School District Spotlight:
Leon County Schools, Tallahassee, Florida
About the School District: Leon County Schools
- Tallahassee, Florida
- Pre-K-12
- Infusion of African American Studies across All Curriculum Areas
It’s quite an accomplishment to be recognized for new and innovating curriculums that are created by teachers for teachers. Leon County Schools is one of the school districts. Located in the capital of Tallahassee, Florida, Leon County Schools is staking it’s claim as one of those state of the art school districts when it comes to curriculum development, curriculum trainings and curriculum implementation.
In a state with 67 other public school districts, Leon County Public Schools is leading the charge with the infusion of African and African American Studies in all of it’s core curriculum areas. Leon County and its curriculum developers have created something new, refreshing and engaging. The journey began with the Superintendent, Jackie Pons, leading the way striving to achieve Exemplary Status. Of the 67 public school districts in the state of Florida, only six school districts have received the seal of approval and identified as an Exemplary School District for the incorporation of African and African American Studies. Leon County Schools is next on the list. The Superintendent wanted to make the Leon County Curriculum stand out amongst the best in the state, and that is what Jackie Pons and his team of curriculum developers has done. They decided to take a different approach and infuse African and African American Studies into all the curriculum areas at the elementary level and include the curriculum in all S.T.E.M. fields of study at the secondary level. Students now will learn about notable contributions made by African Americans in courses such as Geometry, US History, Algebra, Biology, Marine Science and the list goes on. Seamless infusion of this information into the secondary courses went through about a two-year process. Curriculum developers researched content specifics and aligned the curriculum so that the students would get a real-world perspective to the importance of learning this information in their core curriculum areas.
Topics and curriculum areas are adjusted with the changes in state and course requirements, thus allowing the teacher to successfully infuse the subject matter into the core subject area. School liaisons were also established to help bring information from district trainings and workshops back to the school level. Students create projects, presentations and technology rich media with their new-found knowledge.
Congratulations and best luck to Leon County Schools on their quest for being identified as an Exemplary School District through the infusion of African American History. Leon County School’s hard work and unwavering commitment to excellence is appreciated and highly recognized.
