“What is curriculum?” asked Dr. Michelle Schoeneberger, Northampton Area School District assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

With that question, Schoeneberger and Scott Oste, NASD secondary curriculum supervisor, outlined the reasons for curriculum changes at the July 17 NASD Board of Education meeting.

“The document is more than 100 pages long,” NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said.

Schoeneberger and Oste presented an eight-page excerpt of the document in an approximate 30-minute presentation, including questions and answers.

Schoeneberger said curriculum is defined as “a series of planned instruction aligned with established academic standards in each subject that is coordinated, articulated and implemented in a manner to result in the achievement of academic standards at the proficient level by all students.”

There are three types of curriculum changes: minor revision, major revision and new curriculum. For the purposes of the presentation, Schoeneberger and Oste discussed three examples. A minor revision would be the world government and civics class in grade 7, a major revision is in the K-5 reading program, and a new curriculum example is a new fitness offering for grades 9-12.

Oste explained the new curriculum example - “Grades 9-12 High Intensity Interval Training (HITT) the Ground Running.”

He said, “It’s as effective as other types of training.”

According to the presentation, HITT alternates “between several minutes of high-intensity movements to significantly increase the heart rate to at least 80% of one’s maximum heart rate, followed by short periods of lower-intensity movements.” The source for the definition is the Harvard School of Public Health.

The HIIT new course revision is a half-year elective course for high school students who have passed secondary fitness.

In the definition of curriculum:

• “Series” is “a set of related units of planned instruction, scope and sequence.”

• “Planned instruction” is “objectives, content, relationship between objectives and standards and procedure for measurement (assessment).”

• “Academic standards” are “adopted by the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, benchmark measures that define what students should know and be able to do a specified grade levels and state requirements found in Chapter 4 of the Pennsylvania School Code.”

Regarding academic standards, Schoeneberger said, “We follow the law.”

Schoeneberger said they usually follow a five- to seven-year curriculum cycle.

“We’ll go through the curriculum cycle and decide whether we need to make a change. There are curriculum revisions or new curriculum if there’s a new course,” Schoeneberger said. “We‘re also very responsive to the needs during the five- to seven-year cycle. We won’t wait.”

The presentation listed several triggers for a curriculum cycle, such as academic progress; state requirements or new standards; new research, knowledge of student learning and effective instruction, assessment; new instructional tools and/or resources; and changes to building schedules or graduation credit requirements.

“Our alignment in curriculum has been effective,” Oste said.

“These programs that we have all work together,” Schoeneberger noted. “There’s a lot going on in reading classrooms K to 5. The beneficiaries of so much attention on reading are the students. What we’re learning is that there’s no one way, no one resource, to meet the needs of our students.”

The NASD school board voted 8-0, with one board member absent, at the June 12 meeting to approve, at the recommendation of the administration, the revised 2023-24 Northampton Area High School program of studies.

The school board voted 7-0, with two board members absent, at the July 17 meeting to approve, at the recommendation of the administration, revised curricula: K-5 reading, grade 6 computer technology, grade 7 social studies, K-8 art, grade 8 exploratory world language, French II, French III, Spanish I, Spanish II, honors Spanish III, child development and family nutrition, interior design and sewing, HITT the Ground Running and media production.

The NASD curriculum can be found on the district’s website, nasdschools.org.

On the menu page, scroll down to Curriculum and Instruction and click on Curriculum Guides. Under Curriculum Guides are listings for Elementary, High School, Middle School and Curriculum Revisions for Board Approval July 2023. Other topics are listed.

In other business at the July 17 meeting, an update was presented on the Route 329 elementary school, administration building and instructional technology project by Chris Haller, senior project manager at D’Huy Engineering Inc.

The $70.3 million project received a recommendation of preliminary conditional approval from East Allen Township Planning Commission at its July 6 meeting.

“The sewer module submission is sent to [Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection],” Haller said. “We have an agreement signed by the municipalities.”

The planning commission is a recommending body. The project is scheduled to be considered for approval at the July 27 East Allen Township Board of Supervisors meeting.

“We will be seeking preliminary approval at that meeting,” Haller added.

School Director Kim Bretzik asked Haller about final approval of the project.

“It’s the first stop to getting final approval,” Haller said of the July 27 East Allen supervisors’ meeting.

“When do you anticipate the bids coming to the school board?” Bretzik asked.

“I don’t want to say that now because it depends on the municipality,” Haller responded. “You could go out for bids in August. We could present the bids to the (school) board in October. The final plan is tied to approval by the DEP.”

Kovalchik noted they will have more information at the August school board meeting.

The board of education is next scheduled to meet 6:30 p.m. Aug. 14 in the NAHS auditorium, 1619 Laubach Ave., Northampton.