State Curriculum Assessment

Curriculum Defined

Every year as new students enter school they wonder what they will learn. As the student enters the room on the first day of school the teacher has her room precisely decorated and has all of her lesson plans clearly defined. Although the student has no idea, these lesson plans where designed specifically for his/her every need before he even stepped into that classroom. Every year the curriculum for Louisiana schools is determined long before the student ever arrive, but what exactly is the curriculum and what does it do for each student individually? The curriculum in schools today has been defined in many different ways; this is primarily due to the fact that most everyone has an
This ensures that all classrooms across the state are being taught in alignment with each other. These curriculums are developed by a board of teachers and professors from all across the state to ensure that content, instruction, and assessment are being pulled together and taught at their best. (LLC, 2008) Then at the end of each grade level (Pre-K – 12), there is a standardized test that is given to ensure that each student has learned and is able to perform what they have learned at that grade level. These tests, which follow along with the defined curriculum for that particular grade level, determine whether or not a student is ready to move on to the next grade level. Being that all parishes and public schools in Louisiana require that the Comprehensive Curriculum be taught, all students are able to get the appropriate content knowledge and are given adequate opportunities to learn the knowledge necessary to succeed.

After researching the different aspects of the word “curriculum”, what does it actually mean? The best definition is given by John Kerr and was also quoted in 1983 by Vic Kelley, Kerr defines curriculum as, “All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school.” (Kelley, 1983) Once the curriculum is defined it is then set into action and is implemented in public schools throughout