Post by doctorwho on Apr 21, 2011 8:47:05 GMT -6
Dist. 204 stepping up curriculum
www.dailyherald.com/article/20110421/news/704219937/
No offense to scientists, but on the whole, they aren’t known for their writing skills.
That’s just one stereotype Indian Prairie School District 204 officials hope to change as they overhaul their curriculum to meet a national initiative that has been adopted by the Illinois and other state boards.
Advertisement The Common Core State Standards initiative’s mission is to better prepare students for college and the real-world work environment. For instance, future scientists or engineers should be better at writing because the more rigorous curriculum emphasizes reading, writing and research instruction in science classes.
Now, reading and writing is emphasized in language arts classes. The new standards also call for students in every grade to be exposed to more math with plans to have more students taking algebra in eighth grade instead of ninth grade.
As a result, students will have access to higher levels of math, such as calculus, in high school and will be better prepared for college entrance exams. District 204 will implement the curriculum changes from June through December.
“The purpose for writing these standards was to give students the skills to be ready for the 21st Century,” said Allison Sherman, District 204 core curriculum director.
School officials say the new standards fit nicely with the school board’s goal of increasing by 4 to 10 percent the number of students in third through eighth grade in the “exceeds” category on state reading, writing, math and science tests. District 204 schools have been working toward that goal by giving teachers time to collaborate, making sure students are engaged in their studies, aligning curriculum through the grade levels for consistency and also looking for more students to take part in the gifted level courses.
“There are a lot of kids with gifts in a lot of areas that aren’t the traditional, and we need to look for that,” Superintendent Kathy Birkett said. Teacher feedback, rather than only using test scores, has become more of a factor in choosing students for those programs.
“What we have seen is that those students are exposed to a higher curriculum and to some higher level thinking and those are definitely things they are taking back into their classrooms,” said Adrienne Morgan, principal at Young elementary school. All schools are doing in-house assessments to determine how engaged students are in learning. Also, principals and administrators visit each other’s schools to make the assessments as well. They are looking for things like whether students are doing a paper and pencil task or leading a discussion. Then, efforts are made to increase the level of engaging lessons. Teachers talk about best practices in instruction on Wednesdays when students have a late start for school.
Read more: www.dailyherald.com/article/20110421/news/704219937/#ixzz1KAWOHtFq