Inclusive Curriculum

Curriculum identifies what we teach and how we plan for the instructional process. At Shenendehowa, our curriculum promotes equity in opportunities and outcomes for all students. We work to develop curriculum that:

  • is culturally responsive, inclusive of cultural references for all students,

  • is free of bias,

  • recognizes the complexity and intersectionality of student identities,

  • provides meaningful learning experiences for all learners (e.g. extended learning for high ability) and opportunities to make real life connections,

  • is proactively designed to be fully inclusive by eliminating/reducing barriers to learning and ensuring differentiation to meet the needs of all learners.

Professional Resources:

At Shenendehowa, we have adopted the concept of "windows and mirrors" to help us make selections of instructional text. To learn more about "windows and mirrors" in the K-5 English/Language Arts program, visit the K-5 Literacy website.

As part of our 10th Anniversary Celebration of SHENsational, students created videos describing meaningful instructional texts they read. Click here to see the videos.

Use these tools to evaluate your practices

The cultural proficiency rubrics serve as a lens to evaluate the effectiveness of our interactions across cultures. The goal is to move all practices toward the far right side of the rubric in every category. (Source: Culturally Proficient Inquiry, Lindsey, Graham, Westphal, Jew, 2008)