Website+Purpose


 * Secondary Literacy Curriculum **

** Kansas City, Kansas School District **

The overall purpose of this website is to give teachers the tools to be a designers of curriculum. Great teachers build their environments around curriculum and instruction. By focusing on the skills that we want students to utilize and allowing students to use those skills to understand rich content, we are able to engage our students with the end in mind. ** Purpose and Rationale of the KCK Standards: **
 * Target essential skills and concepts that are aligned with the ACT and Career and College Readiness Standards.
 * Identify the guaranteed and viable curriculum that must be accessible for ALL students to learn.
 * Help students make meaning of the content not only in the classroom but what they will experience outside the classroom. These are the "standard" skills that give students access to quality experiences.

** Purpose of Pacing Guide for KCK Standards: **
 * Implement a timeline for teachers to use so that students will have an appropriate amount of time to learn, practice, and maintain the targeted essential skills and concepts.
 * Identify the assessment schedule so that teachers and students know the set of skills/concepts that will they should be teaching and assessing.
 * Align skills and concepts across grade levels so that learning of the KCK standards are compatible across the district.

** Purpose of this website is to provide: ** ** Process of development of standards **
 * Instructional resources for teachers to build curriculum.
 * Online texts for teachers
 * Standards and research behind standards
 * Easy access to District Implementation
 * Information on the ACT, and NWEA MAP test.
 * Videos to help stretch and further thinking.
 * December-January, 2011: Teacher leaders reviewed and constructed an alignment with the Common Core Standards, ACT Standards, and Kansas Standards.
 * February-March 2011: Teachers reviewed and made recommendations for changes in alignment and wording within standards.
 * March 2011: Changes were reviewed at district content meetings.
 * April 2011: Pacing guides were developed and proposals made by teachers.
 * May 2011: Final pacing guides were shared with teachers and resources to support specific standards were gathered.
 * April 2012: Reading Standards for Common Core were adopted in district. Teacher teams studied pacing guides for feedback.
 * May 2012: Finalized Pacing Guides were developed with resources to support the full adoptions of the Common Core State Standards

** Spiraled Curriculum: **
 * ** Units of study were developed so that standards are organized and spiraled with each grade level based on types of reading and writing. **
 * ** Essential standards can be targeted and repeated through the year so that students have the opportunity as needed to review, relearn, and maintain knowledge and demonstrate application. **
 * ** Grade levels are aligned so that teachers who have multiple grade levels in their classes can adequately address the needs of their students. Yet, with each Grade Level comes a scaffolding of the standards towards higher complexity. **

** Considerations for Pacing Guide and Instruction: **
 * All students have equal access to the guaranteed, viable curriculum – the KCK standards.
 * Pacing guides should be followed within the instructional windows. Teachers may choose how the standards are taught within that timeline and what standards are emphasized for those that repeat.
 * Standards are clustered/organized so that knowledge and application are cohesive. Teachers should teach towards what is essential in the clusters of standards which are processed with quality text rather than trying to teach standards one at a time.
 * Teachers and Professional Learning Communities have choice in selecting most appropriate reading, writing and instructional design resources to provide instruction of KCK standards.
 * Teachers and Professional Learning Communities may select from recommended resources or resources that are aligned with the standards.

**Choosing what is essential in Standards:**
** Resources: **
 * ====Professional Learning Communities decide what is essential in regards to the standards. Below is a process that PLCs may use to identify the essential components standards.====
 * ====Read through Cluster of standards and identify most essential standard in the cluster.====
 * ====Read though other standards and highlight what is essential in the other standards.====
 * ====Share with PLC and create a summary or conceptual lens on how students will use the standards to understanding text and information.====
 * //How to determine what is essential//:
 * ENDURANCE: Will the standard provide students with knowledge and skills beyond the single test date?
 * LEVERAGE: Will the standard provide knowledge and skills that are valuable in multiple disciplines
 * READINESS: Will the standard provide students with essential knowledge and skills beyond the next grade level?
 * Resources are provided for each of the standards. They come in the form of strategies, websites, videos, and articles. They are organized on different pages for easy access.