Academic Goals for our Students MADISON CITY SCHOOLS

Alabama’s College and Career Ready Standards:  The standards are a list of academic goals that students should learn at each grade level in mathematics and English/language arts and reading.  The ACCRS is Alabama’s version of the Common Core State Standards.  The Common Core State Standards are used in 45 states and in schools managed by the US Dept. of Defense. ACCRS

 The Alabama State Board of Education appoints a committee of Alabama teachers and parents every few years to review and update the academic goals for our students.  In 2009, after careful review and consideration, the committee recommended adopting a version of the Common Core to set academic goals for our students’ in math and in English/language arts and reading. ADOPTION PROCESS FOR ACCRS

 Standards are academic goals that outline what students should know and be able to do in math and in English/language arts and reading at each grade level.  Curriculum consists of teachers’ lesson plans, materials, and methods of instruction to help students meet the academic goals at each grade level. CURRICULUM AND STANDARDS

 The only required reading materials for the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards are:  The Declaration of Independence  The United States Constitution  Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address All other reading material is selected as part of the curriculum resources locally. REQUIRED READING

In Madison City, we had our local committee comprised of teachers, parents, and administrators review all textbooks being considered and then make a recommendation to our Madison City Board of Education concerning the best choice of the textbook resource to use in our classrooms while instructing our students in math and in English/language arts and reading. TEXTBOOKS

Formative: ongoing assessment used by the teacher during the learning process to make changes to teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment of current skills.  DIBELS – used as a formative assessment for our students in grades K-2 to assist teachers in detecting any reading interferences early and provide instruction to address the difficulty.  STAR – used as a formative assessment in reading and math in all elementary and middle schools in Madison City (and now in 9 th and 10 th grades) to show growth in proficiency. Our expectation is that instruction provided at each grade level should ensure at least one grade level growth in students’ academic performance. ASSESSMENT

Summative: assessment that is evaluative and given at the end of a grading period, semester, school year to measure student academic performance against a pre-set benchmark.  ASPIRE – given for the first time this past spring to all students in Alabama public schools in grades 3-8 in reading and in math. Results from the assessment are due in mid-September.  Alabama Science Assessment – was given this past spring to students in grades 5 and 7 as it has been for the past several years. ASSESSMENT