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Using the Master Curriculum to Help You Develop an Entire Curriculum or an Individual IEP
Through an exclusive licensing agreement with PennSTAR, NASET now provides the raw material to develop an entire Master Curriculum or an individual IEP [Individual Education Program] to all it's members, free of charge.
PennSTAR is an excellent tool for creating IEPs and curricula. It consists of the following components:
- 16 Subject Areas
- 105 Goal Areas under the Subject Areas
- 4,830 Objectives under the Goal Areas
- 2,719 Suggested Activities for achieving the objectives.
Answers for two critical questions are provided:
1.) What do I teach in the form of Objectives
2.) How do I teach it, in the form of Activities?
The PennSTAR Master Curriculum presented by NASET is based on a three level program:
Level I - Subject Areas (Long Term Objectives): Here you will find 16 different Subject or Long Term Goal Areas which encompass the majority of subjects encountered by most children with special needs.
Level II - Short Term Objectives: Here you will find numerous specific Short Term Objectives or specific skills listed under each Subject Area. The Short Term Objectives listed constitute the majority of those required in the education of children with special needs.
Level III - Behavioral Objectives: Here you will find over 4,000 specific objectives associated with the specific goals listed in the Subject Area and Short Term Objectives.
When you're ready to develop a curriculum, or IEP, consider this sequence of events:
- Step I - Identify the specific Subject Area(s) listed in the Master Curriculum you will need to use to develop objectives in which the student may need remediation or assistance. There are 16 separate Subject Area categories.
- Step II - After choosing a specific Subject Area i.e. Reading you should then go to a list of Short Term Objectives for that Subject Area i.e. reading comprehension. Each Subject Area has numerous Short Term Objectives which cover the most important skills in that particular Subject Area.
- Step III - When you have chosen the specific Short Term Objective, review it and then go to a list of Behavioral Objectives that can be used to write IEP’s or develop a curriculum for a specific student. Keep in mind that the Behavioral Objectives (listed in terms of skills, abilities, and knowledge) are what a student will need in order to realize his/her major life goals, expressed as exit or transition outcomes. You’ll notice that the Master Curriculum objectives always begin with a present tense verb: Writes… Reads… Spells… Tells … Etc.
- Step IV - You will only need to, if required, include a Mastery Level i.e. 80% accuracy rate or 8 out of 10 correct etc. for each objective.
NASET Members Login to access the downloadable PennSTAR file
Using the Master Curriculum Suggested Activities to Help You Design Remediation and Curriculum
Now that you have created your IEP goals and objectives or curriculum goals and objectives, you will need to decide on the specific activities that you will use to carry out your educational plan.
There is nothing automatic about the Master Curriculum Suggested Activities selection process. The Master Curriculum does not provide the ability to match activities to a specific Behavioral Objective. What it does provide are hundreds of suggested activities for a specific Subject Area i.e. Reading. Therefore, human skill is required to assign the most appropriate objectives and match activities to objectives. A suggested process follows:
- Step I - From the hundreds of activities provided under each Subject Area, choose activities that you feel are likely to assist the student in achieving the Behavioral Objectives listed on his/her IEP or curriculum plan.
- Step II - Select materials, methods, and other activities that are not listed in the Activities Files. Examples: Textbooks are considered materials, games are activities, and such things as token reinforcement are methods.
- Step III - Use the materials, methods, and other activities that you feel are most likely to assist this student in achieve the selected Behavioral Objectives.