Surveys of Enacted Curriculum

The Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) offer a practical, reliable set of data collection tools that support systematic reflection and dialogue around important curricular and school climate questions for teachers of mathematics, English, Language Arts & Reading (ELAR), science, and social studies. The resulting data, immediately available through a secure online reporting system, provides educators empirical evidence-based data to inform curricular decisions at the classroom, building and district levels.

For two decades the SEC has supported powerful conversations among teachers, whether organized by grade level, department, or PLC group. Use of the SEC allows all voices to be represented which supports robust collective conversations about what to continue, change, or stop doing in the classroom.

Areas covered by SEC mini-surveys:

School & Class
Description
(10 min.)

Teacher
Characteristics
(10 min.)

Classroom
Activities
(15 min.)

Instructional
Content
(45 min.)

Professional
Development
(10 min.)

Assessment
Activities
(5 min.)

Climate &
Beliefs
(10 min.)

Using the SEC mini-surveys educators and instructional leaders can address multiple goals, whether to obtain reliable indicators of students' opportunities to learn standards-based content, monitor the implementation of standards-based instruction across classrooms and schools, facilitate discussions of effective practice and strategies for improving achievement, or to assess the needs of teachers and schools in order to better target assistance and professional development opportunities.

Much of the SEC survey data are displayed using floating bar charts (like the one below) that enable data-users to quickly determine both the average response as well as the amount of variation reported across teachers for any given response.

Anatomy of a Floating Bar Chart

The SEC mini-survey on Instructional Content helps educators and leaders address key questions related to instructional content:

• Is subject area content being taught with sufficient rigor or depth? Are content topics being taught to high levels of cognitive demand, as outlined in standards?
• Is content being taught that is not clearly related to the learning objectives identified in the state standards?
• Is the content being covered leaving some learning objectives identified in state content standards unaddressed?

SEC Content Maps, illustrated below, are one type of visual display used to help teachers and others identify areas of alignment and difference between the content of enacted classroom instruction and that of standards.

Based on data gleaned from SEC displays, teachers and other instructional leaders can use their collective knowledge to consider the implications for future instruction. The types of questions that are more fruitfully addressed based on evidence in the SEC might include:

1. Can we discern connections between current instructional practices and areas of low and high achievement relative to specific content topics?
2. Are instructional practices consistent with prevailing research on effective practices?
3. What does the data imply about types of professional development that may benefit us?

Whether SEC data are used by individual teachers or a professional community of teachers engaged in serious conversations about their instruction and collective strategies for increased student learning, the SEC provides multiple focal points for reflection and discussion based on teachers' self-reported experiences and perceptions.