DeKalb County School District

Teaching and Learning

Board of Education Updates

Teaching and Learning provides monthly updates to the Board of Education regarding its educational initiatives. The presentations for these updates are listed below—the date corresponds to the date of the Board of Education meeting at which the presentation was presented.

August 8, 2011 [ http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/teaching-and-learning/board-of-education-update-presentation-(2011-08-08).pdf ]

reprioritization, adequate yearly progress (AYP), targeting reading and math performance, secondary math options [ http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/mathematics/secondary-options ], calculus [ http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/news-and-info/calculus ], career technology, Race to the Top (RT3) [ http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/news-and-info/race-to-the-top ], school improvement grant

September 12, 2011 [ http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/teaching-and-learning/board-of-education-update-presentation-(2011-09-12).pdf ]

overview of the instructional framework, triage update, diagnosing and monitoring student performance

Goals

• to implement and monitor the research-based instructional and leadership frameworks for teaching and learning resulting in a systemic and consistent approach
• to improve student learning outcomes in reading/english language arts, math, science, and social studies with alignment of K–12 expectations for literacy, numeracy, and science resulting in students who are prepared for postsecondary options including work readiness
• to implement a teaching and learning process that requires accountability, monitoring, collaboration, on-going feedback, support and training, research and evaluation, and progress reporting at all levels resulting in consistent and improved student learning outcomes

DeKalb County Schools is committed to the development of a systemwide curriculum that promotes high expectations for its teachers and students and results in meaningful student learning. The district-wide curriculum can best be described as a thinking curriculum, one that integrates content and process, typifying real world situations. The strategies and practices [ http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/teaching-and-learning/framework-for-practice-and-evidence ] supporting the alignment of the written, taught, and tested curriculum are rooted in internal and external research critical to providing optimum learning opportunities for all students.

• Common Core Georgia Performance Standards [ http://www.gadoe.org/CCGPS.aspx ]

The purpose of the K–12 curriculum is to ensure that all students will learn the same core of significant content at a specific instructional level, from teacher to teacher, and school to school. Although the curricular objectives are aligned with the national education goals of the Goals 2000: Education America Act, Georgia standards, and state-mandated tests, the overriding goal is to design, teach, and assess a curriculum that is academically rich, holistic, student-centered, and culturally diverse, honoring input and contributions from all of DeKalb County School District's stakeholders.