In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, each school district is responsible for developing and implementing its own curriculum, in view of the state and national standards. Some school systems have well-developed curricula, while others continue to struggle to devise one that is meaningful and meets the needs of students. This section cites area curricula that, while quite different, could serve as models for a range of school systems.
Dallas School District
http://www.dallassd.com/CurriculumWeb/INDEX.HTM
This online curriculum, created using EdVision's Curriculum Designer software, represents a concerted effort of teachers in the Dallas School District to create a curriculum that addresses national and state standards. The online curriculum does not represent every course that Dallas offers, but instead focuses on the core courses that students must take to master the standards. The online version of the curriculum offers homework related to each of the content standards and skills. For teachers, there are a myriad of lesson plans and Internet resources. The curriculum also allows parents to examine the concepts being taught at a specific grade level or in a particular course and provides them with Internet resources and hints to help children with difficult topics. The online curriculum is still in the revision process; there are plans to add teaching units along with assessment strategies in the summer of 2002.
Southwest Collaborative
The Math and Science Collaborative, based in Pittsburgh, collaborated with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit to create a partnership called the Regional K-12 Math Curriculum Framework to help guide curricular review. Linked to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Mathematics, the project identifies the "big ideas" at each grade level and emphasizes the elements of essential learning for each grade. Started in summer of 2000, the Framework has since been shared with representatives of more than 70 districts in southwestern Pennsylvania. While the Framework is not currently posted on the Web, it is available in either print or CD-ROM versions, and workshops are available upon request. For more information Visit http://www.msc.collaboratives.org or contact Andrea Miller at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (e-mail: miller@aiu3.net).
The Regional K-12 Math Curriculum Framework was also the basis for another project, "What's the Big Idea?" done by the Math and Science Collaborative in partnership with McDonald's Corporation. The program is a set of middle school mathematics materials created by a team of middle school teachers and mathematics educators. These include approximately 45 inquiry-based mathematics problems for grades 6 through 8 that are mathematically rich, complex, and challenging. The problems address NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000) and are connected to the "big ideas" in mathematics, as outlined in the Regional K-12 Mathematics Curriculum Framework. Copies of the book or CD-Rom are available at McDonald's in western Pennsylvania, through the http://www.msc.collaboratives.org, or by written request to "What's the Big Idea?" P.O. Box 25317, Pittsburgh, PA 15220.
Berks County Intermediate Unit
http://www.berksiu.k12.pa.us/k12benchmarks.htm#Math
This site contains links to Pennsylvania Content Standards grade level benchmarks (PDF format) for Measurement and Estimation and Geometry. These are divided into grades K-3 and 3-6. These benchmarks were developed in 2000 by teachers from Berks, Chester, and York Counties; professors from institutes of higher education; curriculum staff from Berks and Northeast Intermediate Units; PDE personnel; and consultants. The team based them on the Pennsylvania Science and Technology Academic Standards as well as textbooks, curriculum guides, national content standards, standards from other states, and benchmarks created by the Allentown School District.
