Curriculum describes (in writing) the most important outcomes of the schooling process; thus, the curriculum is a document in which resides the district’s “collected wisdom” about what is most important to teach … Curriculum is based on standards; as a result, curriculum and standards are linked. Curriculum specifies how standards are met. Standards are not curriculum. Rather, standards provide a vision of the appropriate content and processes (usually for a subject area, such as mathematics) of what students should know and be able to do across a range of grade levels.

…A curriculum is a plan that focuses and guides classroom instruction and assessment … Assessments answer the question of how much knowledge and skill are good enough to meet the standards aligned in a unit. Teachers use assessments to determine how good is good enough. Classroom assessment is inexorably linked to curriculum.

(Squires, D. 2004. Aligning and Balancing the Standards-Based Curriculum).

"Differentiating instruction is an approach to teaching that advocates active planning for and attention to student differences in classrooms, in the context of high quality curriculums." – Carol Tomlinson, Ed. D.

Professional development is the link between the design and implementation of education reforms and the ultimate success of reform efforts in schools.

According to the research, high-quality professional learning opportunities for teachers contain the following five characteristics:

- Aligns with school goals, state and district standards and assessments, and other professional-learning activities

- Focuses on core content and modeling of teaching strategies for the content

- Includes opportunities for active learning of new teaching strategies

- Provides the chance for teachers to collaborate

- Includes follow-up and continuous feedback

(DeMonte, J. 2013. High Quality Professional Development for Teachers)

The K-8 Math Evaluation Programing Report is the product of over a year of collaborative work collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data across the District.  Moving forward, the findings, conclusions from this report will frame the development of short- and long- term plans for the next level of work in Mathematics, which will include recommendations for systemic improvements in support of deeper mathematics learning and understanding. 

Read the full report or review the slideshow.