Montpelier Roxbury School District

Formalized Essential Learning at Roxbury Village School

By: Beth Kellogg

Formalized Essential Learning is our second pillar under our Theory of Growth – “A guaranteed and viable curriculum allows for our educators to focus on the learning that has staying power. We will ensure that every child has access to grade level priorities that have leverage for future learning.”

In 2010, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were established to determine a consistent set of academic standards for math and English language arts for students from kindergarten through grade 12. In What Works in Schools (Marzano), Robert Marzano shares that within a typical K-12 system there are 3,500 benchmarks. In 13 years of schooling, there are 9,000 hours of instruction available. However, to teach each of the 3,500 benchmarks, 15,000 hours of instruction would be required. That is 22 years of schooling. We only have 13 years between a student's first day in kindergarten and their last day as a senior in high school. As you can see, the math just doesn’t add up. As such, we need to work smarter, not harder. To that end, we have to identify what is essential. Within the Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools, we call these “priority standards." Our Priority Standards are a carefully curated subset of those 3,500 standards from the Common Core. These priority standards have been identified through coordinated curriculum work with teams of teachers to identify what is most important for students to know and be able to do in order to be ready for the next course or grade level. It is important to note that our priority standards do not represent only what is taught, they represent the minimum students must learn to reach high levels of learning.

These same priority standards are the framework for our “guaranteed and viable curriculum” throughout our system. These are standards that our district agrees and assures that all students will know and be able to do at the end of their respective grade in school. For example, within the Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools, there is a Grade 4 Priority Standard for students to “Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm." I was just talking about this very standard with a teacher the other day. At this point in the year, about half of the students have met this standard. We want all students to be there. To that end, we look at what more needs to be done to ensure that all of these fourth grade students will master this standard by the end of the year. Some may need more time to develop a better understanding of place value or maybe they are struggling with some fluency pieces or perhaps they are making some careless mistakes with regrouping that are impacting their accuracy in arriving at the correct sum. Time and support will be provided and work will be done so that all students have mastery of this priority standard by the end of 4th grade.

I chose to highlight a 4th grade standard to illustrate the importance of our “guaranteed and viable curriculum” within our Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools system to underscore the value of these priority standards. You see, our 4th grade students at Roxbury Village School will be joining the 4th grade students at Union Elementary school next year when they become part of the same 5th grade class at Main Street Middle School. It is vital that they have the same common understanding as they work together at a new grade level.

Formalized Essential Learning within the Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools supports each student by providing equitable access to a relevant and rigorous curriculum that is aligned with our district’s priority standards. These priority standards have been developed within the context of a scope and sequence. Curriculum units and common formative assessments have been established and consistent structures have been created to support and ensure academic growth. We continue to refine the ways we communicate curriculum expectations and our reporting of student progress in a clear and consistent manner. Caregivers are always welcome to reach out to teachers and administrators should there be questions or if we can provide a greater understanding of our curricular expectations and their student’s place within the learning progression. We look forward to continuing the conversation as we share the mutual goal of high levels of learning for all students.