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Curriculum & Instruction
Ocean Academy Charter School works hard to fulfill our mission statement to provide elementary students with a high quality and student-centered education in a safe, nurturing, and challenging environment so that all students achieve their highest level of academic success.
We aim to surpass the academic guidelines and standards established by the New Jersey Department of Education by providing a challenging and engaging curriculum for our students.
Ocean Academy follows the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS). The Academy's Board of Trustees annually adopts the curriculum including any additions or changes.
Standards set measurable goals for Students!
New Jersey State standards inform us about what the outcomes of a course of study should be in all areas of study. The Standards set goals for college and career readiness by defining the skills and knowledge that students must be proficient to be prepared for college, work, and life; standards also guide the goals that educators must work toward.
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Standards inform instruction.
Standards are what curriculum, assessments, and professional development are designed to support and achieve. At Ocean Academy, curriculum development starts with the New Jersey standards. All of our curriculum is standards-based. We build instruction to align with the assessment. If standards change or new standards are introduced, we use this process to create new content that will help students achieve them.
Standards help measure achievement.
The dictionary defines “standard” as something considered by an authority or by general consent as the basis of comparison, an approved model. This describes the basic idea of New Jersey’s Standards. The Standards form a common set of goals that can be measured throughout the state to determine student success.
The state has defined what students need to know and achieve in ten content areas: mathematics, language arts literacy (including reading and writing), science, social studies, visual and performing arts, comprehensive health and physical education, technology, foreign language, career education, and family life skills.
Measurable goals are achieved by periodic testing that allows teachers, students, and parents to see where individuals are in reaching and/or exceeding the Standards.
At Ocean Academy we test three times a year with the New Jersey Standards Based Program called “Linkit!”. “LinkIt!” Benchmark assessments help teachers and schools determine student progress on specific topics, standards, and skills.
In late spring, Ocean Academy Charter School participates in the Department of Education’s “New Jersey Student Learning Assessments” (NJSLA). The NJSLA individual student score report provides parent/guardians with a snapshot of how your child is progressing towards meeting grade-level expectations. It also provides insight into how your child has mastered important grade level skills and standards.
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