REGION 15 REVISES CURRICULUM WEB SITE

Parents Can View Curriculum by Topic, by Grade

One of the six strategies developed and passed by the Pomperaug Regional School District #15 Board of Education three years ago was to develop and implement a well-articulated Kindergarten – 12 curriculum in all disciplines. To this end, members of the Region 15 curriculum teams have been researching, implementing, monitoring and evaluating district programs on a scheduled basis. Most recently, the District revised its website (www.region15.org/currHOME.shtml) to ensure parental and community understanding of the curricula.

The Curriculum section of the Region 15 website demonstrates the District’s commitment to instruction, as well as its ongoing promise to communicate this information to parents.

“Region 15 has built a strong partnership with the parents and guardians in our community,” said Dr. Lois Lanning, assistant superintendent for curriculum.  “Parents, residents, as well as prospective home buyers, want to have detailed information about what the children are learning in each discipline, as well as at each grade level. Our revised curriculum site provides them with this level of detail about their child’s education.”

Creating, revising, and monitoring quality curriculum is an ongoing process due to the range of grade levels a curriculum covers, the quality of the available instructional materials, and the changing expectations of student learning. The Region 15 curriculum revision cycle ensures that all disciplines are evaluated and revised on schedule. Through the curriculum website, parents can learn where a particular discipline is in its revision cycle.

Another new feature at the website is the ability to preview the units of study or read a detailed explanation of what the student will be expected to learn in that topic, by grade.

“If I, as a parent, want to understand what my seventh-grader will learn in science this year, I can go into the curriculum section of the website, click on science, then click on Grade Seven,” said Dr. Lanning. “This also helps a parent understand how the curriculum builds upon previous years and how it develops for future grades.”

Lastly, to fulfill the Board of Education’s quest for greater communication between the schools and the home, parents and guardians who have questions about a discipline’s curriculum can contact the department chair, coordinator, building instructional leader, or assistant superintendent either by telephone or e-mail.