4 Ways Teachers Can Work in Curriculum Development

For the past decade, I’ve been working in curriculum design. When I talk to people about this work, they often think of two things: textbooks and selling on TeachersPayTeachers. While both of these are definitely ways to work as a curriculum developer, there are so many other online curriculum development jobs out there. 

In fact, most of my time as a curriculum developer has been spent working with ed-tech companies, nonprofits, and school districts. 

If you’re interested in curriculum design, it can be helpful to explore the many ways that you can get started working in the field. As you read through the following options for flexible, online curriculum development jobs, know that you don’t need to be able to do all of this right away. Most organizations will give you training and support when you sign on for projects. 

What Does a Curriculum Developer Do?

Before we start exploring the many opportunities for curriculum development jobs in education, let’s get clear on what curriculum developers actually do.

Curriculum developers or designers create materials  to improve student learning and support teachers. This includes everything from designing textbooks or worksheets to creating lesson plans or even full learning units.

Curriculum developers may also advise organizations on how to develop learning plans that support their product, mission or service. And because so many types of organizations need this kind of support, there are a wide variety of freelance curriculum development jobs available.

4 Ways to Work As a Curriculum Developer

Take On Curriculum Development Jobs with Ed-Tech Companies 

The vast majority of the curriculum work I’ve done has been with ed-tech sites. If you’re looking for online curriculum development jobs in education that offer flexibility, this is a great place to start.

This work can include developing one-off lessons, comprehensive units, worksheets, games, activities, and much more. Most of the time, curriculum developers collaborate with other team members, such as graphic designers and programmers, to create products for ed-tech companies. 

In these curriculum developer jobs, you’ll be the education expert on projects and will get to put your teaching experience to use. Other folks will bring their expertise to help you develop the best possible products for children. These products are often based on standards and/or resources (such as videos or articles) that the company has developed.

Collaborating with Non-Profits On Curriculum Design

Often, nonprofit organizations want to get into schools but need educators to help translate their missions into age-appropriate programs and curriculum. When you take on online curriculum development jobs for nonprofits, you get to learn about the nonprofit’s mission and use your education expertise to create the best possible learning experiences for kids. 

For example, if a nonprofit is focused on mindfulness, it might hire curriculum developers to create lessons around mindfulness. You’ll get to learn from their research and expertise as you lend your insight into education. 

Designing Assessments

Are you the type of person who likes to take a standard or objective and write questions to assess students’ understanding of it? If so, assessment writing could be one of the best online curriculum development jobs for you! 

Assessment consortiums, curriculum development houses, districts, and ed-tech companies are often looking for assessment writers. Often, this type of curriculum developer job includes not only writing questions to assess understanding but also creating multiple-choice responses for students to choose from. Along with these answers, you may be asked to include rationales about why you included certain distractors as choices for students to choose from. 

If you’re looking for flexible curriculum development jobs, online opportunities like assessment writing could be right for you.

Writing Leveled Readers 

Curriculum development houses and ed-tech companies often create materials to help students practice reading. These materials need to be written by curriculum developers! If you have knowledge of teaching reading and assessing students’ reading development, you could be a great fit for writing leveled readers. 

Again, you don’t have to know exactly how to do this in order to apply to these curriculum development jobs in education. If you have relevant experience, you will be provided with tools like Lexile analyzer, word lists, and other guidance. Creating leveled readers and other reading materials for students can be a great way to flex your creative muscles. 

Getting Started with Online Curriculum Development Jobs

Want more support? Join an upcoming free webinar about how to get started as a curriculum developer. 

And for more information on how to find flexible work in education and get started in jobs for teachers outside of the classroom, be sure to check out Educator Forever’s Beyond the Classroom course and community.