Staircase Curriculum
Are your school's achievement results where you would like them to be?
In SchoolRise® we work with many schools that want to improve student learning, especially in language arts and math. At the outset, many of these schools felt that they had been going in circles for years without making significant progress.
Raising Achievement
What's the answer? Our research indicates that achievement rises when teachers in a school construct and implement a strong staircase curriculum.
In a staircase or coherent curriculum, teachers' outcomes and instruction at each level build on what came before and lead up to what comes later. Gone are the gaps in the curriculum that typically delay the progress of struggling learners.
Program versus Curriculum
Typically, schools try to put a staircase curriculum in place by purchasing a program. Research shows that this approach does not work, because teachers can interpret a program in different ways and choose to emphasize different aspects.
At SchoolRise we help you distinguish between a curriculum and a program. A rigorous curriculum can be customized to the needs of your students, while aligned to the Common Core and other external standards. A program becomes is a tool teachers use to meet the outcomes specified in the curriculum.
Our Approach
We help your school build a strong staircase curriculum through a step-by-step change process centered on products that grade levels and departments create through rich professional discussions.
SchoolRise provides the professional knowledge and guidance your teachers need to build a staircase consistent with high expectations. Your teachers take ownership of the curriculum and they understand it deeply, because they developed it themselves.
