The Madison School District is making the full transition to a standards-based educational system. Here is the second in a series of articles about a standards-based system, with this one focusing on curriculum.

Introduction to a standards-based system: curriculum

The Wisconsin Model Academic Standards (WMAS) articulate what students should know and be able to do in each curricular area. Community leaders and staff in the MMSD elaborated upon these state standards to frame district curriculum and instruction.

This article focuses on curriculum, which can be thought of as the planned educational experiences taught in each subject area at each grade level. No matter what specific materials or experiences a student has, he/she should always have the opportunity to learn fundamental ideas and develop skills as identified by the standards. Curriculum is then considered to be "standards-based".

The remainder of this article will use science as an example of a content area to show how the curriculum in the MMSD is standards-based.

District science teachers, instructional resource teachers and administrators in collaboration with experts from UW-Madison outlined a coherent, coordinated and standards-based K-8 science program that aligns with the WMAS. This work resulted in the MMSD K-8 Grade Level Science Standards document .

Students in grades K-8 in the MMSD have opportunities to learn content in the Earth, Life and Physical Sciences each year. The content spirals, which means fundamental concepts are addressed multiple times, each at a deeper and more conceptually sophisticated degree. For example, physical science concepts from the standards that students should know in chemistry are addressed using curriculum at:

• Kindergarten: Properties of Materials
• Grade 2: Properties of the States of Matter
• Grade 5: Physical & Chemical Changes
• Grade 7: Particle Behavior During Physical & Chemical Changes

The following process skills from the science standards that students should be able to do also spiral throughout the K-8 curriculum:

• Make and record observations
• Interpret data and identify patterns in data
• Make generalizations and offer multiple ideas to explain phenomena
• Represent data in multiple forms
• Construct and defend an acceptable model

Additional information about the Wisconsin Academic Standards is available by clicking here.

Future MMSD Today articles will further address standards and the central role they play in instruction, assessment, and reporting.