Curriculum
Overview
The Brookline, Hollis, and Hollis Brookline Cooperative School Districts develop our own curriculum to best meet the needs of our population. The curriculum is aligned with National and State Standards to ensure our students are fully prepared for college and career upon their graduation.
Each year, collaborative teams of grade level teachers, specialists, and content-area specialists work together to reflect and improve our curriculum. The curriculum documents are not static; rather, they are dynamic documents that are reviewed and updated as needed.
Important aspects of the curriculum include: the content (subject matter itself, key concepts, facts, topics, important information), the referenced standards(s), common essential learnings (questions which focus on the underlying concept taught and require reasoning, judgment and evaluation), activities that support 21st Century learning (core competencies such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity that are needed to help students thrive in today's world), enrichment and expanded opportunities, and remediation and/or intervention strategies.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching and learning: that is what we do here in the Brookline, Hollis, and Hollis Brookline Cooperative Schools. Our teachers engage in deep pedagogical conversations in their Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) centered around effective instructional practices to develop highly engaging lessons that stimulate our students' minds. Our teachers administer formative assessments to inform their instruction moving forward. They also administer summative assessments that gauge the learning that has taken place. The monitoring and reviewing of the assessments allow the PLCs to reflect upon both the instructional practices utilized and the strategies implemented. The end goal of this cycle is to continually improve student learning.
“The purpose of staff development is not just to implement instructional innovations; its central purpose is to build strong collaborative work cultures that will develop the long term capacity for change."
- Michael Fullan
The Professional Growth Model Committee is tasked with developing a new Professional Growth Model for SAU41 to be submitted to the state in June 2017. This model provides a structure to guide professionals to be more productive and effective educators. In addition, this committee has been tasked with developing and refining a new teacher evaluation model for the district.
SAU41 District committees
21st Century
The 21st Century Teaching and Learning Committee is driven to inspire lifelong learning and achievement. The vision is to provide a wide range of experiences that will encourage students to strive for their maximum intellectual, artistic, emotional, social, an physical development. The ultimate goal is to ensure all students in SAU41 acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders in a global society.
Math Steering
The purpose of the Math PreK-12 Steering Committee is to guide content area curriculum for the entire district. It is a collaborative endeavor to move the district forward ensuring logical progressions through out vertically aligned curriculum. The committee was developed in the middle of the 2016-2017 school year. The committee's work will be focused around reviewing vertical alignment to ensure logical progressions; align math manipulatives, resources, and materials; identify strengths needs, and concerns; recommend appropriate revisions of the curriculum; and recommend necessary professional development.
Standards Based Reporting
The Standard's Based Report Card Committee's work has the ultimate goal of developing a universal standards based report card for our elementary districts. The committee is comprised of teachers and administrators from both the Brookline and Hollis School Districts. The committee was formulated in the 2015-2016 school year. The committee meets face-to-face at regular intervals, and all members participate in an online book study to ensure the work has a solid research-based foundation.
Science Steering
The purpose of the Science PreK-12 Steering Committee is to guide content area curriculum for the entire district. It is a collaborative endeavor to move the district forward ensuring logical progressions through out vertically aligned curriculum. The committee was developed in the middle of the 2016-2017 school year. The committee's work will be focused around reviewing vertical alignment to ensure logical progressions; align science experiments, resources, and materials; identify strengths needs, and concerns; recommend appropriate revisions of the curriculum; and recommend necessary professional development.
ELA Steering
Coming soon
SS Steering
Coming soon