NACD · ELA Curriculum Design
Foundations of ELA Curriculum Design
Bring the science of reading into the materials you build, from a systematic scope and sequence to explicit, carefully scaffolded lessons.
- Science of reading
- Structured literacy
- Scope and sequence
- Lesson design
From evidence to instructional materials
Why this course exists
Reading research can guide far more than a list of skills. It shapes the order students encounter those skills, the practice they receive and the feedback that helps them improve. This course connects that evidence to the decisions curriculum designers make every day.
What you will learn
- Explain the research foundations of reading and the content and practices of structured literacy.
- Evaluate literacy materials against research-based design principles.
- Build a scope and sequence with systematic, cumulative instruction.
- Analyze explicit instruction, scaffolding and corrective feedback in lesson models.
- Create a literacy block lesson plan grounded in structured literacy.
Course outline
- 01
Foundations: The Science of Reading and Principles of Structured Literacy
Understand the research behind reading development, the Simple View of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope. Identify what structured literacy teaches and how that instruction is delivered.
- 02
Building a Scope and Sequence: Systematic and Cumulative Instruction
Organize literacy learning so skills build deliberately over time. Evaluate a scope and sequence for systematic instruction, cumulative practice and alignment to research.
- 03
Lesson Design: Explicit Instruction, Scaffolding and Corrective Feedback
Analyze lesson models, plan instructional routines and apply the gradual release of responsibility. Design a literacy block lesson grounded in structured literacy principles.
- 04
Capstone Project
The capstone is in development. Final project details will be shared when enrollment opens.
Who it is for
Curriculum designers, literacy specialists, instructional coaches and educators developing or reviewing ELA materials.
What you will build
Practice applying research to a literacy scope and sequence and a literacy block lesson plan. The course emphasizes reflection and revision as research and learners’ needs evolve.
Join the field
Go beyond inches. Make waves.
Curriculum design shapes what every student learns, yet the people doing it have been scattered across classrooms, publishers, edtech, and nonprofits. The National Association of Curriculum Design brings the industry together around one shared craft: open knowledge, shared standards, and real career pathways for everyone who designs what students learn. Your enrollment makes you part of that work.
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