"The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is developing the ability of school personnel to function as professional learning communities" (DuFour) Accepting that premise, the Department of Academic Services of the North Reading Public Schools offers a process for continual curriculum review that endeavors to engage professionals from each of its learning communities in a collaborative effort to evaluate, revise and redefine curriculum and instruction throughout our district. In order to achieve this we must dedicate
time and resources to bring professionals from all levels together to pursue collaborative investigation of best practices and current trends in teaching and learning. This plan proposes to use curriculum design and evaluation as catalyst for this collaboration thus fostering a professional learning community. For our purposes curriculum is defined to be not only the organization of courses offered by North Reading Public Schools but also the plan of delivery which guides instructional pedagogy, choice of materials and assessment. The curriculum will never be "finished”; it will be continually reviewed through a multi-year cycle to guide the Curriculum Leadership and the Subject Area Curriculum Councils work; and stay abreast of cross-disciplinary trends and evaluate their purposefulness in fulfilling the stated mission of the North Reading Public Schools.
Patrick Daly, Director of Academic Services
pdaly@north-reading.k12.ma.us
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