, challenging tasks. These are characterized by the following:

• All student practice advanced skills
• Multidisciplinary Curriculum
• Collaborative Learning
• Heterogeneous Groupings
• Interactive Modes of Instruction
• Student Exploration
• Teacher as Facilitator
• Performance-Based Assessment
• Extended Blocks of Time

Resource for Authentic Learning:

ATLAS Communities: Communities for Authentic Teaching, Learning, and Assessment for All Students

• How would you design a school so that the curriculum is organized around essential questions, such as "What is justice?" or "What does it mean to be alive?" So that students take responsibility for their own learning, and teachers act more like coaches than lecturers or judges? So that all adult members of the school community have a voice in the decision-making process? The ATLAS Communities Project is grappling with such questions as it attempts to design "break-the-mold schools" for the 21st century. It is one of 11 school reform projects nationwide selected in August 1992, for funding by the non-profit New American Schools http://www.naschools.org

In this Module:

In the Toolkit: