Curriculum Review Process 

At DPS, we believe in utilizing culturally responsive instructional practices and strategies that affirm each student’s unique identity, build a welcoming and inclusive community, and cultivate engaged and empowered learners. Based on research, our teaching and learning processes must evolve to best meet all students' needs.  Constant reflection and analysis should be conducted to ensure the proper materials, alignment, and practices are being utilized. This plan is designed to be flexible and changes should be made as students’ needs,  standards, and resources are updated. 

Curriculum Review Phases

Definitions

Bias: An inclination or preference, either for or against an individual or group, that interferes with impartial judgment.

Culturally Responsive Teaching: Cultural responsiveness is an approach to viewing students’ culture and identity (including race, ethnicity, multilingualism, and other characteristics) as assets, and creating learning experiences and environments that value and empower them. In short, this looks like strategies that affirm each student’s unique identity, build a welcoming and inclusive community, and cultivate engaged and empowered learners.

Curriculum Alignment: the support and structure designed for all students to progress vertically through skills, content, and practice standards. 

Diversity: The variety of personal experiences, perspectives, and values that arise from each person’s unique visible and invisible identity*

*Identifying characteristics of identity include but are not limited to race, ethnicity, ability status, learning differences, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity, socioeconomic status, religion, language, national origin, and/or age.

Equity: Equity ensures obstacle-free access, opportunity, and advancement for each individual to realize their full potential and achieve personal and academic excellence.

Inclusion: The act of creating a sense of belonging and intentionally establishing environments in which all individuals are welcomed, respected, and affirmed by eliminating barriers that exclude or marginalize.

Inclusive Practices: Learning strategies that provide all students with access to flexible learning choices and effective paths for achieving educational goals in spaces where they experience a sense of belonging, such as tiered supports, technology, scaffolded / differentiated instruction, and Universal Design for Learning principles, and differentiated instruction. Using inclusive practices is a core facet of culturally responsive teaching and learning.

Literacy: 

Resources

Equity Review Guiding Document 

Equity Review Guiding Questions/Reflection Guide

Massachusetts Learning Standards

The Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks provide teachers, students and families with clear and shared expectations for what all students should know and be able to do at the end of each year. They represent a promise of equitable education for all students. They formalize the expectation that all students in the Commonwealth have access to the same academic content, regardless of their zip code, background, or abilities.

The learning standards in the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks set expectations for what all students should know and be able to do by the end of each school year. Educators, students, families, and others can use the Standards Navigator to explore the Massachusetts learning standards and find related resources such as student work exemplars, quick reference guides, and definitions of terms.

Sample Student Surveys

• PreK-2

• Grade 3-5

• Secondary

• Education Evaluator Rubric