Lessons from a Curriculum Dean’s Early Journey
When I first stepped into the role of Dean of Curriculum at St. Timothy’s School, I did so with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I was thrilled to work closely with teachers and learn more about what was happening in classrooms, but underneath, I was more than a little scared of “not doing it right.” We didn’t have an established framework or habit for documenting curriculum, much less reviewing it, so for many teachers this was new territory. Starting a curriculum review in a school that hadn’t done one in years, with teachers who had a far deeper knowledge of their subject areas than I did, felt intimidating. I knew this was big, critical work, and I wanted to do right by the community that had entrusted me with the role.
At the beginning, I felt like I needed to have a detailed plan with expertise in every area. Over time, though, I learned that confidence in this role doesn’t come from having all the answers, but from building relationships, asking thoughtful questions, and maintaining a clear but flexible vision. I’m proud to say that we now not only have an articulated curriculum but, more importantly, we’ve strengthened and shared leadership around curriculum, built a process for ongoing reflection and improvement, and nurtured a culture of collaboration and openness. From the start of the process to its completion, I learned critical lessons on my journey, and I’ve outlined them here, along with glimpses into what it looked like in practice.
It’s Personal
One of the most cherished hallmarks of independent schools is the ability for teachers to create or modify their own curriculum. And while this autonomy can make alignment and review more complex, it’s critical to remember that for teachers, curriculum work is personal. Many have spent years, sometimes decades, designing and refining the lessons they teach. They have poured their hearts and souls into crafting experiences they believe will best serve their students. So when someone steps in to review and potentially suggest changes, it can stir up sensitivities or fears about “being found out” or “having done it wrong.”
Curriculum review is–or ought to be–a collaborative process. I have learned to approach it with a deep respect for the work teachers have already done. There may be changes to make or standards to reorganize, but first, teachers need to know that their work is valued and valuable. They must feel truly seen for what they have already accomplished and understand that any changes don’t mean they were doing anything wrong. Instead of threatening a teacher’s sense of competence, curriculum work can, when approached with care, build a type of confidence that encourages growth and professional exploration. It may take more time to build relationships of safety and mutual respect, but it is not time wasted; it lays a foundation for a shared vision of the work to come.
| Picture of Practice When I first approached the idea of reviewing the curriculum, teachers’ anxieties quickly surfaced. Some were defensive, others apologized, and a few even shared with me their fear that they had been “doing it wrong” all along. This was all before I had even looked at a single document! It became clear that before I could make any changes, I needed to build trust and confidence. Action: Before any discussions of change, I visited each teacher to see their curriculum “in action.” Afterward, I left post-its with notes of praise or followed up later to highlight something I appreciated. This wasn’t hard. Every single teacher had something to celebrate. Result: When we sat down to talk through alignment, I had the ability to reassure them that I had seen their work firsthand. Any adjustments were not a reflection of their ability or practice. This went a long way to reassure them and ultimately opened doors to honest and productive conversations. |
Educate While You Facilitate
Independent school faculties all have a unique mix of teachers. Some have formal educational degrees, while others have learned through years of teaching experience. This means that there may be many who have a deep knowledge in their subject area but are less familiar with pedagogical terminology and practices. The varying levels of background understanding can make curriculum review conversations tricky, but they also present a fantastic opportunity to get everyone on the same page.
Curriculum review involves lots of important discussions and negotiations with a variety of stakeholders. For those to be productive, everyone needs to be speaking the same language or at least have the ability to understand it. I had success when I began with the assumption that everyone benefits from a refresher on key terms, standards, and pedagogical approaches. This not only builds shared understanding but also turns the process into a meaningful professional learning experience that extends beyond the review. Even those more experienced in pedagogical theory benefit from creating the shared language for your individual school.
| Picture of Practice Early in my review process, I got a lot of pushback from a department during a meeting in which I was asking them to define and categorize certain components of their curriculum. It caught me off guard because they were usually one of my easier groups to work with. I thought about it for days until my husband reminded me that sometimes people push back not because they don’t agree but because they don’t understand. Action: The teachers in this department were extremely skilled, but most did not have formal education degrees. The task I was asking of them was unfamiliar and intimidating. Asking them to do this in a group, where uncertainty may have felt like exposure, had been a mistake. So I changed my approach and made a series of videos they could watch on their own before meetings. Each video provided a piece of background knowledge they’d need, and then I asked them to complete the same task, individually and anonymously, prior to meeting. Result: The teachers came into the following meetings more confident and far less defensive. Now, instead of assuming we all have shared knowledge, I make sure that we actually do. |
Blueprint for Flexibility
At the start of any new initiative, it’s easy to want a plan, something that moves progress forward in a predictable way. Curriculum reviews don’t always work like that. Unlike launching something brand new, you’re investigating something that already exists, and that process can be a lot less linear. A wise mentor once told me to think of the review process less as a building project and more as a renovation: there may be a plan, but it’s important to stay responsive to what is uncovered along the way.
There have been so many times that I’ve started working with a department or teacher and had to table (or completely scrap!) my plan in order to focus on something different. At first, I believed that if I had prepared well enough, I wouldn’t have been caught off guard or had to pivot. But it’s just part of the work. If the blueprint needs adjusting to fit the new uncovered information, that’s okay. Being flexibly responsive doesn’t mean always having the next step planned; it means choosing to prioritize the community’s unique needs over sticking rigidly to the plan.
| Picture of Practice I had just started to settle into a predictable plan for review and was finally moving towards alignment when our Language Arts department decided they needed to adopt a new writing curriculum. That decision came out of the insights our review work had revealed, but it had not been a part of my plan. Action: I’ll admit that it took me a minute to grieve the fact that the department would be “off schedule.” However, it was the right change for our students, and the review had built real momentum among the teachers. So instead of sticking to the previous plan, I shifted gears into helping evaluate potential curricula and developing training to support their choice. Results: Even though we paused our review to focus on the new adoption, I still made sure we circled back to alignment after everyone had settled in. By that time, I’d refined the process with other departments, so it was quicker and smoother. And, notably, the Language Arts department had gotten stronger from their adoption initiative and was more confident when we got back to work. |
Purpose First, Design Second
One of the final challenges in a curriculum role is figuring out how to take everything that’s been documented and communicate it in a way that not only paints a clear, cohesive picture of a school, but also actively serves the community. It’s tempting to pick a tool, platform, or format early on and try to make everything fit. But just as I learned to be flexible with a plan, I learned I needed to be responsive here as well.
Even though a completed curriculum map is often seen as the end result of a review, its format is sometimes what gets decided first. It’s understandable; no one wants to do such a labor-intensive process twice. But as a curriculum is documented, patterns and needs start to emerge from both the content and the conversations surrounding it. Locking into a specific format or product too early can mean missing opportunities to use what’s been uncovered in creative or meaningful ways.
The deeper I got into the process, the more I started to see the documentation and the curriculum map as having different purposes. The documentation holds the “guts” of the curriculum: important details, links to resources, and implementation specifics. The map, on the other hand, is a communication tool. The key question becomes: who is it communicating with, and how do we want it to be used? Until I could answer that, it was hard to know which platform or system to choose. There are plenty of good options out there, but I couldn’t know which one was right until the goals were clear. Each school has its own culture and habits; what’s perfect for one might be a poor fit for another. The purpose should drive the tool, not the other way around. Let form follow function.
| Picture of Practice Before I started our review, I thought I had the perfect digital platform for mapping our curriculum. It was comprehensive, easy to use, and it looked fantastic. Turns out, I was wrong. After collecting everything, it quickly became clear that, for a variety of reasons, it just wasn’t going to work. I’d had a plan, but now it was back to the drawing board. Action: The first thing I did was step back and identify what was essential for our map to accomplish. What was the “job to be done” by the curricular documentation? It needed to be accessible to families while being useful for our teachers. There needed to be a way to highlight our expanding emphasis on skill development and give us the flexibility to make updates easily as we continued to refine our goals. I also wanted it to be simple enough that it could be easily consulted or used as a conversation starter with teachers. There are a lot of platforms out there, but unfortunately for us, none of them seemed to have the potential to fulfill the mission I had in mind. So I decided to build something myself. Result: Using a web-building tool, I was able to create something custom for our school that reflected our needs and our mission and that can grow with us. It gave me flexibility to include everything we wanted to communicate and nothing we didn’t. It turns out that the failure of my first plan led to something even better. Now we have a map that truly fits us. |
My takeaways from my first few years in curriculum work weren’t what I expected. I’d thought I’d emerge with a series of protocols that would help me avoid surprises and navigate each next step with unshakeable confidence. Instead, I learned to plan for flexibility and trust the process. I also found that this type of review is as much about people as it is about documents, standards, and tools. Curriculum is the heart of all independent schools. It reflects our shared values, our standards, and our uniqueness. One of the more surprising lessons I’ve learned is that a curriculum review can actually help remind a community of these shared foundations. By getting people on the same page, sparking conversations about the subjects they love, and reaffirming that teachers’ work is valued, schools can emerge from the process with not only aligned standards, but a renewed sense of mission as well.
