All too often, curriculum decisions are made in a vacuum. We need to change the process used in making curriculum decisions because most curriculum committees are ineffective at actually producing work that directly affects student performance . Occasionally these lists inspire and focus teachers' actions, but too often they remain nothing more than lifeless inventories of isolated skills. The lists may discuss 1st grade writing skills or 3rd grade reading skills, but they offer little or no focus on precisely when specific skills will be addressed during the course of a school year, let alone a group of school years. Without a commitment to when a skill will be taught, there is no commitment.
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