“The curriculum that we ultimately developed was one of a kind. I do not think I will ever see another school that offers such opportunities for gifted and creative children to acquire cultural literacy, to develop their individual proclivities fully, and to accelerate at the learning pace most appropriate to each individual child. I have used your model in my curriculum development classes at the University here to open teachers’ thinking to what could potentially be done for gifted children. And it is amazing how it seems to open these teachers’ mind to possibility. When I can tell them that this really does happen, they leave class astounded.” 
Karen B. Rogers, Ph.D., Professor of Gifted Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of St. Thomas

Curriculum Philosophy
The Rocky Mountain School curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning and exploration.  Rather than adopting and adhering to any one modality or educational philosophy, RMS integrates a wide range of successful educational strategies that support individual learning styles and interests. RMS students particularly appreciate the opportunity to explore content in sufficient depth to satisfy their sense of discovery. Individualized learning plans are built around the development of basic skills, curriculum themes and areas of student interest. Multi-age classrooms foster continuous progress. RMS students develop a strong foundation in academics while they learn to gather and evaluate information, identify and understand relationships, master critical thinking skills and communicate effectively and meaningfully. Small group projects are balanced by personalized independent studies. Standard achievement tests are administered annually to measure student progress, provide a framework for developing future individual learning plans and evaluate the effectiveness of the learning environment.

A Unique Approach for a Unique School
In 1995, the curriculum for Rocky Mountain School, Curriculum: Challenge!, was written and compiled by a dedicated committee of parents and teachers under the expert guidance of Karen B. Rogers, Ph.D., Professor of Gifted Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, MN.  Dr. Rogers is the author of The Relationship of Grouping Practice to the Education of Gifted and Talented Learners and Re-Forming Gifted Education: Matching the Program to the Child. She is a sought after consultant on curriculum, program development and evaluation and teacher development in the United States, New Zealand and Australia. She is a frequent presenter at conferences worldwide for educators and parents of gifted children. 

Curriculum: Challenge! was developed to support the school's beliefs about gifted children and its policy of designing "Individualized Learning Plans" (ILPs) for each child. In 1991 The Columbus Group formulated, and the RMS Board of Directors adopted, this definition of giftedness, which drives the curriculum:

Giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and (modes of) awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of gifted children requires modifications in parenting, teaching and counseling in order for them to develop optimally.

Several forms of acceleration and grouping that have been proven to maximize potential are practiced routinely at Rocky Mountain School. Among the common acceleration practices are early entrance -- allowing a student to tackle subject material when they are ready not when they reach a certain age; ability grouping -- putting sets of students together who have similar overall developmental levels; compaction -- "shrinking" the amount of time spent covering subject matter so the pace and depth is increased; and subject based acceleration -- grouping learners who have similar skills and developmental levels together for study of a specific subject. The fluid implementation of these grouping and acceleration practices makes it possible for the learning environment to respond to student needs as they change.

Each Master Teacher develops an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) for each student in her/his class. The ILPs represent goals in each curriculum domain that reflect student interest as well as specific skills the student needs to reinforce or acquire. The Focus Teachers develop goals for each class; many students have individual goals in science, fine arts, music, wellness and world language as well.  All students have individual goals in mathematics. The instructional goals and the student's learning style, strengths and areas of concern are incorporated into this plan.

Curriculum Challenge!

The overall goals of Curriculum: Challenge! are to

• Interconnect the intellectual, physical, social, personal, spiritual and ethical elements that comprise the "whole" child;

• Make meaningful and authentic connections between what is learned in and out of school;

• Help students develop life-long learning skills;

• Challenge students intellectually and require them to master and apply important concepts in the major subject areas;

• Provide an environment that is attentive to students' needs for information and to their different styles of learning;

• Implement curriculum to foster the students' continuous progress and in-depth exploration of selected subject areas;

• Measure students' achievement and effectiveness of the curriculum as a whole through annual evaluation.

The curriculum itself is made up of seven subject domains and their related sub-domains:

Affective/Social Development, Thinking and Study Skills, Mathematics, Science and Technology: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Science and Technology, Humanities: Language Arts and Reading, Philosophy, Music, Drama, Dance and Movement, Fine Arts, Social Studies, History, Sociology, Economics, Psychology, Geography, Futurology as well as Wellness/Health. Each of these domains has a rationale for studying the content of the domain as well as domain goals.
 

Curriculum Challenge! in Action

Each year the faculty completes assessments to understand the skill level of each student in their class.  The ILP reflects the starting point for learning for each of the “Core Skill" domains.  The Core Skills are those which we consider to be basic areas in which students must attain a minimum level of understanding and abilities upon which they can build.  For example, in the Affective and Social Development domain students develop greater understanding of the Self, giftedness, and interpersonal skills. Developing research, critical thinking and creative problem solving skills are elements of the Thinking and Study Skills domain.  The other core skill areas are Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Performing Arts and Wellness/Health.

Humanities and Social Studies are organized to include the study of people, places, and events during a particular time period of history. Following the eras recognized by historians, the curriculum focuses on four time frames: Prehistory – 492 AD,  477 AD – 1600 AD (Middle Ages and Renaissance), 1600 AD – 1840 AD (Modern World  Part I: Reformation and Age of Enlightenment), and 1840 AD – present (Modern World Part II). The curriculum takes a broad world view and includes contributions and events of non-European cultures and people during these time periods.

Study of the time frames is rotated on a four year cycle so that a child attending RMS for eight years has the opportunity to learn about each timeline twice. Content from all the curriculum domains is integrated into the study of events and trends during each timeline period. This approach takes advantage of the student’s tendency to think whole to part and to understand relationships and connections.  Evidence of competency in the core areas can be demonstrated in projects and study related to the timeline.

Finally, implementation of the curriculum reflects five manifestations of passion, joy and hope shared by the staff of Rocky Mountain School.  By our leadership and teaching we strive to

• encourage and foster creativity and the creative process in the students and ourselves;
• connect families in the RMS community in meaningful ways;
• protect and interact with the environment;
• recognize and respond to an appreciation of global awareness and connection;
• explore and express harmony, empathy, balance and exploration of the spiritual Self.