The Review Process
The Rockwood School District has more than 300 courses in its course catalog. The curriculum writing process is based on a curriculum review cycle. Elementary courses in Rockwood follow an eight-year cycle, while secondary courses follow a six-year cycle. This means that each elementary course is revised once every eight years and each secondary course is revised every six years. The schedule helps ensure that writing teams can reasonably manage their work, teachers have time to understand and implement new curriculum in a reasonable time frame and curriculum budgets can be equitably distributed as new resources are adopted.
There are three main phases to each curriculum rewrite.
Phase 1: Research and Development
During the Research and Development phase, we evaluate the current curriculum and research trends and best practices.
- Determine changes in philosophy, instructional methods and course offerings.
- General direction of curriculum rewrites.
Phase 2: Writing and Feedback
During this phase, writing teams develop the course outcomes, proficiency scales, units, model lessons, student interventions and student extensions that teachers will use to answer 4 critical questions as they collaborate on the teaching and learning cycle in their Professional Learning Communities.
- Curriculum drafts are developed collaboratively.
- Various opportunities are provided for feedback:
- Parent feedback opportunities
- RLC Curriculum Parent Advisory Council
- Any parent may attend a public feedback session prior to BOE approval
Phase 3: Implementation
During this phase, teachers begin to teach the new, Board of Education approved curriculum in their classrooms.
- Teachers plan and teach lessons based on the newly adopted curriculum.
- Data is monitored to evaluate student achievement.