A Note from Jessica Denter
The curriculum, instruction and assessment department would like to take this opportunity to provide insight as to our curriculum and standards adoption process at Byron Public Schools. Byron follows the Minnesota Department of Education ten year cycle for standards adoptions. Every ten years our academic standards are revised and updated in the areas of:
Arts, Music, Physical Education, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies
Minnesota currently recommends the use of the National Health Education Standards (NHES) and allows districts develop the scope and sequence
Minnesota currently requires each district to use the World Languages developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) with the specific foreign language(s) taught within the schools.
More information can be found here: https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/
Our Professional Learning Communities, groups of educators based on content or grade level, have the opportunity to discuss the standards and resources available to teach the standards throughout the year.They also help to identify gaps and areas of need based on the new standards. Byron also utilizes a standards based grading method system for kindergarten through eighth grade which requires teachers to narrow in on specific standards and or benchmarks as related to the content being taught. We use a wide variety of resources from online subscriptions, to apps on the iPad or Chromebook to workbooks or textbooks and hands on learning materials to help cover the wide range of content. Our teachers do a phenomenal job of finding a wide variety of resources to best meet the needs of our diverse student population.
Curriculum also has incorporated a social-emotional research based learning opportunity for our kindergarten through high school students. Our counseling staff has provided insight and teaches the lessons to our students based on the varying needs.
Essential Learning Outcomes are broken down into key categories of learning and then reported on Infinite campus for our students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade as well. Every benchmark from the Minnesota standards must be taught, however our gradebooks would be never-ending if every single benchmark were to be listed. That is why we break it down into Essential Learning Outcomes. Our high school maintains the percentage of points based on the grading scale and GPA for this system.
Curriculum and Instruction are always evolving as our standards become more up to date and focus on hands-on relevant learning opportunities. We are proud of the work that our Profile of a Graduate has done and continues to do to focus on authentic learning as we see natural connections for students to the real world and gives students the opportunity to explore a wide variety of pathways before graduation.
If you have any further questions about our curriculum, please visit our CIA website at: https://www.bears.byron.k12.mn.us/domain/31
It's Great To Be A Byron Bear!
Jessica Denter, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
Email: jessica.denter@byron.k12.mn.us
Website: https://www.bears.byron.k12.mn.us/
Location: 801 Frontage Road Northwest, Byron, MN, USA
Phone: 507-775-2383
Facebook: facebook.com/byronbears
Twitter: @j_denter09
POG C's in Action
The Profile of a Graduate is the model we use to live out the District's Strategic Plan on a daily basis. It has been 5 year since we first implemented the Profile of a Graduate and we continue to find ways to teach the six Cs: Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Citizenship, and Character.
Learn more about our Profile of a Graduate!
Activities/Athletics Ticket Sales Go Online
Construction Update
The construction plans continues to move forward and it will be great to watch our facilities transform over the next 18 months. It is exciting to see the progress and to think about what great facilities we will soon have for our students and our community. Please check out our webcam at https://app.oxblue.com/open/knutson/byronhsathletics and watch the time lapse pictures. We are so appreciative of the community's support.
