Grades 7-8

Preparing Our Scholars for College and Career Readiness
“With students, parents, and teachers all on the same page and working together toward shared goals, we can ensure that students make progress each year and graduate from high school prepared to succeed in college, career, and life.” — Common Core Standards, 2009

Common Core English Language Arts

UHCS utilizes the Houghton Mifflin Holt Collections Curriculum for Grades 6-8. It is a comprehensive curriculum which provides instruction and practice for all strands of ELA instruction: close reading of authentic, complex text; writing to sources; process writing; speaking and listening activities; academic vocabulary development; and grammar lessons. Assessments inform instruction, providing intervention and enrichment opportunities for all students to learn and grow. During the 2018-2019, the IReady Reading and Writing program will be used to supplement the Journeys/Collections English curriculum.

Common Core Math

Grades 3 through 8 utilize the Ready curriculum and IReady adaptive e-diagnostic learning platform to ensure students are College and Career ready. The adopted curriculum and online program provides effective lesson structure and pacing differentiation of instruction for diverse learners across grades. Learning activities draw on multiple standards across grades to ensure students are making important connections between math concepts. The build in Progress monitoring assessments and lesson quizzes give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate skill mastery.

Assessments

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers PARCC Information (Grades 3-11)

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is an assessment for students in Grades 3-8. Students are assessed in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics. The computer-based assessments give teachers, schools, students, and parents for whether students are on track in their learning and for success after high school. The assessments also give teachers tools to better customize learning to meet the individualized needs of their students.

STAR Reading Math K-8

STAR Assessment is used to measure students’ reading and math skills across grades K-8. This provides teachers and administration with helpful information on the individual ability, progress, and growth of each child that can guide their instruction and assessment accordingly. Teachers can also gather resources such as sample lessons to support student learning in areas where students can be enriched or strengthened Students in Grades 3-8 take the STAR diagnostic and two additional times throughout the year—in the Middle of Year (MOY) and End of Year (EOY). Student performance on the assessments are used to measure growth in reading and math skills. It also informs instructional enrichment or skill building groups and activities.

IReady Diagnostic and Instruction Assessments 3-8 Math

The I-Ready Diagnostic and Instructional program is also used to measure student growth and learning across grades 3-8 in Math during the 2017-2018 School Year. There are two components the diagnostic assessment which is given three times per year. The other measure is the Growth Monitoring. The two are used jointly. This allows for progress monitoring throughout the year to determine whether students are on track for appropriate growth.

New Jersey Assessment Of Skills And Knowledge Science Assessment (NJ Ask) Grade 7

The Science test measures seventh grade students’ ability to recall information and to solve problems by applying science concepts. The Science test assesses knowledge and application skills in three clusters; each cluster contains multiple-choice items and constructed-response items.

Instructional Technology