What is curriculum compacting?

• A. It reduces the overall curriculum and requires students to skip topics even if not mastered
• B. It allows students who have already mastered certain skills to move on to new material
• C. It relies on additional enrichment activities only after core topics are completed
• D. It assigns extra worksheets to ensure mastery of all topics

Answer: (B)

Curriculum compacting is a differentiation approach that lets a student who has already demonstrated mastery in certain skills skip those parts of the standard curriculum and move on to more challenging material. It starts with a quick pre-assessment to identify what the student already knows, then reduces or eliminates instruction on topics already mastered and replaces that time with advanced or enrichment activities. That’s why moving on to new material after mastery is the best description.

The other ideas don’t fit because compacting isn’t about skipping topics without mastery, relying only on enrichment after finishing core topics, or adding extra worksheets to force mastery. It’s about matching instruction to what the student has already learned and accelerating to more appropriate, challenging content.