Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Curriculum And Instruction topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Urbandale advances high-school curriculum reviews; board hears proposals for electives, visual arts and world languages; state waiver proposed for PE
Summary
Board received recommendations for 9–12 electives in social studies and science, visual-arts materials for K–12, and world-language materials. Administrators also requested permission to apply for a Department of Education flexible student-support waiver to change the high-school physical-education requirement from each semester to one semester.
The Urbandale Community School District presented a set of curriculum reviews and a request to apply for a Department of Education flexibility waiver that would change the high-school physical-education requirement.
Curriculum facilitators Candy Bridal (social studies/ELA) and Janine Heltzer (science/math) summarized a year-long review of 9–12 electives. Recommendations included adopting or continuing publisher materials for AP courses (AP Human Geography, AP European History, AP U.S. History, AP Psychology, AP Government) and a new course, Street Law (McGraw Hill). For AP biology and human anatomy and physiology, the district recommended Visible Body (Cengage) resources and noted the availability of digital and print class sets.
The K–12 visual-arts team recommended Deep Space Sparkle for K–5 teachers and requested studio and organizational materials to equalize inventory across buildings. The 6–12 art program plans to retain current materials while the elementary program adopts a common digital resource to unify the student experience.
World-language teachers and facilitators reported participation in an acquisition/practice workshop and recommended a mix of comprehensible-input resources and more traditional texts that support grammar development as students progress. The district currently offers Spanish, Japanese and German at the high school, and facilitators discussed historic reasons Japanese has remained in the program.
Flexible student-support application (PE requirement) Administrators requested board approval to apply to the Iowa Department of Education for a flexible-student-support application that would permit the district to shift high-school PE from a per-semester requirement to a one-semester requirement. The district said the change would open schedule space for students and could reduce the need for certain learning-center placements. Contract PE and exemptions would remain options; administrators said they have improved contract-PE requirements and will manage eligibility closely. The district estimated about 20 students currently use contract PE.
Why it matters Adoption of instructional materials and course changes affect classroom instruction, course schedules, inventory and future textbook and digital purchases. Approval to apply for the PE waiver would require state approval before the district could implement the scheduling change.
What’s next The board received the recommendations; adoption or purchase of materials will follow normal procurement steps. Administration will proceed with the application to the state Education Department; the district said it has had preliminary conversations with a state consultant and that similar flexible arrangements exist in nearby districts.
