Become The Queen of the Curriculum

If you've ever spent any time on the electronic discussion list LM_NET, you know that librarians are regularly seeking curriculum guides and lesson plans on everything from agriculture to zero-tolerance policies. Unfortunately, not all resources seem to be available…but then, maybe they're just not looking in the right place. If you've never heard of Kraus Curriculum Development Library Online, don't worry. Once you've had the opportunity to search this database and share your results, you'll be considered the Queen (or King) of the curriculum.

Professional resource

Pricing for K-12 schools is calculated on a per building basis. This allows access by authorized students, faculty, staff, and on-site library patrons for noncommercial use at a single location. An annual subscription costs $800; however, district-wide pricing is also available. For details, call 1-800-416-4374. For a free trial go to www.kcdlonline.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=ContactPage.

The Kraus Curriculum Development Library (KCDL) has been a resource for educators in curriculum development and content for several years. Since the early 1970s, KCDL has been available in most academic libraries through microfiche, involving both a microfiche reader and many hours (to sift through paper indices to locate curriculum guides or educational resources).

Beginning with the 20th edition in 2000, KCDL migrated online, substantially increasing the product's usefulness. KCDL Online now provides over 7,000 curriculum documents on a variety of subjects covered in PreK-12, as well as Adult Education programs. With over 3,000 full-text documents from educational agencies and organizations around the world, this product makes the task of locating curriculum resources, lesson plans, benchmarks, and standards more productive.

Less is more—and it's obvious from the front page of KCDL Online, With a simple welcome that describes the database contents, a hyperlink to a PowerPoint tutorial for using the program, and a VPAT/508 compliancy test for users with disabilities, this program isn't intimidating for even the most resistant database user. A Keyword Search box is available for users to easily enter terms, along with a limiter for return results and a check-box option for those searching for only full-text documents.

An Advanced Search hyperlink within the Keyword Search box offers users the option to move to another screen for a menu to select and limit their search. Search options include subjects; instructional content; grade levels; names of agencies, states, and countries issuing documents; publication year; and the publication year of KCDL from which the document was printed. Search tips are also included as a hyperlink within the Advanced Search page, as well as the option to limit documents to full-text.

The top banner of each search page includes links to News—which often includes quarterly updates of new content added to the database—a Search Tips link, a Help page for additional instruction, a Feedback link to offer suggestions or report problems with document access, and a Contact link to email the company. In addition, links to the entire KCDL Index and the Shelf List are provided in the top banner as a hyperlink. The Index link offers a .pdf version of the entire KCDL compilation, including Web sites for the .pdf documents, the annotations for each document, the suggested grade levels, the subject headings of each item listed, and the percentage of educational content that the resource provides (for example, one document may be considered 100 percent Resource Material while another document might be considered 20 percent Learning Activities, 20 percent Course Content, 20 percent Resource Materials, 25 percent Lesson Plans, 10 percent Teaching Guides, and 5 percent Academic Standards). The Shelf List provides a smaller listing (25 pages) of document numbers, subject content, and the agencies providing those resources alphabetized by subject.

To locate a specific resource within KCDL Online, users can simply use the Keyword search box or the Advanced Search and limit their search by subject, grade level, publication date, or other item of interest. Although the initial search may seem simple, the results often include a list of resources and educational agencies that provide lengthy documents that might be a little overwhelming. Users who are interested in reviewing the resources should save the .pdf formats to their computer for reading or later access rather that opening and printing these resources—many contain well over 100 pages of curriculum content, lesson plans, instructional objectives, and even color photographs.

Examples of the content within KCDL Online include a 56-page curriculum for teaching about Muslim holidays; a 49-page guide for parents entitled, Helping Your Child Learn History; an 87-page guide to using children's literature to address bullying; and a 215-page curriculum guide to virtual field trips for elementary classes.

Often many of the instructional or curriculum guides are listed along with the organization's name and Web site address. Through the use of the Web site address, educators can often find more resources that might not otherwise be known. For example, using the search term "field trips," I located a 49-page curriculum published by NASA entitled, The Case of the "Wright" Invention: A Lesson Guide with Activities in Mathematics, Science, and Technology—an educational series (The NASA Science Files) developed in cooperation with PBS. This curriculum (produced for an episode airing in 2003) was developed for third, fourth, and fifth grade students and incorporates math, science, and technology into an exciting unit of investigation. The National Math and Science standards are listed within the curriculum, along with ISTE Standards for technology for each grade level.

By searching the NASA Web site link, I discovered that the curriculum guide for the entire series from 2000–2006, as well as archived streaming videos of the episode matching the curriculum lesson, are still available. (I also found the Educator's Resource page with the Online Catalog that lists the program available for purchase.) Finally, I came across additional content within the NASA educational Web site area, including other lesson plans, streaming videos, instructional content, and educational resources to supplement the curriculum.

Because most (if not all) of the resources provided in the KCDL Online are free, educators can quickly and easily supplement educational content by simply searching the database for well-hidden educational materials.

Aside from government documents and the Library of Congress's American Memory project, the Kraus Curriculum Development Library Online may well be one of the best-kept secrets in education. As Roy Tennant once said, "Only librarians like to search, everyone else likes to find." Through the use of KCDL Online, educators can now easily find exactly what they need without spending endless hours of tedious searching. By making the process of curriculum development and classroom teaching even more educational and productive for educators everywhere, KCDL Online deserves an A+.