601-School District Curriculum and Instruction Goals

Rationale	Date Approved/Revised
The purpose of this policy is to establish broad curriculum parameters for the school district that encompass the Minnesota Graduation Standards and federal law and are aligned with creating the world’s best workforce.	5/26/15 Revised: 7/18/17 Revised: 3/26/19 Revised: 5/21/19 Revised: 12/17/19 Revised: 12/15/20 Revised: 11/15/22 Revised:  8/22/23 Revised:  8/20/24

1)   General Statement of Policy 

The policy of the school district is to strive for comprehensive achievement and civic readiness  in which all learning in the school district should be directed and for which all school district learners should be held accountable.          

2)  Definitions

a)  “Academic standard” means a summary description of student learning in a required content area or elective content area.

b)  “Antiracist” means actively working to identify and eliminate racism in all forms in order to change policies, behaviors, and beliefs that perpetuate racist ideas and actions.

c)   “Benchmark” means specific knowledge or skill that a student must master to complete part of an academic standard by the end of the grade level or grade band.

d)  “Comprehensive Achievement and Civic Readiness” means striving to:  meet school readiness goals; close the academic achievement gap among all racial and ethnic groups of students and between students living in poverty and students not living in poverty; have all students attain career and college readiness before graduating from high school; have all students graduate from high school; and prepare students to be lifelong learners.

e)   "Culturally sustaining" means integrating content and practices that infuse the culture and language of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities who have been and continue to be harmed and erased through the education system.

f) “Curriculum” means district or school adopted programs and written plans for providing students with learning experiences that lead to expected knowledge, skills, and career and college readiness.

g)  “Ethnic studies” as defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.25, has the same meaning for purposes of this section.  Ethnic studies curriculum may be integrated in existing curricular opportunities or provided through additional curricular offerings.

h)  “Experiential learning” means learning for students that includes career exploration through a specific class or course or through work-based experiences such as job shadowing, mentoring, entrepreneurship, service learning, volunteering, internships, other cooperative work experience, youth apprenticeship, or employment.

i)  “Institutional racism” means structures, policies, and practices within and across institutions that produce outcomes that disadvantage those who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

j)   “Instruction” means methods of providing learning experiences that enable students to meet state and district academic standards and graduation requirements.

k)     “Performance measures” are measures to determine school district and school site progress in striving to create the world’s best workforce and must include at least the following:

1. the size of the academic achievement gap and rigorous course taking, including college-level advanced placement, international baccalaureate, postsecondary enrollment options including concurrent enrollment, other rigorous courses of study or industry certification courses or programs and enrichment experiences by student subgroup;

2.  student performance on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments;

3.  high school graduation rates; and

4. career and college readiness under Minnesota Statutes section 120B.30, subdivision 1.

3)  Long-Term Strategic Plan 

a)  The school board, at a public meeting, must adopt a comprehensive, long-term strategic plan to support and improve teaching and learning that is aligned with striving for comprehensive achievement and civic readiness and includes the following:

1.  clearly identified school district and school site goals and benchmarks for instruction and student achievement for all student categories identified in state and federal law.

2.  a process to assess and evaluate each student’s progress toward meeting state and local academic standards, assess and identify students for participation in gifted and talented programs and services and accelerate their instruction, adopt early-admission procedures consistent with Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.15 and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of instruction in pursuit of student and school success and curriculum affecting students’ progress and growth toward career and college readiness and leading to the world’s best workforce;

3.  a system to periodically review and evaluate the effectiveness of all instruction and curriculum, taking into account strategies and best practices, student outcomes, principal evaluations under Minnesota Statutes section 123B.147, subdivision 3, students’ access to effective teachers who are members of populations under-represented among the licensed teachers in the district or school and who reflect the diversity of enrolled students under Minnesota Statutes section 120B.35, subdivision 3(b)(2), and teacher evaluations under Minnesota Statutes section 122A.40, subdivision 8 or 122A.41, subdivision 5;

4.  strategies for improving instruction, curriculum, and student achievement, including the English and, where practicable, the native language development and the academic achievement of English learners;

5.  a process to examine the equitable distribution of teachers and strategies to ensure children in low-income families, children in families of People of Color, and children in American Indian families are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, ineffective, or out-of-field teachers.

6.  education effectiveness practices that integrate high-quality instruction, rigorous curriculum, technology, and a collaborative professional culture that develops and supports teacher quality, performance, and effectiveness; and;

7.  an annual budget for continuing to implement the school district plan.

b) School district site and school site goals shall include goals and strategies that will demonstrate progress toward the broad goals of “world’s best workforce” legislation. 

c) Every child is reading at or above grade level no later than the end of grade 3, including English learners. Teachers provide comprehensive, scientifically based reading instruction, including a program or collection of instructional practices that is based on valid, replicable evidence showing that, when the programs or practices are used, students can be expected to achieve, at a minimum, effective, balanced instruction in all five areas of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension). Teachers use instructional strategies for continuously assessing, evaluating, and communicating the student’s reading progress and needs.

1. The school district must identify, before the end of kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2, all students who are not reading at grade level.  Students identified as not reading at grade level by the end of kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 must be screened for the characteristics of dyslexia, unless a different reason for the reading difficulty has been identified.  
2.  Students in grade 3 or higher who demonstrate a reading difficulty to a classroom teacher must be screened for characteristics of dyslexia, unless a different reason for the reading difficulty has been identified.  
3.  Reading assessments in English and in the predominant languages of district students, where practicable, must identify and evaluate students’ areas of academic need related to literacy.  The school district must also monitor the progress and provide reading instruction appropriate to the specific needs of English learners.  The school district must use locally adopted, developmentally appropriate, and culturally responsive assessment and annually report summary assessment results to the Commissioner of Education by July 1.
4.  The school district must annually report to the Commissioner of Education by July 1 a summary of the district’s efforts to screen and identify students who demonstrate characteristics of dyslexia using screening tools such as those recommended by the Minnesota Department of Education’s dyslexia specialist.  With respect to students screened or identified under paragraph (1), the report must include:

(a) A summary of the district’s efforts to screen for dyslexia;

(b) The number of students screened for that reporting year; and

(c) The number of students demonstrating characteristics of dyslexia for that year

5.  A student identified as having a reading difficulty must be provided with alternate instruction under Minnesota Statutes section 125A.56, subdivision 1.

6.  At least annually, the school district must give the parent or guardian of each student who is not reading at or above grade level timely information about:

a. The student’s reading proficiency as measured by a locally adopted assessment; 

b. Reading-related services currently being provided to the student; and the student’s progress; and 

c. Strategies for parents to use at home in helping their students succeed in becoming grade-level proficient in reading English and their native languages.

This provision may not be used to deny a student’s right to a special education   evaluation.

 7. For each student who is not reading at or above grade level, the school district shall provide reading intervention to accelerate student growth and reach the goal of reading at or above grade level by the end of the current grade and school year. If a student does not read at or above grade level, intervention methods shall encourage family engagement and, where possible, collaboration with appropriate school and community programs.   Intervention methods may include, but are not limited to, requiring attendance in summer school, intensified reading instruction that may require that the student be removed from the regular classroom for part of the school day, extended day programs, or programs that strengthen students’ cultural connections.

Adoption and Revision History	Incorporated Policies
604 INSTRUCTIONAL CURRICULUM (This policy adopted:  January 13, 1998, revised:  January 25, 2005)  Rescinded:  July 20, 2010	MSBA 601, MSBA 604
E-010 INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES (This policy adopted:  April 22, 2008)  Rescinded:  July 20, 2010
EM-020.29 SCHOOL DISTRICT CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION GOALS (This policy adopted:  July 20, 2010; Revised:  September 25, 2012; Revised:  July 23, 2013; Revised:  November 26, 2013; Revised & Renamed:  EM-020.29 INSTRUCTIONAL CURRICULUM on May 26, 2015; Revised:  July 18, 2017; Revised:  March 26, 2019	MSBA 601
601 SCHOOL DISTRICT CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION GOALS This policy revised:  May 21, 2019; December 17, 2019; December 15, 2020; November 15, 2022, August 22, 2023, August 20, 2024

Administrative Rule, Regulation and Procedure: NA

Legal References:                

Minn. Stat. § 120B.018 (Definitions)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.02 (Educational Expectations and Graduation Requirements for Minnesota Students)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.11 (School District Process for Reviewing Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Achievement Goals; Striving for Comprehensive Achievement and Civic Readiness)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.12 (Read Act Goal and Interventions)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.30, Subd. 1 (Statewide Testing and Reporting System)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.35, Subd. 3 (Student Academic Achievement and Growth)

Minn. Stat. § 122A.40, Subd. 8 (Employment; Contracts; Termination)

Minn. Stat. § 122A.41, Subd. 5 (Teacher Tenure Act; Cities of the First Class; Definitions)

Minn. Stat. § 123B.147, Subd. 3 (Principals)

Minn. Stat. § 125A.56, Subd. 1 (Alternate Instruction Required before Assessment Referral)

20 U.S.C. § 5801, et seq. (National Education Goals 2000)

20 U.S.C. § 6301, et seq. (Every Student Succeeds Act)                                   

 

Cross References:               

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 104 (School District Mission Statement)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 613 (Graduation Requirements)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 614 (School District Testing Plan and Procedure)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 615 (Basic Standards Testing, Accommodations, Modifications, and Exemptions for IEP, Section 504 Accommodation, and LEP Students)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 616 (School District System Accountability)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 618 (Assessment