3 Organizational Strategies to Maximize Your Curriculum Management

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the concepts of traditional organization are clearly applicable to filing systems and digital files. When we organize areas like closets, garages, drawers, or cabinets, it translates to increased efficiency of the area, increased productivity of the items housed in that area, and it makes us feel good, too! Curriculum management and live file storage benefit from the same ideas – here are 3 that pack the most powerful punch to get you off and running:

1. Quality Over Quantity

We all do it – hold onto that lesson that we may use again in 10 years, those copies that we thought we’d use but didn’t, the four different versions of an activity, the “finalfinalfinal” version of an exam. Unfortunately, having too much material ends up making the quality curriculum items nearly impossible to find – especially in a time crunch. If you can stomach it, delete those files you haven’t used in years and the additional versions, paring your curricular material down to truly high-quality items. If you can’t, at least create an “Additional Materials” folder where those things can be stored, but don’t have to be searched through on a regular basis.

2. Label Well

Create a filing structure that groups your curriculum documents by a commonality that is easily discernible by your district, grade level and/or content area. Don’t be afraid to change things up for different groups, either. Some structures may work well for elementary or core content that would fall flat for secondary or specialty content. The idea of “less is more” applies here as well – having to search through tiers of folder structures to find documents or multiple filing cabinets is too much. Using simple, clear labels goes a long way.  

3. Make it Easy

One of the most important aspects of a quality curriculum management program is that it is utilized! Placing an easy-to-use system at the forefront of instructional planning makes standards-based curriculum, instead of transient instructional strategies, the cornerstone of instruction. By setting up a system that is simple to access, use and share, it will be much easier for both teachers and administrators to utilize curricular materials – and thus, more likely. This sets teachers and students up for success, resulting in the creation of more equitable classrooms.  

Is your current curriculum management system easy to use? Do you want to use it? Can you get the analytics you desire from it? At Education Advanced, we know educators do not have time to reinvent the wheel when it comes to curriculum management.

Set your district up for success with Embarc (formerly BYOC) and let us do the organizational heavy lifting!