Curriculum & Assessment
Elementary Curriculum
Mount Vernon's K-12 curriculum is built around high-quality, standards-aligned instructional materials chosen for their evidence base, accessibility, and fit with our students' linguistic and cultural strengths. Across every subject area, we prioritize multilingualism, learner variability, and critical consciousness — so every Mount Vernon student is challenged, supported, and seen.
This page summarizes our current elementary core curriculum. See Middle School Curriculum and High School Curriculum for the secondary picture.
Literacy — ARC Core (K-5)
American Reading Company's ARC Core is our elementary literacy program. ARC Core organizes the year around grade-appropriate research units (from "School and Community" in kindergarten to "The Civil Rights Era" in fifth grade) where students learn to read deeply and write powerfully about subjects that matter.
Phonics Foundations — UFLI (K-2)
UFLI Foundations (University of Florida Literacy Institute) gives K-2 students the systematic, explicit phonics instruction the science of reading research calls for. UFLI supplements ARC Core in the early grades, ensuring every Mount Vernon student builds the decoding skills they need.
Mathematics — iReady(K-5)
More details coming soon!
Science — Mystery Science (K-5)
Mystery Science brings elementary science to life with hands-on investigations driven by genuinely curious questions — Why are sharks so good at hunting? Where do plants come from? Lessons are aligned to the Washington State Science Learning Standards (NGSS) and emphasize the practices of science alongside the content.