In partnership with the parents, teachers, students and community members it is the desire and intent of Woodbury Leadership Academy to create an environment that fosters academic success through:
- Rigorous content and domains of study
- High expectations
- Inquiry-based learning
The mission of Woodbury Leadership Academy is to utilize Core Knowledge curriculum to provide an educational program that is academically rigorous, based on solid research and demonstrated success.
The Core Knowledge Sequence provides a detailed outline of recommended content knowledge and skills to be taught in language arts, history and geography, mathematics, science, visual arts and music. The Sequence is intended to help children establish strong foundations of knowledge grade by grade. Compared to most curriculum standards, the Core Knowledge Sequence embodies three essentials qualities. Those qualities include content-specific, cumulative and coherent.
Core Knowledge develops content-rich resources to support knowledge-based schooling. See examples of these resources below.
How is Core Knowledge different from other curriculums? How is it rigorous?
What sets Core Knowledge apart from a traditional school is the specificity of the Sequence. The Sequence is designed to encourage steady academic growth as students build on knowledge year after year. There are no repeated units in multiple grades. Additionally, The Sequence is organized to support coherent instruction and to make cross-curricular connections across subjects.
Many educators believe that schools are good at teaching and testing facts, but that students are not prepared to apply those facts to solving problems. Core Knowledge believes that for students to solve meaningful problems, they must first be supplied with knowledge about the domain of study. Skills and knowledge should complement each other.
The subject matter covered in Core Knowledge Sequence is rigorous. Students are exposed to a lot of information and rich vocabulary. Additionally, students are expected to move at a fast pace, as there are many domains of study in each grade level that must be covered. For students to be successful in this rigorous environment, families must be involved in their child's education. One way to be involved is working with your child on homework. Check out our WLA Homework Guidelines by clicking HERE.
Another difference between a Core Knowledge school and what children might experience in another school is that art and music are essential elements of the Core Knowledge Sequence, not add-on subjects that are sometimes squeezed out because of funding cutbacks or other priorities. Students at Woodbury Leadership Academy regularly participate in specialist classes in music, art, P.E. and media.
What is Core Knowledge?
The mission of the Core Knowledge Foundation is to advance excellence and equity in education for all children.
To achieve this mission, they offer detailed curricular guidance and materials to schools, teachers, parents, and policy makers—to anyone who believes, as we do, that every child in a diverse democracy deserves access to enabling knowledge.
The Core Knowledge approach puts knowledge at the heart of schooling.
Specific and Sequenced: Most curriculum standards provide general goals and objectives but offer teachers little guidance about the specific knowledge students should learn in each grade. In contrast, the Core Knowledge approach is to specify, in a clear grade-by-grade sequence, what students need to know.
Excellence and Equity: Only by specifying the knowledge and skills that all children should share can we guarantee equal access to that knowledge. Educational excellence and equity require that every child in a democracy have access to important shared knowledge and language.
Starting Early: It’s important to begin building strong foundations of knowledge in the early years. The Core Knowledge approach focuses on preschool through grade eight. In these early years, especially the preschool and elementary grades, schools can do the most to help children lay the groundwork for language development and future success.
To learn more about Core Knowledge, click HERE!