Curriculum Rationale

The primary function of a school system is to prepare students to function successfully in society, to lead productive and effective lives, to be lifelong learners and good citizens. This requires a school system to establish clear, valid, and measurable student learning expectations that form the framework of the District curriculum. In the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District these student learning expectations reflect the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, End of Course exams, other identified state and national content standards and tests, as well as community beliefs about what students should know and be able to do. A school system committed to continuous improvement of the teaching and learning process recognizes that student learning is the result of a well-planned series of events. When these events are combined in a coherent and systemic format, they become the plan which is the guiding force for curriculum development, instruction, and student assessment.

Curriculum Philosophy

The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District Board recognizes the need for and value of a systematic ongoing program of curriculum development, review and evaluation. The design and implementation of the curriculum will be consistent with the Board’s adopted mission and applicable goals, state laws, and State Board of Education rules. This curriculum component will be an integral part of the District long-range planning process. The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District Board deems it essential that the school system continually develop and modify its curriculum to provide a common direction of action for all instruction in the District and to meet changing needs. While instructional differentiation is expected to occur to address the unique needs of specific students, instruction shall be derived from a set of curriculum learnings common to all students. There will be equitable access to the curriculum for all students.

The curriculum is to be designed and delivered using a performance-based, continuous growth approach. Such an approach is based on the following premises:

• All students are capable of achieving excellence in learning,
• The instructional process is integral to improving learning,
• A tightly aligned curriculum is necessary to the instructional process and must contain clearly stated objectives, high expectations for all students, and continuous assessment of student learning.

Curriculum Defined

The role of the curriculum is to realize the District’s mission for educating all of its students and meeting the requirements of the Graduate Profile. The written curriculum becomes the guide for instruction, the taught curriculum, the results of which are assessed as the tested curriculum. When all three pieces, written, taught, and tested curriculum are totally aligned then the district expectations for student achievement are realized and sustained.

• Curriculum Alignment is the agreement of the written, taught and tested curriculum. The goal of curriculum alignment is a seamless instructional program composed of these component parts. Curriculum alignment also involves the extent to which curriculum is used to guide decisions about instructional materials, staff development, facilities, and budgeting. When there is alignment, the agreement is reflected horizontally, vertically and systemically.
• Written Curriculum is defined as academic standards which include knowledge, skills, and expectations that are based on but not limited to, state curriculum frameworks, state testing objectives and national standards. These standards are reflected in the objectives that students are to achieve and teachers are to teach. The written curriculum also contains examples of instructional strategies, research-based best practices and assessments, suggested time ranges, aligned resources, and correlations to state and national tests and interdisciplinary connections.
• Taught Curriculum refers to the delivery of the written curriculum. Teachers are required to use the written curriculum as the primary source of instructional direction.
• Tested Curriculum refers to the process that is in place for assessing student performance. The process shall provide for the acquisition, analysis and communication of student performance data as it indicates mastery of the written curriculum.