Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment
Quality programs for students result when curriculum, instruction, and assessment are aligned. As such, the District's academic program is built around a vertical continuum from kindergarten to grade 12. Moreover, the District has aligned its curriculum with the required PA Standards. Learn more about the PA State Standards at the State Board of Education website.
The development of new knowledge and societal demands necessitates that curriculum development is a continuous process. Therefore, the District has integrated opportunities for new learning with additional practice and reinforcement of prior knowledge throughout a student's experience in the Elizabethtown Area School District. This combination of new and reviewed learning allows students to acquire a robust foundational understanding of the content and a more personalized and differentiated experience.
Per school board Policy 105, the school district has an established curriculum development, evaluation, and modification procedure. This procedure is grounded in a five-year review cycle, which ensures that all content areas at all grade levels are reviewed and revised regularly. During the curriculum review process, a committee of teachers and administrators collaborate on creating a meaningful sequence of lessons and activities designed to engage students in their learning.
At the appropriate time in the cycle, curriculum review committees have the opportunity to:
- Confirm alignment to state-required standards.
- Ensure the inclusion of new information or discoveries and topics of high interest and relevance for students in each content area.
- Align content topics and lessons to our district’s Life Ready Model.
- Update assessments to check for student understanding.
- Vet instructional materials, including textbooks, to determine appropriateness for inclusion in the course or grade level.
- Adjust the scope, sequence, or pacing of the content throughout a course or grade level.
- Analyze data trends to determine the effectiveness of the teachers’ instruction.
- Integrate technology appropriately into lessons.
- Develop engaging hands-on activities that promote student collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.
Once the curriculum for a course has been written or revised, District administration presents it to the school board for approval.
The District has designed the curriculum content, instructional strategies used to deliver that content, and the course assessments to achieve long-range goals for students in all domains of learning and development - cognitive, social, emotional, and physical. Significant efforts are made to teach students the curriculum through an interdisciplinary approach, and students are regularly assessed on their progress towards mastery of the standards in various ways. For example, students demonstrate their understanding of the content through traditional tests & quizzes, hands-on projects, written or oral presentations, or other types of performances.
Most importantly, the District's curriculum, instruction, and assessments are aligned directly with our District's Life Ready Model. The content, skills, and activities included in our lessons are purposely designed to prepare students for real-world situations, function as fully contributing members of a democratic society, and succeed in a competitive global economy, regardless of students' post-secondary endeavors.
For questions about Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, contact Dr. Nate Frank, Curriculum and Federal Programs Coordinator, by email at nate_frank@etownschools.org or by phone at (717) 367-1521.