District shortens curriculum review cycle to three years; new courses include financial literacy graduation requirement and several pilots
Loading...
Summary
The district presented a condensed three‑year curriculum review cycle and unveiled new and revised high‑school courses, including a new financial literacy graduation requirement for juniors and pilot certification courses with initial student enrollment figures.
The York Suburban board received an update July 28 on a revised curriculum review cycle and a set of new and modified courses.
Doctor Fuhrman, the district curriculum lead, said the previous five‑phase review cycle has been condensed into a three‑year cycle to provide more sustained development time for departments. "With the gift of time that we had last year in our school calendar, we were able to do a lot of the stage 1 work in many of the content areas," Fuhrman said, adding that some departments may need additional development years depending on scope.
Board members asked about teacher time, substitute coverage and how success of curriculum development will be measured. Fuhrman said departments will use benchmarks, common assessments and principal walk‑throughs to track implementation and that curriculum coaches, content coordinators and teacher leaders will review drafts before finalization.
The board also heard about new and revised courses at the secondary level. Highlights presented at the meeting included:
- Financial literacy: A required semester course for juniors that the district said will be a graduation requirement. The board was told the course was developed by the business and math departments and will be taught by a newly hired staff member; the district plans 10 sections in 2025–26.
- Data science: Four sections are planned in the initial year and staff said the course is intended to demystify working with data for students.
- Drone certification: A pilot with 23 students signed up for the first offering; staff said the course prepares students for a drone certification.
- Sports instruction (coaching certification pilot): 22 students signed up for the initial offering.
- EMT course: As of the meeting, 15 students were signed up for the EMT offering; staff said they were exploring whether neighboring districts might purchase additional seats.
Fuhrman said the district will use EduPlan (the district curriculum warehouse) to collect real‑time teacher feedback and that lead writers will reconcile comments during the summer or as schedules permit.
Board members expressed interest in implementation metrics and in regular reports on how new curriculum pieces affect student outcomes once implemented.
