Lake County Gazette

Lake County's Big Hollow School District 38 presented its work toward transitioning to a new curriculum curation process during the July board of education meeting.  

Dr. Michelle Hetrovicz, the district's curriculum director, told the board that the guaranteed and viable curriculum, better known as GVC, was important to increase student achievement.

"But basically when you think about standards, assessments, proficiency scales, all of that has a place in a GVC," Hetrovicz said at the board meeting. "So, when you think about horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, so across the grade level, making sure there's consistencies between grade levels, making sure there's flow and there's no gaps or inconsistencies vertically that all is part of a GVC and it takes a lot of time."

Hetrovicz said the district has jumped into creating their GVC for all subject areas at once, whereas other districts typically chose just one subject matter at a time. Big Hollow wanted to implement the curriculum for science, social studies, ELA, and math and wants to provide students with the lessons they need to guarantee success and growth. 

The district will use a professional learning community style to establish and implement the new curriculums, according to Hetrovicz.

She also adds that teachers will base the efficacy of their lesson plans on student performance, meaning if all students are doing poorly in a certain area, either the assessment or instruction in that area is lacking. It will also help teachers figure out which subjects need more attention during the school year.