Curriculum and Instruction Home
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
Curriculum Corner
Strategic Plan 2024-2025 by Susan Galgano and Illisa Epstein
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The Dignity for All Students Act states that “No student shall be subjected to harassment or discrimination by employees or students on school property or at a school function based on their actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex.”
Valley Stream Thirty is in compliance with the Dignity for All Students Act and has updated all Codes of Conducts and policies in accordance with regulations.
All the students of Valley Stream District 30 have the right to attend school in a safe, welcoming, considerate, and caring environment. Throughout the school year each school participates in many character building activities that celebrate our diverse community.
The following websites have wonderful parent resources:
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TO Fine Arts Education Page
An appreciation for art and music is an important part of a Valley Stream Union Free School District 30 education. Students benefit from the expertise of talented teachers who are specialists in these subject areas. Art instruction emphasizes both hands-on skills and an appreciation of art history. In music classes, students learn about traditional elements of music, as well as music in its historical and social contexts.
Band, strings, and chorus students from each school participate on a voluntary basis in their respective programs. The band and strings programs provide students with opportunities to develop their individual instrumental skills, as well as opportunities to play in ensembles.
The band program teaches students to play horn, brass, woodwind, or percussion instruments. The strings program offers students instruction on the violin, cello, or bass.
Students participating in the chorus program develop individual, advanced vocal skills. The students in these programs perform in school concerts and at community events throughout the school year. Additionally, District 30 is represented by its marching band at the annual Valley Stream Memorial Day Parade.
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Valley Stream 30 is committed to providing our students with learning experience s that develop a deeper understanding of how their personal health as well as safe and healthy environments can influence their Social and emotional development and learning (SEDL). Valley Steam 30’shealth curriculum uses an integrated approach which integrates health topics from various programs to make learning more meaningful to students and allows them to make important health connections between the programs. Students’ ability to learn about health through these various programs increases their ability to problem-solve using real-world applications in a more meaningful way which in turn heightens their health consciousness.
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2022-23 will be the first school year that the Next Generation Learning Standards will be fully implemented. These standards have taken into account feedback on the Common Core Learning standards from parents and educators across New York state. The updated standards include modifications to the language, vocabulary used and order of the standards.
For more information on the Next Generation Learning Standards, upcoming changes to the 3-8 testing program and additional parent resources, visit:
nysed gov next-generation-learning-standards -
NWEA & New York State Testing Program HOME PAGE
- NWEA is a computer-adaptive test that adjusts to each student’s learning level, providing a unique set of test questions based on their responses to previous questions.
- If a student gets a question wrong, the next question will be easier. If a student gets a question right, the next question will be harder.
- The goal is to answer 50 percent of the questions correctly. Students are not expected to know all the answers.
How is the data from this assessment used?- NWEA data is uploaded to digital programs(eSpark K-2, iXL 3-6) to develop individualized pathways for students.
- This is one data point that teachers and administrators use to determine the most appropriate instructional plan and services for each individual student.
You Can Also View the Video Recording from Our NWEA Family Report Virtual Session that was Held on Thursday 10/10/24.
Understanding NWEA Reports
If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's teacher or your building administrators. -
Standards-Based Report Card HOME PAGE
What Is Standards-Based Grading?
Standards-based grading is a method used by teachers to measure your child’s consistent progress towards meeting the learning expectations for their grade, as determined by state standards. Each content area is broken down into several learning expectations and measures your child’s knowledge and progress towards mastery of content taught during each marking period. In English Language Arts, for example, you’ll see the content broken into several learning expectations: applies strategies to decode text, reads with appropriate fluency, phrasing and accuracy, etc. The report card grade given tells you the progress of your child’s performance towards mastering grade-level expectation for that marking period. In addition, the report card includes a section about your child’s habits for life-long learning and social development, which assesses your child’s performance levels that have a direct impact on their achievement.