At Grand Island Public Schools we believe we must empower teachers and principals to be instructional leaders. The curriculum is developed and revised through a systematic approach that involves curriculum task force; monthly curriculum, instructional, and assessment (CIA) meetings; and analysis of local and state assessments. Teachers and principals receive job-embedded professional learning through PLCs and instructional coaching. Curriculum coordinators regularly attend national and state conferences to remain current in best practices, current legislation, and federal and state guidelines.

Students learn to read, write, speak and listen effectively through a structured literacy program that builds foundational literacy skills with literary and informational texts. A variety of text genres are selected to promote learning of diverse cultures, perspectives, and ideas. Students are given grade-level complex texts worthy of reading and analyzing closely. Questions and tasks are designed that require students to draw upon text evidence to support analysis and claims when reading, writing and speaking. Students develop the knowledge and skills to effectively write for a variety of purposes and audiences. 

The vision of the Grand Island Public Schools K - 12 standards-based English Language Arts (ELA) program is to ensure that every student is able to meet the demands of college and career. Every student will develop strong foundational literacy skills in literary and informational texts. They will be able to locate and cite text evidence to support analysis and reflection in reading, writing and speaking. Students will be able to conduct and publish research, drawing upon multiple credible sources and write for a variety of purposes and audiences.

CURRICULUM DEFINED

GIPS defines curriculum as the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn as defined by the College and Career Ready Standards.  We believe that a curriculum is more than a collection of activities. An effective ELA program develops critical reading, writing, speaking and listening skills through coherent learning progressions that integrate ELA skills and students make connections to and between texts and the real world. 

Every student is provided high-quality grade-level ELA instruction. In grades K - 5 this includes instruction in the five essential elements of reading (i.e., phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) and in grades 6 - 12 (i.e., advanced word study, fluency with connected text, vocabulary, comprehension and motivation). 

Every student will read and analyze varying genres of grade-level complex text, write for a variety of purposes and audiences, and engage in rigorous tasks where they are called to work collaboratively with their peers, formulate arguments and support analysis and claims using text evidence. Student tasks, as well as local and state assessments are used to evaluate student learning and inform instructional decisions. 

MEASURING STUDENT SUCCESS

Monitoring student learning is an integral component of effective instruction. Teachers verify student learning throughout the school day using a variety of strategies and data sources, identifying evidence that students are mastering grade-level content and literacy skills. Feedback is provided to students to support them in monitoring their learning towards standards and support them in advancing their literacy skills.