The effects of curriculum mapping on the instructional practices of professional collaboration, standards alignment, and assessment

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher attitudes toward curriculum mapping and three dimensions of instructional practices related to curriculum mapping in school districts with and without web-based curriculum mapping software. The three dimensions of instructional practices were: professional collaboration, standards alignment, and assessment.; The 248 participants in this study were from four selected public school districts in two counties of New York State: Suffolk and Nassau. Two districts were those who used the Rubicon-Atlas web-based curriculum mapping system and two districts generated their maps via traditional paper and pencil methods. Data was gathered using a teacher survey instrument designed specifically for this study. The Curriculum Mapping Survey assessed teachers' level of computer use for instructional purposes, teachers' general attitudes toward curriculum mapping, the impact of curriculum mapping on teachers' instructional practices in the following areas: collaboration, standards alignment, and assessment, and teachers' attitudes toward the use of web-based curriculum mapping software.; Teachers in this study overwhelmingly agreed that the use of curriculum mapping would improve their districts' instructional program. They also indicated that they would choose to participate in the process of curriculum mapping. Furthermore, the results of this research affirmed that curriculum mapping was largely perceived by teachers to be a tool that was useful in identifying the gaps and redundancies in a districts' instructional program. Critical to this research was the finding that the teachers' believed that curriculum mapping was directly impacting their instructional practices in the areas of professional collaboration, standards alignment, and assessment.; While the predominance of teachers' believed that a web-based curriculum mapping software system would enhance the process of curriculum mapping, it was not found to significantly impact on teachers' perceptions of curriculum mapping as a valuable endeavor. Also, the majority of teachers in both districts without a web-based curriculum mapping software system believed that a web-based software system would facilitate the process of curriculum mapping in their districts.