Living Curriculum Online

Meaningful teacher evaluation, professional growth, and strategic compensation

A tool born out of necessity

Several years ago, Wheaton Academy, a private Christian high school in the western suburbs of Chicago, took a hard look at how teachers were being compensated. At the time it was the typical model of years of experience + education. Not unlike school districts across the nation, they came to realize this model was broken. So they began development of a new process based on teacher performance and student growth. The simple metrics of experience and education on the sideline, new methods had to be developed to accurately assess how well teachers were doing. The result of this effort is the Living Curriculum Teacher Development Model (LCTDM™), with its focus on classroom observations, student surveys, goal-setting, and collaboration to foster growth and provide a framework for compensation.

The Online Application

Though it started out a paper system, the process was converted to an online software application, Living Curriculum Online. This Web application is the Swiss Army knife of LCTDM™, giving administrators and teachers ready access to the tools to streamline and automate the process. The entire application was built to be completely customizable so that users can tailor the content to fit their school’s culture and goals.

improving and growing

The Living Curriculum Teacher™ model provides tools that allow you to incorporate self-evaluation, goal setting, classroom observations, student/parent surveys, teacher portfolios, learning management, and collaborative discussions into the performance management process, fostering growth in your teachers and providing a framework for rewarding compensation.

A different model

The traditional approach to teacher evaluation and compensation has been based on the number of years in the classroom, the number of degrees, and the results of standardized testing. In recent years, administrators of Christian schools are realizing that it takes more to develop teachers that have a lasting impact on students.

While the education and experience of the teacher is important, leaders (evaluators) must encourage the continuing development of skills, methods, AND involvement in the life of the student and the school as disciples. This is the value of Christian education that our parents and students deserve.

The Living Curriculum Teacher™ is a performance management, learning management, and pay-for-performance model built to advance Christian education. The model focuses on three components of performance management – leadership, process and tools. The model assists leaders to motivate, develop, encourage, and compensate teachers using a realistic and personal approach of self-evaluation, goal setting, observation, learning management and evaluation, with feedback and collaboration.

First, we work to equip school leaders to create a culture of teamwork between administrators and teachers in an annual cycle of feedback and coaching. We believe this begins with a well-articulated learning philosophy, continues with clear performance criteria that leaders are aligned around and a strong evaluation process that leaders are invested in, and finishes with an understanding of what is good and what is great. When done well, the impact on student learning and individual transformation is significant. To assist schools with the leadership and process components, we offer Best Practice Intensives, in-house workshops, and consulting engagements to prepare and assist schools and school leaders in implementing the Living Curriculum Teacher™ model. Visit our pages on Educational Leadership & Teacher Development to learn more about how we can work with you to align your leadership, define your criteria, and determine your process.

what is Living Curriculum online?

Living Curriculum Online™ is a cloud-based application, accessible anytime and anywhere on any device to manage the process and documentation of your performance and learning management system. It allows individual schools and users, protected by unique IDs, to record and save data in an easily retrievable way.

Customizable

Once given access to the application, each school can enter teachers and administrators into the system, assigning them privileges, groups, and departments. Each school will have the opportunity to review the pre-populated categories and criteria and edit, add, and delete to fit your particular school, situation, and goals.

Assessment hierarchy

Living Curriculum Online breaks down the evaluations into your determined domains. Domains can focus on the skills of the teacher and the resulting effectiveness of the learning. Each domain can have categories with their own set of individual criteria divided into levels of performance. Each school can tailor the tool to fit its mission and philosophy of teaching and learning.

Intentional evaluation

So what drives the actual scoring of the teacher for each of these criteria? It is driven by classroom observations, student surveys, a teacher’s goals and their written input, and the teacher’s self-evaluation. This high-touch method is what brings the heart and human side to what could be viewed as a calculated result.

Biblically Rooted

Luke 6:40 tells us that students become like the teachers who train them. That’s why it’s so important that one hundred percent of Christian educators are empowered to speak Biblical truth to every student and to model a life of commitment to Christ!

Their example is the “living curriculum.”

what makes living curriculum teachers℠ different?

Living Curriculum Teachers℠ understand that students flourish when they have opportunity to participate in a classroom where there is engaging instruction, compelling content, and different opportunities for students to express what they know.

Living Curriculum Teachers℠ know that, in the 21st century, learning goes beyond the memorization of facts; instead, our teachers challenge students to solve real-world problems and practically apply what they have learned with experiential learning opportunities.

Living Curriculum Teachers℠ invest in students’ character and learning habits. This intentional investment ensures that students will not only have the knowledge, but also the character traits and skills necessary to be successful in life after high school.

what educators have to say

“Being a Living Curriculum
teacher requires having
clear expectations and then reaching goals. I appreciate the way the Living Curriculum Teacher model helps me frame conversations and understand how to continue to grow year to year.”

New Teacher, Wheaton Academy

“I have always really appreciated this tool as a
way to improve my own teaching, and how that
then translates to learning. It allows me to set clear goals each year because of the specificity of the tool itself. Coming from someone who is
extremely goal oriented, this works well for me.”

experienced teacher, wheaton academy

“Wheaton Academy’s Living Curriculum Teacher model has been
formative in helping me grow as a teacher. If
you want to develop your craft of teaching, this
model provides clear working targets to help
achieve your professional goals and to enrich
student learning.”

Experienced Teacher, Wheaton Academy

Program Distinctives