ummer Committees are organized by the NAD Curriculum Committee to assist in the adoption or development of textbooks. Elementary teachers, school/conference/ union administrators, and higher education professors, from across the NAD, are selected to serve on the committees based on their content area expertise. Elementary union associates serve as the chairpersons of the Summer Committees. The responsibilities of the committees include the review of current content area textbooks, and development of textbook recommendations or materials that align with Adventist Education Standards. Recommendations are then voted by the NAD Education Advisory Committee..

A summary of the work of the 2017 Elementary Summer Committees follows:

PATHWAYS Committee

The Pathways Committee continued their work on the development of the Pathways 2.0 program.  Specifically, they focused on the development of the Teacher Manual and the Writer’s Handbooks.  There will be one Teacher Manual for grades 1-8 and three Writer’s Handbooks for grades 1-2, 3-4, and 5-8.  Four classroom teachers are working full time to complete the grade level DLGs.  The nine themes remain the same, with approximately one-third new anchor texts.  Full implementation of Pathways 2.0 will take place during the 2019-20 school year.

TECHNOLOGY Committee

The Technology Committee focused on providing support for teachers to understand and implement the NAD Elementary Technology Standards.  The group wrote a number of short video scripts that explain the intent of the standards as well as provide examples of practical applications of the standards.  The videos, along with additional resources, will be accessed through a technology micro-site from the NAD website.

MULTI-GRADE Committee

The Multi-grade Committee worked on the development of a micro-site specifically designed to meet the needs of multi-grade teachers.  Responding to survey responses from a number of multi-grade teachers, the committee identified critical resources for multi-grade classrooms.  Development of one particular resource—the correlation of standards across the grade levels—was begun.  Future work will include partnering with the Adventist Learning Community to create professional development courses that specifically address multi-grade topics.  An official launch of the micro-site will take place at the 2018 NAD Teachers’ Convention.

BIBLE Committee

The Bible Committee continued their work on the development of resources for the Adventist Encounter Curriculum.  Their particular focus was on the development of summative assessments for grades 7 and 8 units.  Sample summative assessments are being provided for select units across the grade levels, with the recommendation that teachers adapt the assessments for their particular group of students as well as generate their own assessments for both formative and summative purposes.  A few generic assessment tools, such as rubrics and self-assessments, were also created.  Full implementation of the Adventist Encounter Curriculum will take place during the 2018-19 school year.

BRIDGE Committee

The BRIDGE (Building Resources for Instructional Delivery of Great Education) Committee is focused on integrating the Kindergarten Stepping Stones curriculum with the Pathways 2.0 program for grades 1 and 2, which will make instruction more manageable for the K-2 multi-grade teacher.  The plan is to produce three BRIDGE cycles, with cycle one aligned with the Kindergarten Stepping Stones’ themes and with cycles 2 and 3 aligned with the first and second grade Pathways 2.0 themes. Six units are currently available on the Southern Union’s adventistedge.org website.

Fall '17

Dr. Carol Campbell

DIRECTOR ELEMENTARY / CURRICULUM