Curriculum Priorities

Curriculum plays an important role in how students are taught, and evidence shows that a high-quality, standards-aligned curriculum can have a significant positive impact on student achievement. Teachers and curriculum supervisors will need to determine evidence-based content priorities in mathematics and literacy to focus on throughout summer programming. The NJDOE encourages educators to take advantage of the Instructional Units in ELA and Mathematics, jointly developed by the NJDOE and New Jersey educators. Instruction should be focused on prioritized grade-level instructional content for ELA/literacy and mathematics, and these units can help focus the discussions for educators at every grade level.

In addition to the above, NJDOE collaborated with New Jersey educators over the past school year to identify prerequisite concepts and skills associated with each of the Instructional Units in ELA and Mathematics. The purpose of the Prerequisite Concepts and Skills is to determine the type of individualized instruction and supports that might be needed at the start of a unit to meet students where they are. These documents reflect the order and arrangement of the instructional units, identify focus standards, and support educators in the identification of any conceptual or skill gaps that might exist in a student’s understanding. These documents allow educators to identify opportunities for learning acceleration and can support the selection of priority content to address through a summer learning program. Please view the Summer Learning Curriculum Checklist to access a summer curriculum checklist to assist with the planning and assessment stages of the Summer Learning Quality Improvement Cycle.

Which standards, skills, or competencies will be the foci for each grade level? In which ways will formative, interim/benchmark, and summative assessment results collected throughout the course of the 2021-2022 school year guide the content priorities selected for summer learning and the focus for learning acceleration? (P,R)
How tightly aligned are your instructional materials to the NJSLS Prerequisite Concepts and Skills? How will less-aligned materials be modified or reconsidered to better support instruction? (P,T)
Which NJSLS-aligned instructional activities will best engage students? (P,T)
Can grade-level standards from other content areas be integrated to support meaningful interdisciplinary connections? (P,T)
Are there opportunities for student choice or project-based learning experiences? (P,T)
Will learning activities be active and meaningful, promote collaboration, expand student horizons, and build mastery? (P,T,A,R)
In what ways were student voices elevated and community partnerships leveraged in the design of the summer program? (P,T)
How will you anchor the program within the community, with tangible support from families and community-based organizations to maximize resources and provide the best overall experience for students? (P,T)
What modifications will be needed to ensure access to the content for all student groups? (P,T)
How will the content selected for summer learning program accelerate student learning in fall 2022 and/or prepare Pre-K and Kindergarten student for initial entry to school? (A,R)
How will the curricular materials be adapted to support differentiated instruction and modified to implement students’ IEPs (P,T)
How will you support teachers to plan and use effective formative assessment practices as a primary means of data collection to inform instructional decisions? (P,T,A,R) How will you deepen their understanding and support their engagement in formative practices? (T)
How will students in grades K–2 who have not mastered foundational skills be identified and supported in meeting grade-level content expectations prior to fall 2022? (A)
How will summer 2022 instruction target specific standards/skills in mathematics and ELA? (P,T)
How will summer learning curriculum choices jump-start student learning for fall 2022 through a focus on prerequisite concepts and skills? (P,T)
What additional supports will be employed for students who need additional help, such as high-dosage tutoring or technology-based programs, to promote daily reading and mathematics practice that is personalized for each student? (P,T)
What additional supports will be employed for students who experience unfinished learning within the context of the summer program(s)? (P,T)

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