Urban Choice Charter School Curriculum
Our charter school has adopted an integrated knowledge-centered philosophy.
- Core subjects are given their own blocks of time and teachers are encouraged to integrate subjects.
- The curriculum is what curricular theorist Hilda Taba calls spiral.
- There is an academic focus on traditional content, but the student and teacher have choices in the way they connect with the material.
- The content itself is clearly defined but individual teachers select the methods and strategies that work best for the student.
- There is consistency and continuity of content school-wide, but it is up to individual teachers to create learning environments that are motivating by adjusting instruction as necessary.
The focus of the curriculum is to ensure that all students meet or exceed state learning standards by closely aligning instruction to standards, routinely reviewing and improving instruction as needed, and providing both student and teacher with the support they need to reach and exceed performance benchmarks.
For primary students instruction concentrates on developing reading proficiency. Learning basic math fundamentals are also a priority. For all students, “core” subjects are taught using separate texts and they are given their own time block within the instructional schedule, but teachers are encouraged to integrate the subjects when appropriate.
Health, technology, music, art and physical education instruction are taught as core subjects. Family and consumer sciences, career development and occupational studies are integrated into math, science, social studies or language arts instruction.
The curriculum includes content that addresses each of the seven New York State Learning Areas and in most cases this connection is explicit. The content and instructional schedules are organized and specific. Instruction is focused, reviewed and adjusted as needed. For each learning area, classroom teachers develop pacing schedules and an instructional support team assists each teacher with implementation of these timetables.
All seven learning standard areas are taught using a combination of methods. Some subjects are taught in occasional isolation while other disciplines are integrated by creating thematic units.
The Urban Choice Charter School took a comprehensive look at curriculum. The relationship between the student and his or her teacher is important. Instructional best practices are used, but in the end it is a combination of elements that determines long-term student success.
The instructional day, personnel, content, sequence, student-groupings, assessment practices and many other variables are considered when putting together an educational plan, but they all come back to the needs of the student and teacher.
