Curriculum, Instruction and Testing
What is our Curriculum?
North Carolina first established a Standard Course of Study in 1898. The North Carolina Standard Course of Study provides every content area a set of competencies for each grade. Its intent is to ensure rigorous student academic performance standards that are uniform across the state. It is based on a philosophy of teaching and learning that is consistent with current research, exemplary practices, and national standards. The elementary school curriculum for each grade level may be viewed at each of the following internet pages.
| Mathematics | http://dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/mathematics/ |
| Language Arts | http://dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/languagearts/ |
| Science | http://dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/science/ |
| Social Studies | http://dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/socialstudies/ |
| English as a Second Language | http://dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/esl/ |
| Health and Physical Education | http://dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/healthfulliving/scos/ |
| Arts Education | http://dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/artsed/ |
What are the Elementary School Assessments?
In North Carolina, elementary school students are required to take the following assessments: Pretest-Grade 3; End-of-Grade Mathematics and Reading at grades 3, 4, and 5; and the North Carolina Writing Assessment at grade 4.
Several other types of formative assessment used in our elementary school as well:
- Kindergarten Initial Assessment
- K-2 Literacy Assessment (Running Records, Retelling, Unassisted Writing Samples)
- K-2 Quarterly and Summative Assessment
- 3-5 Literacy Assessment (written response to reading, quarterly writing collections)
- 3-5 Quarterly Math Assessment
- 3-5 Reading Assessment (Project Achieve)
- 3-5 Mathematics Assessment (Project Achieve)
- 3rd and 5th grade Science Assessment
For more information about River Bend Elementary School's testing results, please visit the following:
http://ayp.ncpublicschools.org/
http://www.ncschoolreportcard.org/src/
What does Title 1 mean?
A Title I school is a school that receives Title I money, the largest single federal funding source for education. About half of North Carolina's traditional and charter public schools (including River Bend Elementary) are Title I schools and all 115 of the state's school districts receive Title I funding. Title I began with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. It is intended to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach grade-level proficiency. Title I funds help students who are behind academically or at risk of falling behind. Services can include: hiring teachers to reduce class size, tutoring, computer labs, parental involvement activities, professional development, purchase of materials and supplies, pre-kindergarten programs, and hiring teacher assistants or others.
Please visit the following internet page for more information about the Title 1 program.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/titleI/
What is Project Achieve?
River Bend Elementary School uses the Project Achieve program which includes daily focus lessons in mathematics and language arts, additional remediation or enrichment time, and regular assessments to improve student performance.
What is Positive Behavior Support?
Positive Behavioral Support is a systematic approach that establishes and reinforces clear behavioral expectations to improve overall classroom and school climate to achieve higher academic performance for all students. Our staff has developed behavioral expectations for all areas of our school (classrooms, buses, playground, etc.) and our students have the opportunity to earn "beaver bucks" as they demonstrate their understanding of our school-wide behavioral expectations.
What is Guided Reading?
In our daily Guided Reading program, our teachers work with small groups of students who are grouped by a common need and read and discuss a teacher-selected text.
What is Trailblazers?
The Math Trailblazers program provides students with many opportunities to expand their mathematical reasoning and computation. Almost all computation is in the context of problem solving.