The work of curriculum writing is underway in the New Richmond Exempted Village School District.
A few days before the beginning of winter break, elementary, middle and high school teachers gathered at the central office, rolled up their sleeves, and began creating revised graded courses of study for the Board to approve later this spring.
An essential part of the curriculum writing process is identifying what and when teachers are to teach and students are to learn.
Students at Locust Corner should be learning the same material at relatively the same time as their counterparts at Monroe Elementary, Superintendent Tracey Miller told staff on opening day. There should be a sequence to that learning. This helps to eliminate repetition and ensure ongoing learning and growth for students.
“Students shouldn’t be rewarded or punished based upon who the computer gives them for a teacher or where their zip code says they go to school,” he said.
At that same meeting, Superintendent Miller established expectations for teachers and staff to strive to meet the needs of all district learners. To do this, throughout the school year, the teachers and staff are focusing on four critical questions of a professional learning community:
– What do we want children to know and be able to do?
– How will we know when they have mastered it?
– What will we do when they haven’t learned the learning objectives?
– What will we do when they already know the learning objectives?
Writing and sequencing the curriculum is part of the effort to answer these questions, Miller said.
The new graded courses of study should be ready for review by the Board of Education’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee by the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Once approved by the committee, it will be presented to the Board for adoption.