What Does The Purpose Of The Compacting Plan

The Compacting Plan is an artifact that connects to coursework in Differentiation and Technology, CUR 505. This course explores differences in learners, methods to adapt instruction to special needs, and ways technology can be used in the adaptations. The purpose of the Compacting Plan is to implement an instructional technique that is specifically designed to make appropriate curricular adjustments to students in any curricular area and at any grade level. According to Coil (2008), curriculum compacting, developed by Dr. Joseph Renzulli and Linda Smith in 1978, is a differentiation strategy that is extremely beneficial to many gifted and high ability students. “Compacting is a differentiation strategy that specifically addresses the rate of
However, I found there is a multitude of resources. Supplemental books that focus on activities to develop higher level thinking skills were excellent sources for alternate activities. Alternate activities were designed using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The Compacting Plan permitted me to use Bloom’s educational objectives to map content to tasks that students would perform. Bloom’s taxonomy guided me to develop higher levels of thinking process for critical or creative thinking. It assisted me in developing questions and projects that require the development of thinking and reflection form the knowledge level to the evaluation
A Compacting Plan is designed to reduce the time a student spends on redundant work and increase the time a student spends on challenging and engaging work. “The goals of compacting are to streamline work that may be mastered at a pace commensurate with the student's ability, create a challenging learning environment, guarantee proficiency in basic curriculum, and buy time for enrichment and acceleration” (Reis and Renzulli p. 52). Curriculum compacting should take place when pre-and ongoing formative assessments indicate that a student (or several students) demonstrates proficiency in the skill or content which is the instructional focus. Tools used in the development of my Kindergarten Compacting Plan included assessments (pre, ongoing, formative, summative), tiered lesson plans, project menus, learning contracts, management plans, and a grading