Curriculum & Instruction

Overview

The Piedmont curriculum is intended to cultivate intellectually curious and independent learners.  The District provides a strong teaching and professional staff, who work hard to provide Piedmont students with a comprehensive, rigorous and relevant K-12 curriculum. As students progress through this curriculum, the District strives to provide them with appropriate support to help them achieve to their fullest potential. The District believes this is particularly important during students’ elementary years, when foundations for learning are being established in preparation for the rigors and challenges offered at the secondary level. 

Central to curriculum development in Piedmont is the belief that children learn at different rates, and that individual mastery can occur at different points in a continuum of skill development. In this continuum, understanding and mastery are preceded by introduction, guided practice, and reinforcement – and followed by review, further reinforcement, and opportunities for independent, consistent application. This model of learning ensures that every student has many opportunities to learn and to develop each skill.

Another important component of Piedmont’s curriculum is the emphasis on critical thinking – learning when and how to apply the skills learned. Piedmont teachers and professional staff help students to develop a solid foundation of skills by exposing them to a variety of information, material, and concepts, and then introducing them to a variety of strategies to apply and synthesize what they learn in school to the world around them.