At Bellefonte Area School District, curriculum development is a collaborative process involving teachers, administrators, and content-area specialists. During the curriculum review cycle, teams work together to evaluate current programs, review student data, examine best practices, and design learning experiences that support student success.
Beginning in 2024, the district implemented a new curriculum development process designed to provide greater clarity, consistency, and alignment across grade levels and content areas. As curriculum teams move through the review cycle, they create several key planning documents that help guide instruction and communicate what students are expected to learn.
Instructional Frameworks
Instructional Frameworks outline the key instructional practices, learning experiences, and design principles that guide teaching and learning within a specific content area. These district-developed documents reflect educational research, current professional literature, and local priorities to help ensure students have access to high-quality, engaging, and effective instruction across classrooms and grade levels.
Vertical Standards Alignment Documents
Vertical Standards Alignment Documents illustrate how learning progresses across grade levels and courses. These district-developed resources identify when specific concepts and skills are introduced, reinforced, and mastered, helping ensure a coherent learning experience for students over time. These documents also identify priority, or "power," standards that represent the most essential learning outcomes within a content area.
Curriculum Storyboards
Curriculum Storyboards provide a visual representation of the learning journey students experience throughout a course or content area. Storyboards outline major units of study, essential skills, and important learning experiences, helping teachers and families understand how learning unfolds over time.
A curriculum storyboard shows how key unit topics are connected to tell the story of a course or content area. Each storyboard is intentionally designed around a narrative thread that helps make learning more connected, meaningful, and accessible for students and families.
Note
Prior to 2024, curriculum teams primarily developed curriculum maps to document standards and instructional content. These curriculum maps remain available for content areas that have not yet completed the revised curriculum review process.
As subject areas move through the curriculum cycle, curriculum maps will gradually be enhanced and replaced by Instructional Frameworks, Vertical Standards Alignment Documents, and Curriculum Storyboards. This transition will occur over several years as curriculum teams engage in the review, revision, and implementation process.
As a result, families may notice that some content areas currently include the newer curriculum planning documents while others continue to utilize traditional curriculum maps. Both resources provide valuable information about student learning and reflect the district's ongoing commitment to continuous improvement.