Staccato Skills Syndrome in Scopes and Sequences

In this post I want to illustrate a simple technique for making curriculum objectives more realistic and consistent throughout a scope and sequence.

I’ve worked on updating and aligning a number of ESL curricula, for the purposes of aligning to the CEFR or adult Ed standards, as well as accreditation through CEA or ACCET.

Let’s take a look at this mini scope and sequence as example of how Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are often presented:

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Reading	SWBAT blah blah blah	SWBAT blah blah blah	SWBAT blah blah blah	SWBAT blah blah blah
Writing	SWBAT write simple and compound sentences.	SWBAT write a paragraph with topic sentences and supporting details.	SWBAT paraphrase and properly cite sources in essays.	SWBAT use a range of vocabulary and sentence constructions to control style and register.
Speaking	SWBAT blah blah blah	SWBAT blah blah blah	SWBAT blah blah blah	SWBAT blah blah blah

Quite often a narrow sub-skill or strategy appears in the scope and sequence as though they are confined to a single level or course. For instance, in the table above, it appears that the skill of