Curriculum Compacting

What is curriculum compacting?

Curriculum compacting is a differentiation strategy that incorporates

1. content,

2. process,

3. products, 

4. Classroom management, and

5. Teachers’ personal commitment to accommodating individual and small-group differences, based on Renzulli’s five dimensions of differentiation.

Curriculum compacting enables teachers in many subject areas and grade levels to address the demand for more challenging learning experiences. When done well, the curriculum is designed to help all students achieve at high levels and realize their potential. 

Given the time constraints in a normal school year, and now consider the need to potentially teach content that was not taught from the previous year, it is more important than ever that we do not waste precious time teaching students material that they already know.  Teachers need to spend time exposing students to new content and big ideas that extend their thinking. Every child deserves to maintain or increase their knowledge or performance-level from the previous school year. Therefore, teachers need to be flexible, innovative, reflective and commit to the promise that instruction must be responsive to students’ needs in order to achieve continuous progress in learning for all students.  

Two kinds of Curriculum Compacting

Basic Skill Compacting

• Does the student already know the skills being covered?

• Can proficiency be documented?

• Can certain skills be eliminated?

• Will the student be allowed and encouraged to master missing skills at his or her own pace?

• If skills can be mastered at a pace aligned with the student’s ability, will the student be able to help determine what he/she will do in the time earned by displaying mastery?

Content Compacting

• If the student already knows the content, will he or she have the opportunity to display the competency of the subject or topic?

• If students do not already know the content but have the ability to master the material at their own pace, will they be afforded the opportunity?

• If content mastery can be demonstrated, will the student have the opportunity to select the work that will be substituted for previously mastered content?

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