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Dallastown to publish K–12 curriculum maps online via Rubicon Atlas on Jan. 31
Summary
The Dallastown Area School Board heard a presentation on the district's plan to make curriculum maps publicly available through Rubicon Atlas beginning Jan. 31, a longtime internal tool the district says will increase transparency and allow real-time updates.
Dallastown Area School Board members were shown a demonstration Thursday of Rubicon Atlas, the district's curriculum-mapping platform, and were told the public launch will occur Jan. 31.
The superintendent, Dr. Michael Dahl, said the platform will give families a view into ‘‘the educational journey of our students’’ and meet a board goal for public access to curriculum. Dr. Dahl introduced Dr. Heffler, who walked the board through how members of the public will navigate course descriptions, unit titles and standards within the Atlas portal.
Dr. Heffler, a district staff member who led the presentation, said the district has used Atlas internally for about 10 years and spent the last year aligning maps and preparing a public-facing launch. "Atlas is the company for which we house our curriculum. We will be making it public for our community to access," he said. Heffler demonstrated filters by grade, course and subject and showed that course descriptions appear at the top of each course page with units, essential questions, skills and linked resources beneath.
Board members asked how the public will find high-level overviews and whether topic-wide views (for example, K–12 social studies) will be available. Mr. Frank Pantano, a board member, asked if a viewer could see a short synopsis without drilling into unit minutia; Heffler replied that a course description appears at the top of each course map after selecting the course. Pantano then asked about a K–12 thread for a subject; Heffler demonstrated that selecting social studies as a topic shows all social studies courses from K through 12 and that users would click into each map for details.
Board members also asked whether classroom libraries or teacher-curated materials could be listed; Heffler said classroom-library inventories vary by teacher and are not stored within the curriculum maps. "We do not keep an inventory list of that," he said, noting that classroom-library selections are teacher-managed choice books and that parents should contact classroom teachers directly for that information.
Dahl and Heffler said live curriculum maps will update in real time so changes made by staff will appear immediately on the public portal. The district also plans communications to families and staff once the link goes live.
The board praised the work as a significant effort by district staff and teachers. Dr. Dahl called Atlas a tool to improve transparency and family engagement, and Dr. Heffler thanked staff for their work on aligning and publishing the maps.
Looking ahead, district leaders said new courses typically require about a year to be fully mapped and added to the public portal; only courses currently in full development or in active use will be visible at launch.
