Scope and Sequence
Scope and Sequence in Action
A Message from Chief Executive Officer Eugene T.W. Sanders, Ph.D
On June 17, 2008, over 400 teachers, parents, building administrators, and district supervisors representing virtually every one of our 122 schools joined together to create a pacing guide for the core academic content areas of reading and writing, mathematics, science, and social studies for pre-kindergarten through grade ten. This document represents Version 1.0 of their hard work.
A carefully outlined pacing guide is critically important to CMSD as we continue on our journey to premier status. Without a clearly articulated curriculum framework in place, it is unreasonable to expect CMSD teachers to ensure that a minimum of 75% of their students meet state standards on the Ohio Achievement Tests and Ohio Graduation Tests when only two-thirds of their students attend the same school building for the entire academic year. Only when we can collaboratively agree upon what content is taught to our students and at what time of the year, can we ensure that the other one-third of our students who find it necessary to change schools during the year will be taught all of the same important concepts as their peers. This pacing guide provides an instructional order for the content tested on the Ohio Achievement Tests and Ohio Graduation Tests; the benchmarks of the Ohio Academic Content Standards.
However, a scope and sequence is only valuable if it honors the important work of professional educators. A tightly scripted pacing guide that details what lesson is to be taught on Monday and which test is to be given on Tuesday discounts the importance of the professionals in our classrooms and schools. Just as we need to agree upon what content is taught and when, we must also allow enough flexibility to support thoughtful, individualized lesson planning and classroom instruction. Therefore, instead of prescribing the content to be taught on any given day (or even week), this pacing guide is arranged in eight sections with each section describing the content to be taught in a window of approximately four to five weeks time.
As noted above, this is the first version of this important work. As we use it this year, you are strongly encouraged to make suggestions for future revisions. To submit feedback at anytime throughout the school year, simply send an email to
Academics@CMSDnet.net
.
Your feedback will be used throughout the school year as well as during the summer of 2009 as we refine this pacing guide to ensure that, as a district, we have developed the best quality curriculum framework possible for the faculty, staff, and students of the CMSD.
This important work could not have been completed without the strong collaborative support of the Cleveland Council of Administrators and Supervisors (CCAS), the Cleveland Teachers Union (CTU), and the CMSD School-Parent Organizations (SPO). On behalf of the children of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, thank you to these organizations for their clear, strong support of this work. My sincere thanks, also, to all of the principals and assistant principals, teachers and para-professionals, parents and family members, and district supervisors who contributed to this work. It is an important step on our journey to premier!
Sincerely,
Eugene T.W. Sanders, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Definition of Curriculum
2008-2009 Scope and Sequence Guide
PreKindergarten through Grade 10
ELA, Mathematics, Science & Social Studies