(a) The State Board of Education shall develop a comprehensive plan to review and revise the Arkansas Academic Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks process.
(b) The plan shall be a comprehensive plan to provide an external review of content standards and curriculum frameworks adopted by the state in core academic areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, history, geography, civics, and other courses identified by the State Board of Education as state-mandated graduation requirements.
(c) In developing the plan, the State Board of Education shall conduct a full review of available and relevant academic content standards and curriculum frameworks that are rigorous, specific, sequenced, clear, focused, and measurable, whenever possible.
(d)
(1) The review shall be to determine whether the Arkansas Academic Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks are designed to:
(A) Reflect high expectations for students and an in-depth mastery of the content;
(B) Be clearly grounded in the content of each academic area;
(C) Be defined grade-by-grade and in each content area;
(D) Be understandable to parents and teachers;
(E) Be developed in full recognition of the time available to teach the core academic areas at each grade level; and
(F) Be measurable whenever possible in a reliable, valid, and efficient manner for accountability purposes.
(2) The plan shall include a process for the review of curriculum offerings to ensure that low-level general education tracts offered by school districts are eliminated before the beginning of the 2003-2004 school year.
(3) High school course content standards and curriculum frameworks set forth in the plan shall include the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the work force and also shall be aligned with the coursework required for admission to the state's institutions of post-secondary education.
(e) Upon completion of the review, the State Board of Education shall revise all curriculum frameworks and supplemental materials that are recommended as a result of the review.
(f) As part of the revision process, the State Board of Education shall revise and make available to teachers and parents support materials, including teacher and parent guides, for academic content standards and curriculum frameworks that are specifically recommended for revision as a result of the review.
(g) The State Board of Education shall work in collaboration with the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Executive Council to ensure that teacher and school administrator degree programs, ongoing professional development, and other university activity in the state's public schools align with the revised Arkansas Academic Content Standards and Curriculum Framework process and other educational priorities of the state.
Structure Arkansas Code