Curriculum at elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Boston is informed by three key sources: 1) the Archdiocese of Boston Faith Formation Standards; 2) the Massachusetts state learning standards and curriculum frameworks; and 3) the Archdiocese of Boston academic benchmarks and curriculum frameworks. Each of these sources provides guidelines for schools as they seek to provide students with a rigorous, forward-thinking, faith-based academic experience.
The Archdiocese of Boston provides Faith Formation Standards to guide the teaching and practice of the Roman Catholic faith for elementary school students. All religion curriculum decisions are to be made in light of these Faith Formation Standards. In addition, we invite Catholic schools to refer to the USCCB Doctrinal Elements of Curriculum Frameworks for High School Religion Classes and the Catholic Faith Essentials for Grades K-8.
RCAB Curriculum Frameworks in each core content area, directly aligned to the rigorous Massachusetts state learning standards in the major content areas from grades PreK-8, are subdivided into Intellectual-Dispositional Standards and Content-Knowledge-Skill Standards. Intellectual-Dispositional Standards detail the key habits and abilities that students are expected to develop over the course of a given year in a given subject. The Content-Knowledge-Skill Standards articulate the discrete items that students will learn and develop over the course of a full year of instruction in each content area.
At this time, the Catholic Schools Office has released Curriculum Frameworks in English-Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. The CSO provides resources to help support schools in mapping their curricula and aligning student learning expectations to these frameworks.