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Curriculum

At Desert Shadows, our vision is for students to obtain higher-level, innovative, and career ready skills through an integrated curricular approach. This is accomplished within a positive and safe school community.

Desert Shadows is a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) focused school. In addition, Desert Shadows is the only school in Arizona that offers a signature program such as Suzuki Violin. In our commitment to serve the whole child we are a 2021 PBISAZ AmAZing Award winner for our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework, JAWS (Just Be Nice, Act Responsibly, Wise Choices, Safety First), and provide students support with our social-emotional learning program, Second Step. The opportunities for students' success are endless!

More Information on PBIS:

Homework Expectations

The Governing Board believes strongly that homework is a valuable learning activity.  Among its many applications include skill reinforcement, self-discipline, responsibility, wise use of time, and an opportunity for parents to observe what the student is learning in school.  Assignment of appropriate homework is encouraged. The purposes of homework are:

  • Preparation - Provides background for future lessons and units of study
  • Practice - Reinforces learning to help students master specific skills
  • Extension - Asks students to apply skills they have already met in a new situation
  • Integration - Requires students to apply many different skills to a large task, such as reports, projects, and creative writing

The Governing Board supports teachers in holding students accountable for completing all homework.  This policy is guided by the philosophy that the consequence for not doing homework is doing the homework.  Site administrators and teachers will collaborate to develop programs and consistent practices to encourage and motivate students to complete all homework, and to provide opportunities for students to meet the requirement of completing missing homework for credit.

Homework should be seen as an opportunity to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.  As such, every assignment need not be used for grading purposes, but every assignment turned in to the teacher should be acknowledged with feedback, including, but not limited to, teacher comments, peer feedback, and/or self-evaluation.

Communication between teachers and parents regarding homework is considered essential.  Parents need to be advised of what is expected of their children and how they can reinforce the learning potential of the work assigned.  Each school handbook should contain resources for parents regarding homework.

School administrators and teachers are to strive toward encouraging the development of appropriate study skills necessary for homework.