Our district, Gloucester Township School District, serves 6,520 K-8 students in 11 schools in Gloucester Township, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. Like many districts, we faced the challenge of ensuring social studies and science received the instructional time they deserved in an era where reading and math dominate accountability measures.
Implementing a high-quality, districtwide K5 curriculum
To tackle this challenge, our district established a curriculum adoption committee made up of teachers and supervisors. Our goal was simple:
- Ensure every teacher has access to high-quality social studies and science curricula.
- Create consistency in how these subjects are taught. Support teachers in integrating hands-on, inquiry-driven instruction.
During our curriculum evaluation process, we prioritized active learning, hands-on investigations and embedded literacy and math connections—key factors that research links to higher student retention and engagement in STEM fields.
Setting a mission and vision for lifelong wonder
A key step in our journey was revisiting our mission and vision. We reminded every educator why they entered this profession in the first place: to inspire curiosity and foster a lifelong sense of wonder in our students.
Our mission became about more than academic success; it was about preparing our students for future schooling, careers and active participation in society. We are not just teaching content; we are cultivating the inquisitive minds that our future depends on.
Building a distributed leadership model for successful implementation
To successfully implement our new K-5 curriculum, we recognized that leadership had to be a shared responsibility. With over 500 elementary school teachers across the district, relying on a single coordinator was not an option. We embraced a model of distributed leadership where principals and teacher leaders played a vital role. Here’s how we did it:
- Principal engagement: School leaders integrated science and social studies into regular classroom observations and faculty meetings. Some even mandated rotating bulletin board features to highlight these subjects.
- Teacher leadership: Each building appointed teacher leaders who collaborated to create pacing guides and shared best practices. These leaders facilitated in-service training and maintained active communication through Google Classroom and other platforms.
- Onsite support: Regular walkthroughs (covering about 90% of elementary classrooms) provided teachers with the support they needed. These brief visits were designed not to evaluate but to encourage and assist, sparking “light bulb moments” and reinforcing our collective mission.
By unifying our curriculum and distributing leadership responsibilities, we’ve seen a marked improvement in science and social studies instruction. Teachers are more confident in delivering engaging lessons, and students are actively participating in hands-on labs and investigations. Our district’s coordinated approach ensures that every classroom benefits from a consistent, high-quality educational experience.
Curriculum support for active learning
As part of this effort, we partnered with Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI), which provided comprehensive, research-based resources that support active learning and inquiry-driven instruction. Their curriculum tools, professional development, and flexible digital platform helped us achieve our goals of increasing engagement, rigor, and instructional time in K-5 classrooms.
