St. Paul City School is focused on having all of our students be prepared for the next chapter in their education. St. Paul City School’s curriculum is aligned with the Minnesota State Standards and the materials we use are to support them. The state standards drive our curriculum and instruction.  

In reading SRA’s Reading Mastery program is used in grades Kindergarten-5th Grade to meet students at their instructional reading level. In addition, a centrally located Resource Room, where over 2000 leveled readers are stored, is available for teachers to use to enrich and integrate reading into the content areas. For students who have been identified from benchmark and state tests to need extra support, research-based interventions are delivered daily to the students. 

In math, the Scott Foresman series is used as the text in kindergarten through fifth grades and Prentice Hall Mathematics is the curriculum used in sixth through eight grades. Additionally, for students who have been identified from classroom and state tests who need extra practice, provide additional math interventions.  

In Social Studies, St. Paul City School uses the Core Knowledge curriculum. There is a strong emphasis on geography, American History and World History in all the grades. Core Knowledge textbooks and resources are used. In Science, FOSS kits and teacher materials are used to teach the Minnesota State Standards.  

Assessments: In order to meet each student’s instructional needs, teachers are aware of where the students are performing and measure their progress.  Benchmark assessments are given to all students at least three times a year in reading and monthly in math. Some of the tools used are NWEA Measures of Academic Progress and DIBELS.  

Instructional Focus: St. Paul City School staff participates in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) as a way to learn together and focus their instruction on student need. Some topics that have already been studied are reading instruction and differentiated instruction. With these practices still in mind, the focus for 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years is SIOP training (Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol). SIOP is a research-based instructional framework of effective lesson plan design and teaching strategies that specifically address the language and content needs of English Learners. The SIOP model includes best teaching practices that are successful with all students.

For information about the pre-kindergarten program and the High Scope curriculum, please look on the pre-kindergarten page.