|
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
|
|
|
|
The Alcoa City Schools are committed to providing the finest education possible our students. The information and links below are intended to help address questions about our curriculum, our instruction, and our assessments. For information about the school system's annual academic planning, please click on the link below.
TCSPP (District Plan)
|
|
Curriculum
|
|
Standards
|
|
The schools follow the state of Tennessee Curriculum Standards for all courses in all schools. These standards can be accessed by going to http://www.state.tn.us/education/ci/standards/
Standards are being revised. New standards will go into effect in the fall of 2009. To look at preliminary versions of these standards, click the link below.
Revised Standards.
|
|
Textbooks
|
|
Textbooks used are those approved by the State Department of Education. For a list of approved textbooks, go to http://www.tennesseebook.com/web_pages/catalogs/text_catalog.asp
|
|
Instruction
|
|
Highly Qualified Teachers
|
|
Alcoa City Schools fully meets the No Child Left Behind mandate of having 100% of our teachers meeting Highly Qualified requirements. In addition, we require our para-professionals to also meet this high standard.
|
|
Strategies
|
|
Our teachers utilize a number of different research proven strategies to help our students do their best.
|
|
Organization
|
|
Schedules and teacher assignments are designed to optimize the application of the talents and credentials of our staff to the developmental needs of our students.
|
|
Assessment
|
|
Our students participate in all state-mandated testing. For information about these tests and our results, please use the links below.
|
|
TCAP-NRT (grades 1 and 2) April 2008 This is not a state mandated test.
|
|
Understanding results:
|
|
http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/doc/Form_R_Parent.pdf
|
|
What is tested in grades 1 and 2? See the link below.
|
|
http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/tsachk2.shtml
|
|
TCAP-CRT (grades 3-8) April 2008
|
|
Understanding results:
|
|
http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/doc/Form_R_Parent.pdf
|
|
Frequently Asked Questions:
|
|
http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/tsachfaq.shtml
|
|
What knowledge and skills are tested?
|
|
http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/tsachrcspi.shtml
|
|
Gateway Tests (High School) May 6-8, 2008
|
|
The Gateway tests are given for Algebra I, English II, and Biology. Each student must successfully pass all three Gateway tests in order to graduate from Alcoa High School with a regular education diploma. Students may take these tests multiple times if necessary. You may follow the links below and/or contact Alcoa High School’s Graduation Coach, Ms. Kim Hawkins, at 865-982-4631, for more information.
|
|
Understanding results:
|
|
http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/doc/ParentG_07.pdf
|
|
Success Strategies:
|
|
http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/doc/tsteststrategies.pdf
|
|
What kinds of questions are on these tests?
|
|
For item samplers, please go to the following link:
|
|
http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/tssamplers.shtml
|
|
End-Of-Course (High School)
|
|
The End-Of-Course tests are administered in Math Foundations, Physical Science, English I, and U.S. History. For "Understanding Results", "Success Strategies," or "Item Samplers" please go to the links listed above for Gateway tests.
|
|
Writing Assessment (grades 5, 8, and 11) February 5, 2008
|
|
The state Writing Assessment is given in February of each year to 5th, 8th, and 11th graders. 5th grade students are asked to write a narrative essay (a story), 8th grade students an expository essay (an explanation), and 11th grade students a persuasive essay (an argument).
Papers are scored on a scale of 0 to 6. Use the links below to see sample papers for each score.
5th Grade Writing Samples
8th Grade Writing Samples
11th Grade Writing Samples
|
|
|
District
High School
Middle School
Elementary School
Multiple Events
