Academics

A 21st century school with a love for learning


The School-wide Learning Expectations (SLEs) define the spiritual, academic, social and emotional characteristics that a student of St. Bernard School will work toward, attain, and develop throughout his/her years of attendance.

School-wide Learning Expectations
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Faith
St. Bernard students, nourished by their personal relationship with Christ and empowered by the Catholic church’s impact on society, become active Catholics who live and evangelize through their faith. 

Academics
St. Bernard students are self-driven, critical thinkers who embrace being lifelong learners and who grow by fueling their intellectual potential.

Discipline
St. Bernard students lead by example by demonstrating integrity, responsibility, accountability, and self-discipline, knowing their essential role in community and country.

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Curriculum
​The St. Bernard School curriculum stresses a fundamental educational program integrated with the Catholic teaching and values. The impetus of all our instruction is centered on Christ and His Paschal Mystery. Within each subject, the love of God is taught and shared.
Our curriculum meets the content standards set forth by California State Board of Education.
Students receive instruction in the following areas:
  • Religion
  • Language Arts (Reading, Grammar, Writing, Spelling, Handwriting, Accelerated Reader)
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Art
  • Physical Education
Classroom teachers are responsible for all subjects taught to the respective grades except for Physical Education, which is taught by our physical education teacher.
Our Junior High (6th-8th) is departmentalized.

STAR Assessment
  • Star Assessments utilize learning analytics to deliver data-driven, research-based solutions to individual student learning needs.
  • Star Assessments quickly assess each student’s grasp of essential reading and math skills to determine the next best step in their academic journey.
 
  • Star Early Literacy 
  1. The Star Early Literacy test is intended for students in grades pre-K through 3, or roughly, ages 3–9. Older students can take the test too, if appropriate—there are no grade or age restrictions in the software that would prevent administration to an older student. If a student can work through the hands-on training and practice questions unassisted, that student should be able to take a Star Early Literacy Enterprise test.
  2. Star Early Literacy helps quickly identify every learner’s strengths and weaknesses, set personalized goals, and track progress as students transition from non-readers to readers. 
  3. Star Early Literacy measures both early literacy and early numeracy in a single assessment, providing reliable and valid data about students’ phonological awareness, phonics, word recognition, fluency (including estimated oral reading fluency), and vocabulary as well as early number recognition, counting, and more.
  4. Star Early Literacy measures students’ understanding of the alphabetic principal and print concepts, as well as their ability to identify and discriminate between letters (visual discrimination). 
  5. Star Early Literacy is also available in Spanish and accelerates growth in both languages for English Learners, dual-language learners, and immersion students.
 
  • Star Reading 
  1. The Star Reading enterprise is one comprehensive assessment that provides all the insights needed to guide literacy growth for emergent readers, struggling readers, English Learners, and high achievers. 
  2. Star Reading helps accelerate learning for all. 
  3. Star Reading transforms assessment data into action steps for educators, giving teachers helpful insights and tools to strengthen classroom instruction. 
  4. Star Reading measures students’ knowledge and understanding of vocabulary, as well as their ability to apply vocabulary strategies. 
  5. The Star Reading enterprise guides students to become proficient readers with a research-based, empirically supported learning progression. 
  6. Star Reading identifies the continuum of reading strategies and skills needed for students to reach grade-level proficiency and achieve mastery.
  7. Star Reading fully integrates with Renaissance Accelerated Reader®.
  8. Star reading is available in Spanish and accelerates growth in both languages for English Learners, dual-language learners, and immersion students.
 
  • Star Math
  1. The Star Math enterprise provides essential insights to help all students get on track for math success: which students are struggling, the specific skills and subskills they’re struggling with, and resources and practice activities to remedy those skill gaps. 
  2. Star Math tracks progress over time—throughout the school year and from grade to grade—as students respond to instruction and intervention. 
  3. Star Math puts assessment data to work for educators, so teachers can spend less time analyzing results and more time differentiating instruction. 
  4. Star Math measures students’ ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers, fractions, and decimals. This domain also covers primes, square roots, percents, and numerical expressions. 
  5. The Star Math enterprise leads students toward math proficiency and mastery with a research-based, state-specific learning progression for math. 
  6. Star Math shows the continuum of math strategies, skills, and subskills needed for students to achieve grade-level math proficiency. 
  • Star math is available in Spanish and accelerates growth in both languages for English Learners, dual-language learners, and immersion students.
     STAR Assessment
Onward Readers
·       OR is an intensive, research-based initiative designed to have students reading at, or above grade level by the end of the school year. 
·       OR is designed specifically to improve a student’s literacy skills by focusing on a sequence of four distinct, interrelated areas of study; Reading Comprehension, Phonics, Fluency, and Word Study. 
 Reading Comprehension (RC) develops a student’s ability to better understand what they read, identify and articulate central idea(s), discover and analyze reasons and justifications an author offers in support an opinion or statement, determine relevancy and strength relating to a claim or proposal, and citing evidence. RC promotes an active engagement with a wide variety of text types and structures; RC also aims to expand a student’s vocabulary and strengthen their ability to draw accurate and reliable inferences. 
 Phonics focuses on letter-sound relationships and patterns. Phonics lessons involve segmenting and blending, identifying word features and examining how a word’s sound relates to its construction and meaning; this helps students decode unfamiliar words and better understand their construction and what they mean. 
 Fluency instruction will reduce the amount of energy students use while reading and increase the amount of words a student fluently reads per minute. Fluency focuses on four major aspects of reading; rate, accuracy, speed, and expression. Students receive weekly fluency folders containing a short passage. The goal of fluency is for each student to read at or above grade-level by the end of the school year.
 Word Study teaches students about common spelling generalizations and patterns, and is designed to increase a student’s sight words (words that can be read with little to no effort). Through studying word patterns and accumulating sight words, students begin to understand word constructed and apply this knowledge to their reading and writing.
Accelerated Reader

When students leave high school, they walk into a diverse world of reading. To succeed in life, they need to handle all kinds of texts, from the weekly news stories to classic works of literature to IRS tax forms. That’s what rigorous standards are about—getting kids ready to be good college students, good workers, and good citizens. And that’s what Renaissance Accelerated Reader 360® (AR 360™) is about, too. 
·       Accelerated Reader 360 supports all literacy goals. 
·       Accelerated Reader 360 builds vocabulary, develops fluency, advances comprehension of text of increasing difficulty, and gives students the opportunity to communicate their ideas verbally and in writing.
·        Accelerated Reader 360 motivates students to read. 


Support Team Education Plan (STEP)

In the Catholic school setting, our mission is to teach as Jesus did. The Support Team Education Plan (STEP) is a process to address the needs of the students in our schools and to facilitate participation in the Catholic school curriculum. We are called to celebrate the unique gifts of each child, which are a reflection of God’s love. (Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Department of Catholic Schools, [DCS] 2008)

·       STEP is a collaborative process that brings together students, parents, teachers, and administrators to seek positive solutions based on a student's strengths and special needs to help that student benefit from his or her education and to facilitate participation in the Catholic school curriculum.
·       The STEP Team is a school team that consists of the parents/guardians, the classroom or homeroom teacher, the school administrator or STEP team coordinator, other school personnel as needed, and the student when appropriate. The STEP Team gathers information and data regarding the student from a variety of sources, including grade reports, standardized testing results, samples of class work, discipline records, questionnaires, interviews, psycho-educational reports, etc.
·       The STEP Team holds the meeting. The Team follows the STEP agenda to determine student strengths; analyze gathered data; prioritize concerns about the student's progress; create strategies for classroom, school, and home; and generate an action plan. The action plan process requires the team to prioritize the identified support strategies, identify the person who will be responsible for implementing each strategy, and develop a timeline for implementation and evaluation. The team must record the STEP plan and schedule dates for follow-up meetings to monitor student progress and results.

Meet the Masters (MTM)
Our school is active in enganging the minds of our students through the various arts including learning about the masters in history and their masterpieces. 
  • MTM is an engaging art curriculum.
  • The Meet the Masters experience uses a multi-media assembly, engaging Powerpoint slides, artist voices, music of the time, and techniques that made the art revolutionary.
  • MTM helps children learn about the fascinating lives and famous works of the Master Artists. 
  • MTM includes interactive questions and multi-media content.
  • MTM captivates students and develops a true connection to the Master Artists.
  • MTM transforms the classroom into an art studio as the students are led on a step-by-step journey through art projects in the same medium, style and subject matter as the Master. 
  • MTM allows students to discover their creativity while developing confidence in their own unique abilities. 
Technology use in our classrooms
As our world progresses in new technology every day SBS sees the importance of teaching our students how to use every day devices for the benefit of their education. Coupled with traditional forms of teaching, our curriculum is infused with technology through the use of various technological tools such as, ipads, emails, projectors, collaborative work through our Google Suite, Various educational apps, Chromebooks, Microsoft and Apple Programs and much more. Preparing our students well for the 21st century is a priority here at SBS.