Dallastown CARES
Dallastown CARES, short for
Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Ethical, Service-Minded, is the title of the district's approach to integrating the teaching of ethics and social/emotional learning in the classroom.
Common
Core
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) effort was launched in
June 2009 through a partnership of the Council of Chief State School
Offices (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best
Practices. Pennsylvania adopted the CCSS in 2010. The CCSS represents a
coherent progression of learning expectations in English, Language Arts,
and Mathematics designed to prepare students for both college and
career readiness. The CCSS define the knowledge and skills students
should have in their K-12 education, emphasize learning goals, describe
end of the year expectations, and focus on results. Teachers determine
how these goals should be achieved.
PDE has adopted the
CCSS and has found that the CCSS and the PA Academic Standards are very
similar. The Dallastown Area School District teachers, principals, and
curricular leaders have aligned all coursework to the Pennsylvania
version of the CCSS.
Curriculum Mapping
Curriculum Maps are
the tool used to assist teachers in keeping on track with curriculum
that is horizontally aligned to state standards and district
expectations and vertically aligned with appropriate grades and courses.
At all levels of the Dallastown Area School District, teachers and specialists have developed Curriculum Maps.
These maps display what will be taught in the subject areas and courses
at each grade level either during units or time periods in each school
year. Maps can contain web-based links for resources that are helpful in
teaching the unit. The purpose of building Curriculum Maps is
to strategically and purposefully analyze curriculum to identify gaps
and reduce redundancies as well as to examine instructional alignment
with goals and standards. The development of Curriculum Maps among teachers and content areas has sparked interesting dialogue and has improved consistency among schools and courses.
As teachers and administrators analyze student achievement data from various tests and benchmark assessments, Curriculum Maps can be revised to minimize or eliminate areas of curricular weakness that were highlighted by test results.
Curriculum Maps are
never completed. These are revised and enhanced over time. We currently
utilize an online curriculum mapping tool that allows curriculum to be
written with a cross-curricular focus.
The documents on this portion of the Dallastown Area School District web site are in Adobe PDF (portable digital format). You will need Adobe Reader to view these PDFs. Click on the icon below to download a free version.
Last Modified on November 21, 2016.