2024-25 Family Handbook
Curriculum & Assessment
The Bettendorf Community School District Department of Curriculum & Instruction provides assistance, support and expertise in:
Delivering the district’s PreK-12 instructional programs.
Developing quality assessments that ensure rigor and consistency of instruction across subjects and grade levels.
Collecting and reporting district data to improve instruction and to meet state requirements.
Establishing staff development programs to help raise the level of instructional performance and student achievement.
Selecting instructional materials.
Iowa Academic Standards
The Iowa Academic Standards identifies essential concepts and skills for kindergarten through 12th grade in literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, and 21st century skills. It also includes direction for teachers regarding effective instruction and assessment. It takes learning to a deeper level by moving students beyond superficial knowledge to deep conceptual and procedural knowledge. It also enhances student engagement by emphasizing interesting, robust, and relevant learning experiences.
Advanced Placement examinations are taken each May by interested high school students. The tests are the culmination of year-long Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Some colleges and universities grant credits or advanced placement based on AP test scores; policies vary by institution, but schools that award credit usually require a score of 3 or higher on any given exam for credit to be granted or course prerequisites to be waived.
Human Growth & Development
603.5 Health Education
603.5E1 Human Growth and Development Student Excuse Form
The Bettendorf School District has developed an extensive Comprehensive Health Program for use in Grades K-12. One of the components of this program deals with Human Growth and Development.
Promotion and Retention
505.2 Student Promotion - Retention - Acceleration
The Bettendorf Community School District is dedicated to the total and continuous development of each pupil enrolled. Pupils will be placed in the instructional level best suited to the pupil academically, socially and emotionally.
Pupils will normally progress annually from level to level. Exceptions may be made when, in the judgment of the professional staff, such exceptions are in the best educational interest of the students involved.
Religion Based Exclusion from School Program
604.5 Religion Based Exclusion from School Program
The Board of Directors recognizes the existence of various religious beliefs and acknowledges the American tradition of separation of church and state. Parents who wish to have their child excluded from a school program because of religious beliefs must inform the building principal. The Board of Directors authorizes the administration to allow the exclusion if it is not disruptive to the educational process and it does not infringe on a compelling state or educational interest. Further, the exclusion must not interfere with other school district operations.
Specials
All BCSD Elementary Schools offer special classes including art, library, music, and physical Education (PE). Fourth grade students are eligible to participate in orchestra. Fifth grade students are eligible to participate in band and/or orchestra. Each child in band and/or orchestra participates in one individual or small group lesson in the elementary building where they attend school and two larger group rehearsals (one for fourth grade students) each week.
Assessment of student performance is an important component of instruction and is accomplished in ways that measure both the quality of the learning process and outcomes. Test scores are only ONE measure of educational excellence.
Attitudes, motivation, caring, and a positive environment are also essential factors in a total education.
Assessment methods include student portfolios, teacher observations, long-term projects, anecdotal records, writing samples, student interviews, teacher-made tests, standardized norm referenced tests, and criterion referenced tests.
Dynamic Learning Map - Alternate Assessment
3rd-11th Grade
Dynamic Learning Map (DLM) is a tool used for students with special education needs who need a modified form of assessment to monitor progress. The DLM provides the teacher with a tracking tool to show how skills build off one another and which skill to target next. Student success is measured with grade level specific expectations about what students with cognitive disabilities should know and be able to do.
FAST Bridge K-8th Grade
Formative Assessment System for Teachers (FAST) is a suite of assessments including curriculum-based measurements and computer adaptive tests. Early Literacy legislation requires school districts to administer FAST reading assessment (or another approved assessment) to all students in grades K-3, three times each year and to monitor the progress of persistently at-risk students on a weekly basis. Results are used to identify students who are “at-risk” or “persistently at-risk” so that they can receive appropriate interventions.
ISASP 3rd-11th Grade
The Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) are assessments developed by Iowa Testing Programs at the University of Iowa for the state of Iowa, and are aligned with the Iowa Core standards and provide a measure of student learning outcomes. Student growth, proficiency and readiness indicators are reported through this assessment.
Results are used for state accountability, to measure the overall effectiveness of our academic program, and, in combination with other assessments, to identify students for additional services and supports.
MAP 9th Grade
The MAP assessment is a computer-adaptive test that measures achievement and growth in reading and math. It provides teachers with accurate and actionable evidence to help target instruction for each student or groups of students. The structure is cross-grade, which provides measurement of students who perform above, on, and/or below grade level.
MAP assessments also provide detailed, actionable data about where each child is on their unique learning path. Because student engagement is essential to any testing experience, NWEA works with educators to create test items that interest children and help to capture detail about what they know and what they’re ready to learn. It’s information teachers can use in the classroom to help every child, every day.
The Nation’s Report Card (NAEP)
Grades 4, 8 & 12
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation’s students know and can do in subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, and writing. Standard administration practices are implemented to provide a common measure of student achievement.