Deep Curriculum Alignment.

The latest effort by Fenwick English and his co-author Betty Steffy, both of whom are professors of education at Iowa State University, reiterates the concepts of their previous works on curriculum alignment. The central focus remains unchanged: the alignment of what is tested to what is taught.

Deep Curriculum Alignment provides school practitioners with actions that can put theory into practice. Each chapter ends with summaries of key concepts and applications. The application section provides suggested activities that are intended to improve the curriculum and the instructional process, not just test scores.

By expanding on their previous writing on curriculum alignment, English and Steffy now have provided administrators with the "how" to complement the "what" and "why." This book begins to incorporate the continuous improvement process (with an emphasis on process) more than their previous writings.

Educators come to understand that the process (instruction/curriculum) must be improved if we sincerely want to provide all students with a level playing field. Likewise the process must be improved and emphasized before test scores can be raised.

(Deep Curriculum Alignment: Creating a Level Playing Field for All Children on High-Stakes Tests of Educational Accountability, by Fenwick English and Betty Steffy, Scarecrow Press, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Md. 20706, 2001, 140 pp. with index, $19.95 softcover)