Background

In December 2003 the School District of Philadelphia contracted with the Philadelphia Education Fund to be Lead Facilitator in the development of a new core curriculum in Literacy, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2004.

-Phase 1 Deliverable [January-July, 2003]: the development of the Literacy and Mathematics curricula.
-Phase 2 Deliverable [August 2003-June 2004]: the development of Science and Social Studies curricula.
-Phase 3 Deliverable [August - December, 2004]: the development of the Arts curriculum.

In each phase the Ed Fund will co-facilitate meetings of community partners, oversight team, and curriculum writing teams.
The Curriculum Development Project is a lynchpin of the District's PreK-8 reforms. The goal is to provide teachers, principals, students and parents with unified, rigorous, standards-based curricula, instructional materials and assessments to ensure continuity of instruction for all students regardless of school or grade. The District has chosen the percentage of students reaching the proficient level on the Pennsylvania System of Student Assessment [PSSA] in Reading and Math as the primary indicator of success of this project.