Curriculum Infusion
Insights from the National
Curriculum Infusion Project
Prepared by Tricia S. Jones, Ph.D.
Dept. of Psychological Studies
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Tel/fax: 215-204-7261/6013
E-mail: tsjones@temple.edu
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Curriculum Infusion
 The process of teaching conflict concepts
and dynamics in terms on regular, ongoing
curriculum ( e.g., in language arts, math,
science, social studies, art, etc.)
 This removes the idea of CRE as an “addon” program and makes it something that
is emphasized and relevant throughout the
educational experience.
 Requires teacher skill and commitment
 Requires administrative support
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
National Curriculum Integration
Project
 The National Curriculum Integration
Project (NCIP) provides teachers with
a process for infusing the critical life
skills inherent in conflict resolution
education into formal and informal
curriculum (www.ncip.org)
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Best Practices

School Selection
 Devote necessary time and money to teachers
involved
 Be academically stable; experience suggests that
schools in academic trouble cannot concentrate on
program innovation efforts like NCIP
 Have a relatively cohesive staff
 Have a collaborative leadership style
 Have an emphasis on on-going staff development
 Have basic CRE programming already in place, or
at least have basic training already provided
 Be willing to commit to a long-term process
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Best Practices
 Teacher Selection: Several factors are
key to teachers being successful at this
process:
 Being willing to volunteer for the program
 Having good basic teaching skills; no obvious
skill deficits
 Being willing to change and take risk
 Being committed to student-centered learning
 Having a fundamental belief in their students’
abilities
 Being open to working in a team process
 Having basic background and training in conflict
resolution education
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Best Practices
 Orientation Processes: It is essential that
administration, staff and teachers are
effectively oriented to the nature of the
program. Some guidelines for each
population are as follows:
 Administrative orientation should be prolonged
 Teacher orientation should provide information
about the amount of time and effort required
 Staff orientation should involve full staff and
should present an overview of the program and
the ways it may connect with other efforts at the
school.
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Best Practices
 Planning and Goal Setting: It is essential
for teachers and administrators to be more
involved in the planning and goal setting
processes for their school. They should:
 be taught basic planning processes
 engage in planning and goal setting meetings to
clarify what they want their program to achieve
 be encouraged through this discussion to
identify markers of success, “ways they will
know” when the success has occurred, when the
goal has been accomplished.
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Best Practices
 Training: For maximally effective training:
 Assess teachers’ CRE knowledge and basic skills
levels first
 Involve as much experiential learning as possible
 Have longer initial training sessions (perhaps 4-5
days) for skill development and bonding
 Have role-playing with colleagues in the training.
 Target the training and lesson development to
specific disciplines first.
 Ongoing training, with emphasis on time available for
in-class co-teaching of lessons where trainers can
model lessons for teachers.
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Best Practices
 Team Process: Assuming that resources
are forthcoming, there are several keys to
making the team process effective:
 Provide the team with training on team
development.
 Provide teachers with communication
infrastructures.
 Provide an ongoing team check-up so teachers
can evaluate their progress as a team, their own
ability to “build community” within the teaching
team.
 Make new member orientation a high priority for
team process.
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Effectiveness of Curriculum
Infusion
 NCIP had a very strong, positive impact
on classroom climate.
 Students in NCIP classes taught by returning,
experienced, NCIP teachers consistently
reported more positive climate than students in
classes taught by new NCIP teachers.
 Students in either NCIP class perceived much
more positive climate than students in control
classes.
 NCIP impact on classroom climate increased
throughout the year while perceived climate in
control classes usually became notably more
negative throughout the year.
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Effectiveness of Curriculum
Infusion
 NCIP had a profound influence on students’
perceptions of their learning environment:
 Students felt empowered as learners.
 Students took more responsibility for their own
learning.
 Students felt learning was more connected with “real
life”.
 Students learned effective ways of working with
others.
 Students felt respected by teachers
 Students respected teachers more.
 Students emphasized respectful and accepting
behavior toward other students.
 Students felt a sense of community within the
classroom that enhanced the learning process.
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones
Effectiveness of Curriculum
Infusion
 Teacher’s Integration of NCIP Concepts into
Curriculum:
 There is clear evidence of a learning curve for
teachers, indicating that it takes sustained effort
for a teacher to progress to optimal levels of
integration and infusion.
 It is clear that teachers can effectively mentor
other teachers to achieve these levels.
 Developing complex and valuable integrated
lessons for use in English and Language Arts
was much easier than Math and Science.
copyright 2003, Tricia S. Jones