The Office of Curriculum and Instruction
X (formerly Twitter): @FLPS_Curriculum
The Office of Curriculum and Instruction manages the instructional program and resources for the District in collaboration with administrators, teachers, and the Board of Education. This department also oversees the District's supplemental programming including: Academic Intervention, Gifted & Talented, and English as a Second Language services.
Our Team
Director of Curriculum & Instruction, Ms. Liesel Steines
Supervisor of Curriculum & Instruction, Ms. Jaime Preziosi
Administrative Assistant, Ms. Wendy Lopez
Overview: Curriculum, Standards, Instruction, Assessment, & Professional Development
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) or the 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).
Curriculum is like a blueprint. The blueprint outlines the standards-based sequences of planned experiences in which students need to achieve proficiency. Educators use curriculum as a central guide as to what is essential for teaching and learning, so that every student has access to rigorous academic experiences. Curriculum identifies the necessary goals, methods, materials and assessments to effectively support teachers in teaching and learning. However, the curriculum is not the same as a teacher’s lesson plans.
Meanwhile, lesson plans are an individual teacher’s plan designed with knowledge of the curriculum in order to account for the more specific needs of individual learners in the class.
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:
Franklin Lakes Board Policies govern the curriculum development, content and adoption process. Certified educators/ administrators in the Franklin Lakes Department of Curriculum & Instruction are charged with ensuring the requirements in accordance with FLPS Policy and New Jersey requirements described following. The Department of C&I seeks to assure the curriculum is designed to yield alignment between what is written, taught, and assessed.
Curriculum evaluation typically includes stakeholder input (educators, parents, etc.) in combination with research on evidence-based practices. Curriculum writing typically involves the collective work of educators across the district collaboratively working to determine a developmentally-appropriate progression of learning in which students will acquire the content and skills that is befitting of the particulars of our unique District/ community and also meets learning requirements in the state of New Jersey. The final written product of this process is then presented to the Franklin Lakes Board of Education for adoption.
The NJ State Board of Education sets the timelines by which public schools must implement curriculum aligned with any new set of standards or requirements. In recent years standards have been updated by the NJDOE for every discipline.
FLPS Curriculum Revisions Completed for September 2022 |
FLPS Curriculum Revisions Completed for September 2024 |
NJSLS 2020:
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NJSLS 2023:
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Since Franklin Lakes is a New Jersey public school district, the district is obligated to meet the requirements set forth for all students learning in New Jersey public schools.
In the state of New Jersey, the standards (student performance expectations) are called the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. The standards identify the habits of mind, skills, and content in which students should be proficient by certain timeframes.
The NJSLS are developed by the NJ Department of Education. The New Jersey State Board of Education is the governing body responsible for adopting the New Jersey Student Learning Standards for the following content areas:
In addition to standards, all public schools are responsible for addressing a variety of New Jersey Administrative Code requirements and NJ Curriculum Mandates?
District boards of education are [required] to ensure that curriculum and instruction are designed and delivered in such a way that all students are able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills specified by the NJSLS and shall ensure [the] appropriate instructional adaptations are designed and delivered for students with disabilities, for MLs, for students enrolled in alternative education programs, and for students who are gifted and talented.
District boards of education [are] responsible for the review and continuous improvement of curriculum and instruction based upon changes in knowledge, technology, assessment results, and modifications to the NJSLS, according to N.J.A.C. 6A:8-2.
The tools include, but are not limited to:
See N.J.A.C. 6A:8-2.1 for additional information from the NJDOE about Standards and Assessment.
It is important to know that in our efforts to fulfill the below requirements, we are mindful of child development, the needs and particulars of our unique and diverse students, educators, and the community.
For more about NJ public school requirements in code/ statute, please utilize the links that follow.
Relevant to FLPS Grades K-8:
Relevant to FLPS Middle School (Grades 6-8) only:
Comprehensive Health & Physical Education:
Please visit the NJ Administrative Code & Statutes section of the NJSLS Comprehensive Health & Physical Education. There are many legislative requirements associated with Comprehensive Health & Physical Education, which are specific based on grade-level.
FLPS Curriculum Revision Cycles (2020-2026)
Discipline |
NJSLS Year |
NJDOE Alignment Requirement |
FLPS Curriculum Adoption Date |
2025-26 |
2024-25 |
2023-24 |
2022-23 |
2021-22 |
2020-21 |
English Language Arts |
2023 |
9/2024 |
9/2024 |
Possible Pilot |
Evaluate/ Research |
Evaluate/ Research |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Mathematics |
2023 |
9/2025 |
9/2024 |
Evaluate/ Research |
Implement / Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Science |
2020 |
9/2022 |
9/2021 |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Evaluate/ Research |
Social Studies |
2020 |
9/2022 |
9/2022 |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Evaluate/ Research |
Implement/ Monitor |
Visual & Performing Arts |
2020 |
9/2022 |
9/2022 |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Evaluate/ Research |
Implement/ Monitor |
Comprehensive Health & Physical Education |
2020 |
9/2022 |
9/2022 |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Evaluate/ Research |
Implement/ Monitor |
Career Readiness, Life Literacies & Key Skills |
2020 |
9/2022 |
9/2022 |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Implement/ Monitor |
Evaluate/ Research |
Implement/ Monitor |
English Language Arts Curriculum Proposal: Embracing the Science of Reading in Franklin Lakes Public Schools (April 2025)
Thank you to all who joined us for the K-6 ELA Materials Review Session. For those who were unable to join, we are pleased to share the following information:
Science of Reading Research
Decades of research has confirmed two things are necessary to build motivated, proficient readers:
1) instruction in systematic phonics, phonemic awareness, and other foundational skills to develop decoding skills, and word recognition; and
2) exposure to complex texts and knowledge building to develop comprehension.
Shifting K-6 Literacy Instruction in Franklin Lakes Public Schools
The District proposes shifting to a comprehensive evidence-based “Science of Reading” approach beginning in September 2025. To support our educators in doing so, we are pleased to share the following recommended instructional resources:
These resources meet our curricular resource review team's quality standards across (3) critical areas:
Parent/ Caregiver Materials Review
The linked K-6 ELA Curricular Materials one-pager provides information to help parents/ caregivers:
Next Step
A formal recommendation to adopt these materials (2024-25 District Budget) is planned for the May 6, 2025 Board of Education meeting.
Further Information:
AMPLIFY
AMPLIFY PROGRAM GUIDES
AMPLIFY RESEARCH BASE:
3RD PARTY REPORTS
NEW JERSEY
3rd PARTY INFORMATION
OTHER:
K-8 Mathematics Programming Evaluation Report - May 2019
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.