Curriculum & Instruction

Essential Standards

Social Emotional Learning

Assessment

English Learners

MTSS

Illinois School Report Card

D48 E-Learning Program

SOPPA

Early Admittance for Kindergarten or First Grade

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction supports the advancement of academic and social/emotional growth for our students. The Department of C&I provides instructional guidance, assessment tools, and professional development to ensure our staff is well prepared to support students.

Essential Standards are a carefully selected subset of the total list of the grade-specific standards within each content area that students must know by the end of each school year to be prepared to enter the next grade level or course (Ainsworth, 2010). Essential Standards do not represent all that students will learn. Rather, they represent the minimum a student must learn to reach high levels of learning. 

Essential Standards Are…

• What teachers will spend the majority of instructional time teaching

• What teachers will assess

• What teachers will have data-driven discussions about

• What teachers will intervene on

ELA Essential Standards

Mathematics Essential Standards

Salt Creek District 48 has successfully aligned the Illinois Learning Standards (ILS) to our curricula and continues to refine instructional practices to improve student achievement and prepare students for not only the next grade level but life after high school.

The ILS for English Language Arts (ELA) establishes clear and coherent expectations for what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. By emphasizing depth over breadth, the ILS for ELA ensures students are provided a comprehensive understanding of key concepts. The ILS set a level of high quality, rigorous expectations for all students which emphasize the application of knowledge to real-world situations and prepare students for the challenges of college and career.

● Standards: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/ela-standards.pdf

● Kindergarten - 5th grade: ReadyGEN

ReadyGEN is an integrated and well-balanced approach to reading and writing instruction for Grades K-6 classrooms. Authentic texts with modeling and teacher-directed activities drive learning and motivate readers. Students read authentic literary and informational texts. 

● Kindergarten - 2nd grade: Really Great Reading

Really Great Reading® specializes in helping educators teach the foundational skills that lead to strong decoding and fluent reading. Really Great Reading provides scientifically aligned professional development, diagnostics, grouping, interventions and preventions.  We help schools build strong literacy foundations in primary grades and help remediate decoding issues in upper elementary, and middle school students. 

● Kindergarten - 2nd grade: Learning Without Tears

Handwriting Without Tears helps students build essential skills for emergent writing and handwriting success. Children who master handwriting are more likely to succeed in school, writing with speed and ease in all subjects. 

● Kindergarten - 3rd grade: Words Their Way

Words Their Way is a developmental spelling program. It is an open-ended individual process. An assessment is given to determine where to begin instruction. Based on assessment results students are given words to study in order to discover the common attributes. In this manner, students are actively constructing their own knowledge of spelling patterns. 

● 6th - 8th grade: myPerspectives

myPerspectives is a brand new English language arts curriculum for Grades 6–12 that provides next-gen learning experiences that promote higher achievement and develop the competencies needed for college and career readiness. This dynamic program creates an interactive, engaging, and relevant learning environment through readings, meaningful activities, and purposeful performance tasks. 

The Illinois Learning Standards (ILS) for math K-12 are designed to help students acquire a deep, conceptual understanding of core math content through focus, coherence, and rigor. Focus shifts teaching/learning from a mile-long and an inch-deep model to a deeper, richer understanding of fewer concepts. Coherence ensures math connections are made between grade levels and builds logical progression. Rigor promotes the equal balance of conceptual understanding, application, and procedural skill and fluency. Rigor: where challenge exceeds skill level.

● Standards: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/math-standards.pdf

● Kindergarten - 5th grade: i-Ready Mathematics is an online custom math curriculum that provides students of all ages with differentiated instruction and supports them on their individual paths to success. Backed by cutting-edge research on best mathematics learning practices, students gain experience through concrete examples and engaging lessons. This personalized math curriculum features responsive instruction that provides consistent insight into student understanding and performance, enabling teachers to monitor their students’ progress and help them prepare for standards-based assessments and beyond.

 ● 6th - 8th grade: Eureka Math Squared

Eureka Math2 utilizes Universal Design for Learning, which helps educators design instruction that proactively addresses barriers to learning by designing meaningful engagement (the why of learning), and providing a variety of ways to present information (the what of learning) and show their understanding (the how of learning).

Science instruction is designed to help students acquire a deep understanding of core science and engineering content and ideas as well as experience applying that knowledge in any context. Students will demonstrate their scientific proficiency by engaging in practices that demonstrate the ability to apply scientific concepts.

● Standards: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Il-Learning-Standards-Science.pdf

● Kindergarten - 4th grade: Mystery Science

Mystery Science provides ready-made science mysteries for elementary school students. Each lesson contains a central mystery, discussion questions, supplemental reading, and a hands-on activity.

● 5th - 8th grade: STEMscopes

The STEMscopes curriculum is brought to life through exploratory hands-on kits that promote inquiry and engagement in real-world scientific connections. Built on the research-based 5E lesson model and aligned to IL standards.

The social sciences explore the relationship between individuals and society, from friends and family to global networks. In a school setting, the disciplines of civics, economics, geography, and history are central for our students. Through the social sciences, young people develop skills critical to success, such as creativity, critical thinking, working in diverse groups to solve complex problems, global awareness, and financial literacy. Most importantly, they will emerge with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to be informed and effective citizens. 

● Standards: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/K-12-SS-Standards.pdf

● Kindergarten - 8th grade: TCI

TCI curriculum resources and programs support the needs of students and educators with an easy-to-implement, interactive curriculum that is comprehensive and promotes immersive learning experiences. 

In 2004 Dr. Chris Peterson, from the University of Michigan, published Character Strengths and Virtues. This book summarized his work around Positive Psychology. Character strengths - as classified by positive psychology - are a family of positive traits expressed through a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are universally recognized for the strength that they create in individuals and communities. Ranging from bravery and creativity to integrity and gratitude, positive psychology's 24 character strengths are the foundation of The Positivity Project's model.

● Standards: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/SEL-Standards.pdf

● Kindergarten - 8th grade: Positivity Project

District 48 administers various assessments to measure student progress and help teachers understand each student’s areas of strength and weakness in order to provide appropriate instruction.

ACCESS

Upcoming State Assessments: 

Illinois Assessment of Readiness IAR

Illinois Science Assessment ISA

Upcoming Local Assessments: 

i-Ready Diagnostic: This diagnostic assessment platform is designed with teachers in mind to work on its own or with other i-Ready programs. This diagnostic assessment tool will help our teachers see where students are, set high—but achievable—expectations for growth, and connect the right instructional tools to help them get there.

AimswebPlus Benchmarking: (K-2)

Assessment Timeline for 24 - 25 school year

• Fall: Sept 3 - Sept 13 (Sept 30 - Oct 4 for kindergarten i-Ready)

• Winter: Dec 9 - Dec 20 (Jan 13 - Jan 17 for kindergarten i-Ready)

• Spring: May 5 - May 16

• Illinois State Report Cards

• Illinois Interactive Report Card

There are approximately 65 English learners in Salt Creek District 48 representing over 10 languages and cultural groups. The top most spoken languages other than English are Spanish and Urdu. We are so fortunate to have and celebrate the diversity of the families in our district. The goal of the English learner program is to ensure that ELs have the social and academic language necessary to learn, grow, lead, and succeed in a global society.The program provides support to help students succeed academically and to learn English.

Salt Creek District 48 offers EL support in all school buildings. Students receive support based on their proficiency level, academic, and language needs. Supports include small group resource, classroom push-in, and collaboration with classroom teachers. Generally, EL instruction is delivered during a scheduled intervention block or non-core academic time. The EL services in Salt Creek District 48 follow a transitional program of instruction (TPI). We have ELs of various backgrounds, but do not exceed 19 students that have the same language in one school building.

Questions regarding the EL program can be directed toward the David Miner, SC/SMS EL Specialist (dminer@saltcreek48.org) or Christi Kane, AMS EL Specialist (ckane@saltcreek48.org).

Salt Creek School District 48 utilizes a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework to ensure that every student receives the appropriate level of support to be successful. Key tenets of MTSS to address academic, behavioral and social-emotional needs include:

• collaborative problem-solving

• data-based decision-making

• high-quality evidence-based instruction

• Positive Behavior Intervention and Support

• Response-to-Intervention

• Universal Design for Learning

• ongoing assessment

• professional development

• family, school, and community partnership

MTSS Flier

E-Learning Program

• E-Learning aims to ensure continuity of learning and provide the highest quality education possible aligned to the most critical standards (ELA, Math, Science, SS).

• Students participating in E-Learning will access live, synchronous instruction for 2.5 hours for their core content only. This includes English Language Arts (ELA), Math, Science, and Social Studies. The elementary schools will provide synchronous instruction from 8:00 - 11:00 and the middle school has a set schedule where students will attend synchronous classes for core instruction and have asynchronous lessons for specials and P.E.

• Asynchronous learning consisting of 2.5 hrs of instruction and schoolwork will also be provided.  Students will be given up to 5 hours (synchronous and asynchronous) of assignments from multiple subject areas daily.

Effective July 1, 2021, school districts will be required by the Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) to provide additional guarantees that student data is protected when collected by educational technology companies, and that data is used for beneficial purposes only (105 ILCS 85). Salt Creek SD48 is dedicated to student data privacy. The following is a list of approved applications for use with district students.

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