The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) Office of Teaching and Learning developed the Curriculum-Based Professional Learning Guidance Document to support districts in effective implementation of a strong local curriculum anchored in high-quality instructional resources (HQIRs). The guidance document includes multiple tools to help ensure maximum impact of the district-adopted HQIRs on the student experience and outcomes.  

One foundational tool is the unit internalization protocol. The steps and questions included in the protocol support “intellectual preparation” for teaching a unit/module from a high-quality instructional resource (HQIR) and provide a structure for developing understanding of how the standards, tasks and assessments operate within the arc of learning. By starting with unit internalization, teachers understand how each lesson coherently fits into the unit’s overall design.  

Find content-specific versions linked below:  

• Mathematics Unit Internalization Protocol;  

• Reading and Writing Unit Internalization Protocol; and  

• Science Unit Internalization Protocol.