Getting Started With Rigorous Curriculum Design: How School Districts Are Successfully Redesigning Their Curricula for the Common Core

School districts are implementing the Rigorous Curriculum Design (RCD) process to redesign their curricula to prepare students for success on the coming Common Core national assessments. Each chapter of Getting Started With Rigorous Curriculum Design will provide educators with “collective wisdom” — insights and ideas to enrich and expand understandings they may not have yet come to on their own. The RCD framework is a clearly laid out, step-by-step process that is welcomed by educators for its linearity. It begins with five foundational steps: Prioritize the Common Core State Standards; Name the Units of Study; Assign the Standards to the Units—Priority and Supporting; Prepare a Yearlong Pacing Calendar; Create the Unit Planning Organizer.