K-8 School

The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School offers a highly structured curriculum that sets high expectations and provides individualized monitoring to be certain that all students meet the ambitious goals that have been set for them. Mystic Valley provides a strong academic foundation for its students that will prepare them for the demands of the high school curriculum.

DIRECT INSTRUCTION

Direct Instruction (DI) is a curriculum and teaching methodology specifically designed to teach sophisticated strategies in reading, language and other basic skill areas such as spelling and cursive writing. DI is based on the theory that children can learn at an accelerated rate if educators deliver instructions that are clear and are able to predict likely misinterpretations and therefore reduce confusion and assist in forming generalizations. It is a highly structured intensive teaching program that aims to thoroughly prepare the educator in such a way that all children learn to 100% mastery of the subject. The lessons are presented in a structured sequence with each one building on concepts and skills developed previously in the series. Direct Instruction has been proven to yield strong results with all types of students, including academically advanced children, traditionally average performers and those with special needs.

SAXON MATH

Saxon Math is utilized in grades K-8 for the school's Math program. Saxon programs have two unique aspects: explicit instruction and a distributed approach to instruction, practice and assessment. Teachers and researchers alike recognize the correlation between the explicit instruction of concepts and the long term success of students. In Saxon Math each increment builds upon the foundation of earlier increments, leading students to a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. The instruction of related increments is carefully distributed throughout the grade level, ensuring that students have the opportunity to master each increment before being introduced to the next related one.

CORE KNOWLEDGE

The "Core Knowledge" movement is an educational reform based on the premise that a grade-by-grade core of common learning is necessary to ensure a sound elementary education and that for the sake of academic excellence, greater fairness, and higher literacy, early schooling should provide a solid, specific, shared curriculum in order to help children establish strong foundations of knowledge. To provide students with a sturdy foundation on which to build future success, the school's curricula in grades K-8 for science, history, language arts, character education, music, art and math are based on coherent and ambitious standards for what students need to learn from the earliest grades. Mystic Valley has aligned the Massachusetts State Frameworks with its Core Knowledge Sequence and other curricula. For more information go to: www.coreknowledge.org