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High School Begins Long Slog of Realigning Curriculum

While the early focus on realigning curriculum to meet new standards has been at the elementary and middle school level, the secondary or high school level has started to receive some attention. Early focus on the elementary and middle school level has flowed from the state as Massachusetts tries to implement new learning standards to align with changes in the "No Child Left Behind" initiative at the national level.

Locally, the effort to realign curriculum at the elementary and middle school is well underway and many practices have been implemented including evaluation tools such as standards-based report cards.

The School Committee heard reports from the high school on efforts to realign their curriculum in accordance with state and federal guidelines. Reports were from math, English and social studies chairs and presented at the School Committee's Feb. 27 meeting. All reports indicted that the state has not yet completed work on what standards to achieve and that locally it would be a more difficult and longer period of time to implement changes in the high school curriculum.

Chair of the math department, Leslie Rounsaville, noted that the current eighth grade students will be the first to enter the high school under the new standards. She noted that progress on aligning math curriculum at the high school has been slow and has involved a lot of work and time commitment. Rounsaville indicated that it wasn't likely that curriculum alignment would be ready by June.

English department chair Kelly Cook reported a little more progress in the English area but also noted that the work of making changes to the curriculum will be a slow process. Cook said the English department's goal is to implement standards that go beyond state standards which Groton-Dunstable School District always tries to achieve. Cook said the English department will increase rigor in key areas such as reading, writing and speaking/listening. More complex texts for reading will be introduced and there will be more emphasis on argument in writing exercises. For speaking and listening, there will be a more expanded range of exposure to different arguments and points of view.

Social studies chair Keith Woods reported that social studies in the new curriculum are the last to be developed by the state and he said he is moving the social studies department towards curriculum change based on curriculum models for English literacy. Woods also noted that it will take time to align courses offered in social studies with new standards. In his report Woods noted that the department will have to assess the level of complexity of existing textbooks with an eye toward increasing use of more complex texts in different courses.

School Committee member Jim Frey asked department heads how the shift to "Common Core" standards would impact course work at the high school. Rounsaville noted it will require a major overhaul of course offerings and standards. While she stopped short of saying that it will turn things upside down, she said, "It's going to be tough." Cook concurred, saying, "We want to make sure we're moving the right way with all teachers."

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