The mission of the Kansas City Missouri School District is to provide students the opportunity to succeed as life-long learners with the capacity for leadership and service as productive and responsible citizens. It is the role of curriculum to support this mission by providing clear connections between academic and performance standards and all areas that support the higher achievement and success of all students. The closer we align our curriculum, assessment, and instruction to the vision, mission, and goals the state and district, the better we are able to establish clear standards (expectations) for administrators, teachers, students, parents, and community members. If the target is clear, them we can focus our efforts on what it is we need to do to support those standards that directly correlate to higher student achievement. The 2002 Core Curriculum clarifies and strengthens the relationship between academic standards, assessment, instruction, resources, and professional development.
Process (1997 to Present)
The primary goal of the Kansas City Missouri School District is to improve student achievement. One of the means of accomplishing this goal is to provide curriculum that is aligned to state and national standards and assessment. With the development of the Core Curriculum in 1997, the Kansas City Missouri School District began the process of alignment with state and national standards. In June 2000, the curriculum revision and alignment process continued with the completion of the 2000 MAP Alignment (Syllabus) The process involved teachers working in content groups in Communication Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Their task was to align the Core Curriculum (1997) with the Assessment Annotations of Missouri Curriculum Frameworks. The 2000 MAP Alignment (Syllabus) was distributed to schools and teachers in October 2000.
The curriculum revision process continued in May 2001 with the development of the 2001 Core Curriculum: Quarterly Standards and Objectives Aligned with Resources. Teams of teachers from across the district served as content specialists in the development process. The content specialists used the 2000 MAP Alignment (Syllabus) to identify and sequence the quarterly standards and objectives and align district adopted and other available resources. Quarterly assessments were created using the NCS Abacus program. Health, Physical Education, and Music were added to the curriculum. In the fall of 2001, curriculum was developed for K-12 Art as well as the advanced and elective courses not included in the 2001 Core Curriculum. Also in the fall of 2001, the 2001 Core Curriculum was undergoing a broader review and revision. Over 150 teachers were involved in the curriculum development and revision process. Drafts of the revised curriculum were sent to each school in the Kansas City Missouri School District for review and further revision. The final work on the 2002 Core Curriculum was completed during the spring and summer of 2002.
