What to teach in Colorado

The subjects Colorado requires

• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking
• Mathematics
• History
• Civics
• Literature
• Science
• U.S. Constitution

Quoted from the statute or regulation cited on the law page. Requirements for Grades K–5 are listed where the state sets them, but this site teaches Grades 6–12, so only those are matched below.

Courses that cover them

Colorado's list touches all four subjects taught here. Each course below is a full year.

Mathematics

English

Science

Social studies

Each is planned as a 36-week year of about 180 sessions, five a week — the year 20 of the 21 course guides set out explicitly. How long a session runs is yours to set.

Does this meet the hours?

At least 172 days per year, averaging 4 instructional contact hours per day

Each course here plans a 36-week year of about 180 sessions, five a week — the year 20 of the 21 course guides set out explicitly. The length of a session is left to you, because a Grade 6 session and a Grade 12 one are not the same thing.

Four such courses run across the same 180-session year, so a four-course year meets Colorado's 172 days without any arithmetic: the days are the calendar, not a total to accumulate.

The four high school years

Colorado reviews the work each year, so the high school record matters twice: once for the annual assessment and again for whoever reads the transcript afterwards. A full sequence of these courses looks like this.

Four subjects across four years is 16 full-year courses. Credits, grades and the diploma itself are Colorado's business, not this site's — what Colorado says about diplomas and transcripts.

Evidence for the annual review

Colorado asks for testing or evaluation, so the year has to leave a paper trail. These courses produce four things that serve as evidence, without any extra work:

• Printable lessons. Every lesson has a print view holding the full teaching text, worked examples and practice — dated pages for a portfolio.
• Exams with answer keys and marking criteria. Each course has a midterm, a final and a sample exam, each question carrying response criteria an evaluator can read.
• A 36-week pacing table. The parent guide for each course lists the week-by-week assignments, which is the planning document most evaluators ask to see.
• Exit tickets and checkpoints. Short written responses through each lesson, showing work over time rather than one test score.

In grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11: either a nationally standardized achievement test or an evaluation by a qualified person (licensed teacher, independent/parochial school teacher, licensed psychologist, or someone with a graduate degree in education), at the parent's expense. A composite score at or below the 13th percentile (or an evaluation showing insufficient progress) requires enrolling the child in a public, independent or parochial school until the next testing period; the child may first be retested with an alternate form or another state-approved test.

Deadline: Results go to the district that received the notice, or to a Colorado independent or parochial school (whose name is given to the district); statute sets no specific date.