Tips for K-12 Tech & Curriculum Team Alignment to Drive Classroom Success

Success in the classroom starts with teamwork behind the scenes. When tech and curriculum leaders collaborate, they can better deliver the tools, resources, and support teachers and students need. It’s up to the people in these roles to assess team alignment, support staff collaboration, and set an example by working together across departments.

In this blog, we’ll look at how to assess and improve working relationships between tech and curriculum leaders, and why it’s important for classroom success.

Tech and curriculum teamwork directly impacts student success by helping teachers increase their effectiveness. PowerSchool Academic Advisor and former superintendent Dr. Lorraine S. Lange says, “The key benefit of tech and curriculum leaders working together is that teachers get the best tools to help make their work easier, which helps them improve student achievement.”

When curriculum leaders spend more time learning and understanding tech, teachers get tools that simply work. That translates to more time and energy focused on their students, and Lange says that’s the key. “Simply put, the goal is always to help the teacher, who ultimately helps students learn.”

Here’s a quick guide to assessing and addressing tech and curriculum alignment at your school or district.

When was the last time tech and curriculum leaders held a meeting?

Communication counts. Setting regular meetings helps teams align, stay connected, and keep each other accountable for progress toward shared initiatives. If your tech and curriculum leaders haven’t had a meeting recently, it’s time to get one on the books.

Regular meetings also help tech and curriculum align before larger meetings with school or district leadership. Whether presenting challenges and solutions, recommending a new technology purchase, or discussing policy changes, teams that meet regularly will be able to present a unified, thoughtful position at important meetings.

What are the top goals for tech and curriculum in the short and long terms?

Tech and curriculum teams should align behind common goals, but that doesn’t mean they must have the same priorities. However, they should know what the major initiatives are for their counterparts in the other department.

Because tech is now a major part of curriculum materials, resources, and delivery, “anybody who’s in curriculum now has to do everything they can to strengthen themselves in technology,” says Jason Henry, Curriculum Supervisor for Secondary Education at Parkland School District. “You’re not just buying a textbook anymore. You’re buying digital content.”

With a background knowledge of IT’s current goals and initiatives, curriculum leaders can shop for items that align with where the school or district is headed technologically.

For example, if IT is working toward unifying edtech systems under a common provider across all departments, curriculum leaders can know ahead of time if their current LMS will likely change. This can help them narrow their focus on products built to work with the new system. Not only does this help the district run more efficiently, but it also reduces frustration across teams.

What are the top challenges your colleagues in tech or curriculum face?

Teams can unite over common challenges. In some cases, tech leaders may be able to provide solutions or recommendations to curriculum leaders, or the other way around. If teams do not understand each other’s challenges, frustration can take hold.

Keeping teams on the same page with regular meetings helps Parkland track together rather than setting what they don’t realize may be unreasonable expectations. Understanding fosters a culture of trust.

Tracy Smith, Assistant to the Superintendent for Operations, says regular collaboration meetings at Parkland School District help reduce “miscommunication or fires that have to be put out as a result.” For her district, that means progress—even if they do have a lot of meetings on their calendars.

Are IT support requests stacking up?

When things aren’t working, IT tickets can quickly get out of control. Both tech and curriculum feel the strain. IT staff struggles to keep up and gets frustrated fixing the same issues over and over—like forgotten passwords. Curriculum staff gets tired of waiting and wonders what’s taking so long. They might lose an entire morning of work waiting to reset their password. It’s a situation that can easily boil over and put teamwork on ice.

A growing stack of IT support requests means it’s time to go back to Step 1 on this list and schedule a team leadership meeting. Leaders should discuss the issues, consider solutions, and then go to their teams with a clearly aligned plan to move forward.

Switch to single sign-on

Both teams can go to district leadership with this suggestion and voice reasons why the shift makes sense.

Do tech and curriculum both take part in technology buying decisions?

It takes a team to make team decisions. Tech and curriculum leaders should be involved in purchasing decisions because they both bring unique and vital perspectives to the table. Leaving one or the other out of a decision as important as purchasing technology can fuel frustration, distrust, and even anger.

For Lange, this may be the single most important tactic to foster teamwork between tech and curriculum leaders. She says, “The superintendent must make sure that both technology and instruction are present during new product demonstrations. They need to work together to make a final decision.” Including them both in the demonstrations prevents purchasing decisions moving too far along with one team getting left behind. They should be aligned from the early stages of new product consideration.

Lange says in cases where tech and curriculum are not involved together, money can easily be spent unwisely. “The tech person may purchase a tool based on what works the best from a technology perspective, but it may not serve the schools’ or district’s curriculum the best. Or, the opposite can happen. A curriculum leader may purchase a tool that simply doesn’t work with the systems IT is already using.”

Collaboration is key

When tech and curriculum teams come together, teachers and students win. Ultimately, that’s always the goal. Schools and districts need the right technology to support curriculum needs, and curriculum, in turn, supports teachers.

Team alignment takes time, but it’s key to driving student achievement. With the right strategies, any school or district can improve their level of teamwork.