Curriculum

Active, project-based learning is at the core of the New City School curriculum. Projects are long-term investigations that provide opportunities for the integration of exploration, logical reasoning, critical thinking, literacy development, community action, historical perspective, and creative expression. They are driven by curricular outcome goals (California State Standards and our charter) as well as student interest; projects and investigations culminate in presentations and/or demonstrations at the Student-Led Conferences (SLC) and the Performances/Festivals (Fall Harvest, Evening for Peace and Human Rights, Spring Garden Music and Dance).

Specific skills and relevant social knowledge are taught in classroom-level lessons and reinforced through activities and games in class and in projects to be done at home. At the end of the SLC, parents are informed of ways that they too can reinforce their child’s success in school through increased communication and follow-through of lessons being studied in school. All families must supervise nightly reading at home, as the children prepare for class.

Following each Program Audit, the NCS curriculum is reviewed and revised by each of the teaching teams with clear guidance and feedback from our curriculum consultants, the Content Standards for California Public Schools, the California State Frameworks, the District, and our own Charter. The result of this process is an ever-strengthening program that is “owned” by the staff and highly transparent to grantors, critics, and interested supporters.

For more information about Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks, please visit the California Department of Education’s Curriculum & Instruction page.