Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment



The Purpose of Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment

“Assessment is today’s means of understanding how to modify tomorrow’s instruction.”

-Carol Ann Tomlinson

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment are fundamental components of school improvement and student learning. The Platte County R-3 School District is committed to a guaranteed and viable curriculum, consistent instructional practices, and appropriate assessment methods that evaluate growth and learning. District benchmark assessments, Improvement Teams, and the use of formative assessments are intended to diagnose student understanding, measure performance, inform instruction, focus instructional time – and drive achievement. The information gathered by the District from its assessment program will be used in a variety of ways to validate district curriculum, inform instructional practices, and to help steer decisions made by educators and leadership throughout the organization. To most effectively meet the needs of our students, and to inform our teacher’s instructional practices, we remain committed to the foundational questions of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process:

  1. What do we want all learners to know and able to do?
  2. How will the learning experience be facilitated?
  3. How do we monitor the progress of each learner.
  4. How will we respond to the educational outcomes of each learner?

The answers to these questions open the door to continuous improvement and healthy dialogue within our school District. They also have the potential to bind curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development under the umbrella of Academic Services to greatly serve the District’s community of educators, leaders, students, and parents.