We are an Advanced Placement School.  Our curriculum is as powerful as an IB (International Baccalaureate) Curriculum.  We promote the same standards, yet we work to allow students to test in grades nine to grade 12 their specific areas of expertise.  We want to allow students to do the best in any area, as the AP does, so that colleges and universities in the U.S. and other countries will see that your daughter or son is receiving the best education that they can get to receive AP credit.

You will be able to look at our curriculum on Atlas Rubicon where samples of all that the teachers give from Pre K to Grade 12 will show.  Our teachers now have been working to align our curriculum not only vertically from Pre-K to 12, but also horizontally at any specific grade level.  We are integrating art with mathematics, we are working at making connections that will allow you and your child to see the relevance of a curriculum that works.  Please look to our area on curriculum that will help you understand the direction that we are taking.

In developing our own KPIS curriculum based upon the California Curriculum we are aligning the curriculum both vertically and horizontally.  Vertically so that what a student learns at the Pre-Kindergarten level will be useful and directly in line with what the 12th grade will need as we move toward Advanced Placement courses.  We are scheduling right now for several AP classes, ie:  AP Calculus, AP Literature, AP Physics, and either AP Psychology, Economics, or Sociology.  There are plans for AP Chinese, Biology, and Chemistry in the future as our student population grows.

Since our initial August, 2007 Teacher Orientation, the teachers have worked in groups to develop a particular subject areas philosophy, goals, and the subjects standards.  These are in place now, and the school has purchased Atlas Rubicon to help us map our curriculum to help address alignment methodically and purposefully in the midst of teacher turnover.   Quoting from: Lynn Gaylord,  “Curriculum Mapping – why bother?”, “Curriculum mapping  combines unit planning and file storage systems for teachers and serves as a framework for professional discussions among all the stakeholders – discussions centered on best practices in educations (whether these be by school levels, departments, grade levels, on committees, with the school board, administration, students, or parents).  In addition, this tool supports data-driven decision making and complements strategic planning and re-accreditation action plans that identify and prioritize resource needs”

At KPIS our teachers are beginning to find that this is the case in what we are doing and bringing up significant questions like:  “our students knowledge of the western world is very weak and how can they make informed decisions if they do not understand the western culture?”  It is helping us vary and use assessments that fit the needs of our students at their specific level.  Alternative assessments, portfolios and other various activities are being used to reach all the different types of students that we have at Keera-Pat.  We are intending to bring in more writing and speech to help our students communicate on all levels.  We are looking to change our plans as our student body changes and become more culturally adept.

Again, as Lynn Gaylord says:  “Learning remains center stage; systems and people merge to nurture and sustain a professional learning community truly committed to continuous improvement….. we have become models of life-long learners for the students that we teach.  That’s why we bother.  We are visionaries – educators making a difference; we have the privilege of participating in work that is truly changing the face of education, and positively impacting the lives of our students.”

Keera-Pat International School is well on our way to doing just that.  Taking the base California State Standards and Benchmarks and readapting them to the students that we have.  Making our curriculum related to the culture, the wants, and the very needs of each of our students.  Our family is working together to build a unit of understanding and respect for the other cultures of our world.  This is:  “Knowledge Plus Insight is Strength.”