Frequently Asked Questions

Curriculum Toolkit Beta v3.0 FAQ

General FAQ

Curriculum and Standards Toolkit (CST) FAQ

Q: I think the Curriculum Group could help our district with our ongoing curriculum work. What should I do next?
A: First, contact one of our Curriculum Group Consultants to set up a free Needs Assessment. We will meet with your superintendent and/or curriculum directors to clarify your district's needs and set appropriate goals. Once an action plan and timeline have been articulated, we will create a specific contract for our work with your district (see our Curriculum Development Model).

Q: How much do you charge to work with a district?
A: Curriculum Group adheres to the Department of Education guidelines for consulting fees. A fee of $750 per day is charged for on-site staff consulting, facilitation or training and travel time. An additional fee of $750 per day covers off-site preparation, research and development of materials, communication with district members, data entry, follow-up reports and technical support.

Q: Are public schools the only ones who work with Curriculum Group?
A: Absolutely not! While we work with many public school districts in Massachusetts, we also support private schools, charter schools, and residential facilities interested in aligning their curriculum with the State Frameworks. Auburn, Beverly, East Bridgewater, Fall River, Falmouth, Freetown-Lakeville, Longmeadow, Palmer, The Stetson School Inc., Somerset, Tewksbury, U Mass Lowell, and Westport are some of the groups we have supported in developing sustainable standards-based curriculum.

Q: In what ways can I report on my curriculum once it's developed?
A: The CST database contains all sorts of information that you can use in a variety of ways. You can search by grade, unit, topic, or standard. You can also print a variety of reports to use with teachers, parents and students. Unit guides, reports aligning state language to district language and student learning outcomes by grade span are just a few of the possible options.

Q: What is the CST?
A: CST stands for the Curriculum and Standards Toolkit. It is a standalone software program developed by Mass Networks Education Partnership and available for free to all Massachusetts educators. The toolkit is designed to assist districts in developing standards-based curriculum and assessment and includes searchable databases of all Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and MCAS questions.

Q: Where can I get the CST?
A: The CST installer can be downloaded for free from our website. When you run the installer, it will copy the CST to your computer's hard drive. The CST is not a web-based tool.

Q: What can I do with the CST?
A: You can do a list of things with the CST. Some of them are:

• Map district learning objectives to individual standards
  
• Develop district-wide assessment tasks and rubrics
• Print a variety of curriculum reports
• Print parent brochures
• Manage curriculum revision more effectively
• Search all Massachusetts Curriculum
• Frameworks
• Search all MCAS questions
• Create and print custom practice tests
• Document model standards-based lesson plans

Q: Who can use the CST?
A: The CST is designed for all educators. User manuals are available to help individuals working alone. However, it is important to note that the CST is designed for use by curriculum administrators and teams in the task of developing district curriculum guidelines. When Mass Networks consultants work with districts, we model shared rather than individual use of the tool.

Q: What is the best way to use the CST?
A: Drawing on our work with districts across the state, the Curriculum Group has outlined a process for developing standards-based district curriculum guidelines called the Curriculum Development Model. Districts are encouraged to use this model as a resource in curriculum planning and development even if we are not consulting with you. In this model, the CST plays a supporting role where it is used primarily to document conversations in vertical teams, and to organize those conversations in relation to standards. It is not recommended that the CST be used by individual teachers to document daily lessons and activities.

Q: How did the CST come about?
A: The CST was first developed in 1997 by Kimberly Joyce, then a 4th grade teacher in North Andover, MA. It was known then as CLASP (Curriculum Library Alignment and Sharing Project). Through a Lighthouse grant from the Department of Education, Ms. Joyce shared the program she developed with five other districts around the state. Word quickly spread and by fall of 1998, curriculum administrators from more than 50 districts were meeting monthly to talk about how the software program could be improved, and to share with one another their lessons learned in aligning curriculum to standards.

As the Curriculum Group Consulting project (formerly CLASP Consulting project) grew under Mass Networks Education Partnership, the software was renamed the Curriculum Sharing and Support Tool (the CST) to distinguish the tool from the larger context of curriculum strategy and professional development that MNEP staff facilitate. From 1999 - 2002, the CST underwent countless facelifts and revisions.

Q: What are current revision plans?
A: During the fall of 2002 and winter of 2003, Mass Networks Education Partnership is building and piloting brand new software to replace the role played by the old CST. The new software will incorporate many of the features of the old software, and will include additional functionality that meets the needs of our district clients. It will not, however, be a web-based tool.

We are renaming the software the Curriculum and Standards Toolkit to reflect its core function: to support development of standards-based curriculum. A beta version of the Curriculum Frameworks and MCAS portions (called MA Resources v3.0) is currently available in PC format. This is a preview of the look and feel of the full CST v3.0, scheduled for release by spring 2003.

Q: What is the MA Resources v3.0 program?
A: MA Resources v3.0 is a smaller version of the CST that only includes the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and MCAS questions. It is an excellent resource for individual teachers and principals who need to focus on standards and MCAS questions relevant to their specific grade and content area. MA Resources v3.0 does not include any of the curriculum development components of the full CST.

Q: What are the technical specifications of the CST?
A: The CST is developed using Filemaker Pro v5.0 Developer Tools. It is a standalone run-time database. It is available in a PC format and a Mac format.

Q: If I have Filemaker Pro v5.0 or higher, can I make changes to the CST?
A: Yes. You may open up the CST files from within Filemaker Pro and make changes to the layout and functionality of the tool.

Q: Can the CST run on a network?
A: Yes. The CST is designed so that it can run over a network. To run the CST on a network, you will need Filemaker Server (retail $999.00) and a dedicated server machine with the minimum specifications listed below. Filemaker Server can support up to 250 simultaneous users.

Q: My district uses the CLASP CST. Can I import my data to the Toolkit Beta v3.0?
A: Short answer is yes. The long answer is that it may take a little doing, depending on how you organized your data in the CLASP CST. The Curriculum Group is offering free data conversion through May 15, 2003 to districts who agree to test the Beta and provide feedback. For more information about how to participate in the Beta test, click here.

Q: How big is the Toolkit Beta v3.0?
A: The Curriculum Toolkit Beta v3.0 installer is 5.7 MB. When installed on your computer's hard drive, it expands to 26.6MB.

Q: Why is the Toolkit so much smaller than the old CLASP CST?
A: The CLASP CST contains curriculum guidelines and lesson plans from other districts. This data takes up a great deal of hard drive space. The Toolkit Beta contains only a very small amount of sample data, and the final Toolkit will not contain any. It is designed as a tool for intra-district curriculum building rather than inter-district curriculum sharing.

Q: Can I search the Frameworks or MCAS in the Toolkit Beta v3.0?
A: No. You may download our software, MA Resources, expressly designed for this purpose.

Q: Will the Toolkit Beta v3.0 be available on the Macintosh platform?
A: The final release of the Toolkit will be available on the Macintosh platform. We expect to release the final Toolkit on the Mac at the end of June 2003. However, we will not release a Toolkit Beta on the Mac platform.

Q: Can I get a CD of the Toolkit Beta v3.0?
A: No. It is available free of charge from the Mass Networks website.