Shared Curriculum Planning in K-12 Education: A Systematic Review of Literature and Remixing English Curriculum for Cultural Congruence, Relevance, and Engagement

Abstract

Students find curriculum more accessible when it mirrors their societal realities and personal identities. Traditional K-12 curricula often rely on skills-focused, monolithic resources that are inflexible and do not incorporate students interests and identities. This misalignment between students and curriculum contributes to student disengagement because the students cannot connect to the curriculum. One way to engage students in ELA classes is to redesign the curriculum to center contemporary literature that reflects students realities while working in traditional texts and skill-based instruction. Students demonstrated gains in behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, cognitive engagement, and agentic engagement during the redesigned learning unit. Another way to address the misalignment between students and curriculum is to engage in shared planning, in which parents and community members work with teachers to plan student learning. Shared planning turns parents and community members into educational assets, which mitigates barriers and fosters trusting relationships between families and school systems.