Global Citizens School is founded on the premise that fluency in more than one language develops a greater ability to communicate with and understand people of other cultures. Bilingualism builds stronger cognitive skills, increased executive functioning, and greater empathy in our children. At Global Citizens School, we will ensure our children achieve language proficiency in at least two languages (English and Mandarin or Spanish) - beginning with listening and speaking proficiency in the lower grades and incorporating reading and writing proficiency in the upper grades. In order to ensure language proficiency, we will set high learning standards for the languages and the content areas, and we will strategically select and develop curricula that will provide our teachers with the instructional resources to successfully develop these skills and abilities in our children.

Global Citizens School will utilize rigorous and balanced curricula reflective of our mission and key pillars that will foster intercultural connections and mastery of the written and spoken language, which are critical to success in all content areas.  We will ensure our instructional materials are accessible to all children, ignite inquiry, and are culturally responsive to our Black and brown children, children learning English as a second language, and children with special needs.  We are committed to providing teachers with the necessary support, training, and professional development to ensure that they are effectively using specific approaches to instruction.

Children need to analyze, think critically, and solve problems in order to take action to improve the world as global citizens.

Global Citizens School’s curriculum is anchored by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts and Mathematics, which have been adopted by the District of Columbia. CCSS were created by education experts and teachers to ensure children develop the critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills essential to prepare them for college and careers. We selected CCSS because children need to analyze, think critically, and solve problems in order to take action to improve the world as global citizens. CCSS are consistent and provide appropriate benchmarks for all students, no matter where they live, and we know that our children will benefit from mastering these standards.

Additionally, our Social Studies curriculum will be developed using the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies and the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards.  Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards are a set of anchor standards aligned to age-appropriate outcomes and divided into four domains:  identity, diversity, justice, and action.  We also selected the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) because they were developed by a team of teachers, school leaders, and partners across the US through a backwards design starting with what students need to be successful in college and careers.  The D.C. Health Standards and Physical Education Standards are the foundation of our Physical Education classes, as we focus on whole child wellness as one of our key pillars, because we know that schools play a critical role in helping children to establish lifelong healthy behaviors.