As a result of getting a Christ-centered education, we want our students to love God with their minds. So, we want our students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. One way to do to this is by having our students experience a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum:

• Guaranteed: All teachers at a given Christian school teach specified Bible content in each subject they teach.
• Viable: All teachers have sufficient instructional time to teach the specified Bible content.
• Biblical perspective: The specified Bible content is formatted as Biblical principles. Each Biblical principle is supported by at least 3 Bible passages.
• Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum.

To move forward on developing a Biblical perspective curriculum, you’ve reflected on 5 key questions:

1. Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what are the opportunities/problems?
2. What’s your stakeholders’ perspective of a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
3. Where are you/your school in terms of having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
4. Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what’s your/your school’s level of motivation?
5. To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what do you/your school need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
6. Next question: How would you/your school develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?

 
Here are responses from Christian educators like you:
 
Teacher: Here are some thoughts on how I would develop a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum.
 
Step 1: Make sure all the teachers know how to accurately Biblically integrate. This may include teacher inservices to help teachers develop Biblical thinking regarding the subject areas. Sometimes Christian teachers do not have very developed Biblical perspectives on their subject areas. Workshops may include worldview training (perhaps a book study on James Sire's The Universe Next Door) as well as training on how to develop integrated unit and lesson plans. This should also include developing a list of key Biblical principles that should be covered somewhere within the school year, or going through a previously developed list of key Biblical principles.
 
Step 2: Have teachers develop curriculum guides with Biblical integration points that include identified Biblical principles for each unit.
 
Step 3: Have teachers make sure the assessments also assess for Biblical principle understanding.
 
Step 4: Develop a scope and sequence of Biblical integration principles to make sure that key principles are not left out or over instructed. Make adjustments in the curriculum guides where needed.
 
This is no short process, and I would imagine it would need to be structured into some kind of long-term planning. I think a key component in this is allowing sufficient time during working hours to develop this. That could include after school meetings, scheduled teacher work days, etc. The administration will really have to be on board and be passionate about this getting done. I imagine that once teachers get going, they will really enjoy teaching from a Biblical perspective. Developing a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum will really help teachers and students to see things the way God does. The ultimate goal being that people will live as man was designed to live, giving glory to God.
 

Curriculum coordinator: Here is what I see as a series of action steps that need to take place for us to establish a viable and replicable Biblical perspective curriculum:

1. Adopt the creation-fall-redemption-restoration motif as the framework for the Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks.
2. Develop departmental standards for implementing the creation-fall-redemption-restoration framework.
3. Use the department standards to develop Biblical perspective grade-level benchmarks.
4. Develop and implement assessments to determine student performance on Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks.
5. Analyze assessment data and use the findings to set goals for improving student performance on Biblical perspective standards.
6. By department (or other grouping that would make sense given the data), determine instructional strategies that would improve student learning on the Biblical perspective standards. Implement instructional strategies as a department.
7. Measure results over time, and make needed adjustments on a routine basis throughout the school year (at least the end of each semester).
8. Review curriculum on a 5-year plan for making major revisions to the curriculum and/or assessments used to measure the Biblical perspective standards.

Teacher: Our school has a culminating assessment for seniors where they research a global issue, articulate a Christian response to it, and engage in a project that addresses that issue. This is a great expression of what we hope our school's education has equipped kids to know, be, and do. 
 
To take this assessment to the next level, we need to make sure our curriculum in grades 9-11 systematically prepares students for this senior assessment. 
 
In terms of a Biblical perspective curriculum, we would need to develop and teach a scope and sequence of Biblical principles in all subjects in grades 9-11. To do this, teachers would need to:

• List issues addressed by senior assessments in the last couple of years and identify the Biblical principles that address those issues. (Students should not have to be originating these principles; they should have been taught them in a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum.) 
• Look at this list of Biblical principles, seeing which principles naturally fit in their courses or subject areas, and incorporate them into their courses.
• Teach these principles, give assessments, and use assessment results to further develop a scope and sequence.

In short, we would focus on our senior assessment in order to develop our "starter" Biblical perspective curriculum. Then, we would expand it.


Close the Gap Now: Developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum is an aggressive, yet achievable, goal. Just as there are different ways to do curriculum, there are different ways to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum. In other words, there’s no 1 right way to do it.
 
Here are 10 possible action steps:

1. Cast the vision for students developing a Christ-centered worldview through experiencing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum.
2. Set a schoolwide SMART goal regarding students connecting Biblical principles to what they study. For example: By June 2013, 90% of students will score at or above standard on connecting Biblical principles to what they study, scores being taken from classroom assessments.
3. Listen to stakeholders about what they think about developing a Biblical perspective curriculum. Then, address their concerns.
4. Make using the curriculum to help students develop a Christ-centered worldview an operational priority.
5. Define what having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum means for your school. For example, if your school uses standards and benchmarks, it means that all subjects would have Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks and that teachers would assess the Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks.
6. Do a needs analysis, for example, determine where your school is in terms of having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Determine what you need to keep doing, start doing, and stop doing. Determine the training your teachers need. (Reviewing Biblical perspective teacher training standards might be useful.) On a scale of 1-10 (10 being really motivated), rate your school’s level of motivation. If it is below an 8, take steps to raise it to an 8.
7. Collaboratively develop a schoolwide action plan regarding a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum.
8. Have teachers start small. For example, have teachers adding 1 Biblical principle to a unit map, designing an assessment for how well students can connect what they study and that Biblical principle, and teaching a lesson to prepare students for that assessment.
9. Over time, have teachers add Biblical principles to more units and subjects/classes. Then, use a framework (like creation-fall-redemption-restoration) to analyze all Biblical principles. This will help you find gaps, make revisions, and eventually develop a scope and sequence.
10. Ensure that all Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks are taught and assessed.

 
Again, there’s no 1 right way to do this. The point is to develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum and get students experiencing it—the point is not to write a plan for developing such a curriculum.


*This blog entry addresses Biblical perspective teacher training standard #4: To help students love God and impact the world for Him, teachers develop a curriculum that targets students understanding and then applying a Biblical perspective to course content and skills, and ultimately to their lives.