Curriculum & Instruction

The Lawrence Public Schools vision for Curriculum & Instruction was developed collaboratively with input from educators, school leaders, and district partners. Grounded in our strategic priorities and informed by data, stakeholder feedback, and the experiences of our schools, the vision reflects a shared commitment to high-quality, equitable learning experiences for every student, in every classroom, every day. It provides a common direction for building coherence across curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional learning while honoring the unique strengths and needs of each school and community.

Full LPS C&I Theory of Change, Instructional Walkthrough Tool

Vision

We believe artificial intelligence should support teaching and learning while protecting human connection and privacy. Even when AI performs well, it should not replace critical thinking or authentic instruction, as the teacher–student relationship remains the foundation for meaningful learning. AI may assist with teaching and learning when it supports equitable opportunities, authentic student engagement, and teachers’ expertise in guiding students toward mastery of standards. When AI influences decisions that impact opportunities for individuals, responsibility ultimately remains with humans and rests with the district’s AI governance committee.

District Responsibility

The district is responsible for establishing clear expectations, safeguards, and governance structures for the ethical, equitable, and effective use of AI. This includes providing professional learning, protecting privacy and data security, monitoring the impact of AI on teaching and learning, and ensuring that human judgment remains central to decisions affecting students, staff, and families. The district’s AI governance committee will oversee the review, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of AI tools to ensure alignment with district values and goals.

AI Principles:

1. Learning Comes First
   AI should support learning, not replace productive struggle, critical thinking, or creativity.
2. Relationships Matter
   AI should strengthen communication and accessibility while preserving authentic human connection.
3. Privacy and Safety Are Essential
   Confidential and personal information must be protected.
4. Equity and Inclusion Guide Our Use
   AI should be used in ways that promote fairness, belonging, and access for all learners.
5. Humans Remain Responsible
   AI can assist, but people remain accountable for decisions, actions, and outcomes.

Full LPS Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guidance for Curriculum and Instruction

Explore all the DESE AI resources: DESE Artificial Intelligence in K–12 Schools

LPS schools use a wide variety of high quality instructional materials (commonly referred to as “curriucula”) the majority of which have been reviewed as meeting rigorous standards for effectiveness by EdReport and/or CURATE.

The LPS curricula materials by school and discipline can be found at SY27 DESE Core Curriculum Dashboard Submission. New curricula for the 2026-27 school year are indicated in bold.

Over time our goal is to bring greater coherence to the curriculum across schools, within each grade span, so that all students in each grade, will have more similar experiences.

The Lawrence Public School district partners with several leading organizations to support the advancement of teacher quality and learning.

These partners include:

1. Achievement Network
2. School Empowerment Network
3. Lynch Leadership
4. Impact Coaching Partners
5. Learning Solutions
6. Democratic Knowledge Project
7. WestEd
8. Research for Better Teaching

Lawrence Public Schools believes in providing a strong foundation in literacy for all students, grounded in direct, explicit, and systematic literacy instruction across all grade levels. During the 2025–2026 school year, LPS completed a comprehensive K–12 literacy needs assessment through the Literacy Improvement Team (LIT) process, examining instructional materials, assessment and data use, planning and PLC structures, professional learning, instructional leadership, and the experiences of educators and students across the district. Building from the findings and recommendations of this review, the district has completed a three-year curriculum plan designed to increase coherence and strengthen access to high-quality literacy instruction across schools and grade levels. LPS is now engaged in the next phase of this work: a comprehensive revision of the district’s Literacy Strategic Plan, aligning the district’s Core Literacy Beliefs, Instructional Vision, curriculum, assessment, professional learning, and implementation systems into a coherent K–12 strategy. The revised Literacy Strategic Plan is currently in development and is expected to be completed by June 2027. The following Core Literacy Beliefs and Instructional Vision for Literacy serve as the foundation for this ongoing work.

Core Literacy Beliefs

• Literacy is an essential life skill and a foundation for lifelong learning, opportunity, well-being, and agency.
• Every student in Lawrence deserves equitable access to coherent, high-quality, evidence-based literacy instruction, regardless of school, classroom, language background, or learning profile.
• All students bring linguistic, cultural, and lived experiences that are assets for literacy learning and should be affirmed and leveraged through instruction.
• Literacy instruction must be culturally and linguistically responsive and provide multilingual learners and students with disabilities meaningful access to rigorous, grade-level learning.
• Strong literacy instruction develops students’ knowledge, vocabulary, reading, writing, speaking, and listening in connected and purposeful ways.
• Foundational literacy skills require explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction grounded in evidence about how students learn to read.
• High-quality instructional materials provide the shared foundation for literacy instruction, while responsive teaching uses evidence of student learning to provide appropriate scaffolds, differentiation, and intervention.
• Literacy is a shared responsibility. Every educator plays a role in developing students’ ability to read, write, communicate, think critically, and engage meaningfully with content.
• Assessment should be purposeful, coherent, and actionable, helping educators understand student strengths and needs and make informed instructional decisions.
• Families are essential partners in literacy development, and LPS must build authentic partnerships that support students as readers, writers, speakers, listeners, and learners.
• Sustainable improvement requires investment in educators. LPS is committed to robust, multi-year professional learning, collaborative planning, coaching, and curriculum internalization that build educator expertise and support strong implementation across the district.

Literacy Vision: 

In Lawrence Public Schools, literacy is the foundation for learning, empowerment, and opportunity. Aligned to our Vision for Curriculum and Instruction, we believe that every student is a capable meaning-maker and communicator who deserves access to rigorous, joyful, and language-rich literacy instruction every day.

We are committed to ensuring that all students develop the foundational skills, academic language, knowledge, and habits of mind necessary to read, write, speak, listen, and think critically across disciplines. Literacy is not confined to a single block or subject; it is the shared responsibility of all educators and is essential for academic success, civic engagement, and lifelong learning. We recognize literacy as a civil right of every student in our care.

Full Literacy Vision

The Department of Curriculum & Instruction coordinates academic support programs across all schools through our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) initiative. The goal of this initiative is to provide additional services in literacy and mathematics outside of a student's core instruction to meet the needs of students currently performing significantly below or above grade level. These services may include small group instruction, individual tutoring, and enrollment in additional courses or programs that meet their learning needs. Students are selected for these services based on a variety of factors including performance on standardized assessments, classroom work and grades and school attendance.

The Lawrence Public School district encourages schools to provide before or after school enrichment programming to further support students' academic growth and exposure to a wide variety of learning opportunities in theatre, art, music, athletics, science and technology, civic engagement and life interests such as cooking, sewing, gardening, etc.. After school programs are taught by both school-day staff and many schools also partner with community providers to expand this focus. Partners include: The YWCA, Merrimack Valley Community School of Music, Living Rhythms Drumming, The Community Group, Groundwork Lawrence, Playworks, and Urban Voices.

Inequitable pedagogical practices deny some students opportunities for academic success. High quality professional learning remedies this when educators, with the support of their leaders and colleagues, grow professionally and implement practice that results in improved outcomes for ALL students, especially students that have been historically marginalized.

We envision all adults engaging in strategic, robust, and differentiated professional learning that ensures all students experience optimal learning conditions. We define high quality PL as the strategic support provided to educators that when implemented results in quality teaching and learning practices for ALL students in classrooms and schools.

We believe professional learning is a moral imperative because it is the catalyst for equitable instruction. If we match adult learning supports to areas of student learning experiences and academic needs, then as a result of improved practices in the Instructional Core, student learning experiences will be equitable across schools.

Professional learning opportunities are offered in the three days before school starts in August and in the afternoon of half-days scheduled throughout the school. Teacher teams also meet by grade level or department/course one or twice a week for collaborative planning during the school day. These planning periods are used for professional learning as well as planning.

Finally Lawrence Public Schools is heavily invested in instructional coaching with one or more full time coaches in every building. Instructional coaches work individually with teachers to provide feedback on instruction and support incremental instructional improvement as well as facilitating common planning time and delivering additional professional learning in that context.

Most professional learning is planned and delivered at the building level, but it is always aligned with school and district priorities and goals. The Department of Curriculum and Instruction also organizes longer professional learning series focused on district priorities to which schools send teams or individual educators. Our current priorities include multi-tiered systems of support, robust implementation of high quality instructional materials, and strong instructional practices aligned to our district institution's vision, and effective practices for creating the language rich learning environment that supports the rapid acquisition of English language for students who are not yet fluent in reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Lawrence Public Schools make every effort to offer professional learning opportunities that meet the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education standards for high quality professional development. When professional learning meets these standards, educators can use the resulting professional development points to support their relicensure as a Massachusetts educator, required every five years.

Learn about Massachusetts learning expectations by exploring the Family Guides to the Standards, from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Family Guides cover some of the learning standards that every student will master in each grade and how families can help them achieve these learning goals! Guides include standards for English language arts & literacy, math, and science & technology/engineering.

In addition, many of the curriculum materials used in Lawrence Public Schools’ pre-kindergarten to eighth grade years include family friendly guides to the curriculum and/ or individual units within the curriculum. Families should expect to receive these from their child’s teacher. If communication is not received regarding what your child will be learning in the coming school year in each subject area, we encourage families to reach out directory to their children’s teachers to request this information.

Where can families find the guides? You can download the guides by visiting http://www.doe.mass.edu/highstandards