by Alyssa Miller ’13

When Superintendent Joshua Starr replaced Jerry Weast, he wasted no time in implementing “Curriculum 2.0.” The new curriculum is designed to better tailor education to students’ needs by providing them with a basic framework of information at a younger age. Now that Starr is well into his term, Curriculum 2.0 is influencing all sides of MCPS education.

According to the MCPS website, Curriculum 2.0 aims to “[build] a stronger foundation at the elementary level.” To do this, it intends to engage students in subjects other than just mathematics and reading (the two “core” subjects under the No Child Left Behind Act). The curriculum was developed based on “internationally-driven standards,” meaning that they are intended to prepare students to be successful in the world. MCPS has also been utilizing a $5 million Department of Education grant to establish the curriculum.

“One of the biggest differences is addition of what we call ‘thinking and academic success skills,’ or ‘TASS,’” said Niki Hazel, supervisor of the Elementary Integrated Curriculum at MCPS. According to Hazel, before the curriculum was written, extensive research was done to discover what set high-scoring students apart from others. Those students were found to be strong critical thinkers who were able to analyze information, were collaborative, and were persistent and didn’t give up when working. Hazel says that the new curriculum is very different from the 2000 model curriculum MCPS was using previously. “It is really about a lot of open-ended questions, it’s about explaining your thinking, showing that you understand [a topic] in two or three different ways,” said Hazel.

A major change in Curriculum 2.0 involves reshaping the basic report cards that have been used for decades. The new cards focus on how a given child is meeting grade-level standards for all subjects. Subjects are broken down into specific categories within each academic area, and students are awarded one of three letters—P, I or N, rather than the traditional A, B, C, D, E grades. P indicates that a child is proficient, while I means they are in progress and if a child recieves an N, it means they have not met standards. Additionally, students are graded based on “Learning Skills,” awarded a grade of DEM to indicate that they are properly demonstrating necessary skills, PRG to indicate that they are making progress, or an N for “Not yet evident.”

The changes in learning, however, aren’t expected to stop after the elementary school years. One of the goals of Curriculum 2.0 is to prepare students for more rigorous courses in high school. The new curriculum was designed to help high school students meet the goals of the Common Core standards, “a set of shared goals and expectations for what students should understand and be able to do … in order to be prepared for success in college and the workplace,” according to marylandpublicschools.org. Hazel says “The biggest change has been in [Common Core subjects] reading, writing and mathematics, making sure there’s that depth and understanding.” The new curriculum is largely based on teaching students to apply what they learn in school to the real world. “Students will have a stronger understanding of mathematics … of the skills and concepts,” said Hazel. “We’ve completely aligned ourselves with Common Core where we can.”