New curriculum coming this next school year

Mission CISD (Consolidated Independent School District) will begin to
phase in a new curriculum for almost every grade level this fall.
Students may not notice a difference, but administrators say teachers
should see an improvement in the manner in which they plan for and
deliver instruction.
The curriculum is being purchased from the Region One Education
Service Center and is for grades K-12. The curriculum is actually a
collaborative effort involving several regional service centers from
around the state and numerous experts in the field of curriculum
development.
"This is the first time we have found a truly comprehensive curriculum
for K-12 in the four core content areas that is so well aligned with
everything the state expects at each of the grade levels," said Oscar
Rodriguez, superintendent. "They were able to tap into a level of
expertise that we would never be able to afford on our own."
In the past, curriculum development was done piece by piece, using
district staff members during the summer. Administrators say the
complexities involved in aligning all the aspects involved in
curriculum writing had become more than staff members could accomplish
during the summer months.
"All the needed curriculum documents are aligned not only from grade
to grade, but also within the four content areas of Language Arts,
Math, Science and Social Studies," Rodriguez explained. "Assessments
will be better aligned with what is being taught during the school
year and many materials will be available to teachers online. One of
the things I also like about this is it does a better job of defining
what to teach, while still giving our teachers the creativity to
decide how to they want to teach the material."
Training on the new materials will begin this August and district
officials hope to have enough of the training completed for full
implementation of the curriculum by January.
A Spanish curriculum and additional subjects are currently being
developed and can be added by the district once they are complete.