Curriculum Review

The curriculum review process ensures a regular, cyclical review of all seven curriculum content areas: English and Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Health, and Technology Education, Social Studies, Foreign Language, Physical Education, and Fine and Performing Arts. During a seven year period, Curriculum Steering Committees for each discipline plan, develop, implement, and evaluate curriculum for all content areas.

Learning Benchmarks

Curriculum and Learning Benchmarks help teachers, parents, and students understand more clearly what students need to know, understand, and be able to do throughout their study of the core curriculum from kindergarten through middle school. These documents are distributed at parent/teacher conferences. Belmont High School teachers provide course outlines to students and parents at the start of the school year.

Benchmark documents:

•  Grades K-2
•  Grades 3-4
•  Grades 5-6
•  Grades 7-8

Program Descriptions

English Language Arts and Reading, K-12

Belmont Public Schools is dedicated to providing all students with a rich, rigorous, well-rounded English language arts program which empowers students with the language and thought processes to learn and to communicate.  A key to success for all students is the development of efficient and effective reading and writing skills and strategies.  Developing these skills requires ongoing staff development and parent education in the area of literacy instruction in order to use current research and best practices across the system.  Together, teachers and parents can help students develop the positive attitudes and academic skills that will enrich their lives and enable them to become lifelong learners. 

• Elementary, Grades K-4 
• Middle School, Grades 5-8 
• High School, Grades 9-12 

The foreign language program of the Belmont Public Schools begins with the study of four languages in grade 5: French, Latin, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. Students then select one of those languages to study for grades six through eight 
 click here for a chart matching learning strengths with each foreign language.

At Belmont High School students can continue studying the same language or begin a new language. Students are required to complete two years of foreign language study for graduation, however we encourage students to study a foreign language throughout their four years at Belmont High School. We offer Advanced Placement courses in French, Latin and Spanish, and hope to implement the new Chinese Language and Culture Advanced Placement course in the near future.

The foreign language curriculum is aligned with the Massachusetts State Frameworks and the National Foreign Language Standards. The overarching objective for all foreign language curricula is linguistic and cultural proficiency. These are the enduring understandings that guide our work:

• Culture is the products, practices and perspectives of a group of people.
• Language is a vehicle for culture and reflects a culture’s norms and mores.
• Language and culture evolve over time.
• Our language and culture influence the way we see the world.
• Studying other languages and cultures broadens our perspective on our own culture and the world.

Language is taught in a communicative context, and from the earliest levels students apply what they learn to read, write, speak and listen in the target language. For students of Latin the emphasis is on using the language to read, translate and understand authentic texts in Latin.

• High School, Grades 9-12