Curriculum and Instruction

For access to media center resources and book availability in our schools, please visit our district database HERE.

Please see additional resources below:

Grand Island Public Library

Nebraskaccess

Sora - esu 10

In preschool and early elementary, ELA includes foundational skills and learning to read and write. This includes explicit phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary instruction to learn the English code. In middle to upper elementary, there is a shift where students have learned the foundational reading skills and are reading in order to learn. Fluency and comprehension instruction builds as students grow older. Writing is also a critical component of literacy and is supported across content areas.

As students transition into middle and high school, writing becomes even more of a focus. Students learn to draw upon and write about evidence from literary and information text. Text complexity builds and there is a strong balance of literary and information sources. Writing is the most difficult and rigorous part of literacy. 

GIPS Literacy Commitments drive our student classroom experiences and were developed by teacher leaders from across the district. We commit to ensuring that all students receive ample scientifically-based foundational instruction. 
 

GIPS Literacy Commitments

Mission: At Grand Island Public Schools, we champion equity by committing to breaking the cycle of illiteracy and ensuring equitable outcomes for ALL students.

• We commit to applying the Science of Literacy to our decision-making around curriculum, instruction and assessment in all disciplines.

• We commit to challenging our assumptions and previously held beliefs by expanding our knowledge around effective literacy instruction in all disciplines.

• We commit to ensuring that ALL students receive ample scientifically-based foundational skill instruction in order to become skilled readers.

• We commit to ensuring that ALL students read, write about, listen to, and discuss various genres of increasingly complex grade-level texts that represent our student population.

• We commit to ensuring that ALL students develop deep content knowledge and vocabulary by reading, writing about, listening to and discussing multiple grade-level complex texts on the same topic.

• We commit to ensuring that ALL students use and cite evidence from texts to demonstrate their understanding and support their ideas from texts in all disciplines.

GIPS English Language Arts (ELA) Curriculum Resources:

Kindergarten - 5th Grade: 

• Amplify CKLA
• Equipped for Reading Success 2

Kindergarten - 1st Grade:

• Heggerty

6th - 12th Grade:

• myPerspectives English Language Arts

In our district, a curriculum is more than a collection of activities. A curriculum must develop important skills along with coherent learning progressions that develop connections among areas of mathematical study and between mathematics and the real world. We require all students to have access to a high-quality mathematics curriculum, effective teaching and learning, high expectations, and the support and resources needed to maximize their learning potential.

The mathematics curriculum develops mathematical literacy to ensure every student has the knowledge and understanding to persevere in solving problems where critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity are vital. Teachers look for evidence of proficiency of standards with important mathematics content and practices. A variety of strategies and data sources are used to measure student understanding. Feedback helps students become better judges of their work and supports the advancement of their own learning. 

GIPS Math Committments drive our student classroom experiences.  Students will build mathematics understanding through a balance between conceptual understanding, increasing procedural skill and fluency, and real-world application. In addition, they will engage in meaningful learning through individual and collaborative experiences that promote their ability to use mathematics specific language, make sense of mathematical ideas, learn from mistakes, and reason mathematically. Through the use of discourse and respectful discussion, students will engage with multiple mathematical perspectives and connect new learning to prior learned skills. Students will apply knowledge for problem-solving and be capable of thinking and reasoning mathematically, important skills needed to meet the challenges of today’s society.
 

GIPS Math Commitments:

Stakeholders plan, collaborate around, and support mathematics achievement by fostering a learning environment where:

• All students view themselves as mathematicians.
• Student mathematicians access grade-level curriculum that promotes rigor as a balance of conceptual development, procedural fluency, and real-world applications.
• Mathematicians take part in discourse using academic language and analyze the reasoning of others.
• Mathematicians are a part of a community that asks questions, acts on feedback, and views mistakes as opportunities to learn.
• Mathematicians make connections, exhibit flexible thinking, and are able to persevere through productive struggle.

GIPS Math Curriculum Resources:

• Kindergarten - 6th Grade:  Origo Stepping Stones
  • Note:  Kindergarten - 5th Grade is currently piloting new resources in four schools in 2025-26.  Learn more about the Math Pilot HERE.
• 7th - 8th Grade, & 8th Grade Algebra:  College Preparatory Mathematics 
• High School Algebra, Geometry, & Algebra 2:  Illustrative and Open Up Mathematics 

At Grand Island Public schools, science education directly supports our vision that all students will be prepared to make positive contributions to society and thrive in an ever-changing world. By the end of 12th grade, each student shall have an appreciation of science and be able to apply their knowledge and practices of science and engineering to understand phenomena in the natural and designed world.

Instruction and assessment reflect a coherent science education for K-12 in which students, over multiple years, actively engage in scientific and engineering practices and apply crosscutting concepts to deepen their understanding of core science ideas. Students are exposed to a standards-based curriculum and science learning experiences designed to support the goals of the rigorous program. Students will become informed decision makers, be critical consumers of information, and understand the interconnectedness of scientific disciplines.

Student progress will be evaluated based on their capacity to construct scientific explanations and formulate evidence-based arguments for real-world phenomena through a scientific lens, as well as their ability to design or assess solutions to challenges using an engineering perspective. Ultimately, through effective teacher instruction and comprehensive assessment, all students will be empowered to make informed decisions and act as responsible stewards of their school, community, state, nation, and planet.

GIPS Science Curriculum Resources:

• Kindergarten - 8th Grade: Amplify Science
• 9th - 12th Grade: Kognity and OpenSciEd

The goal of social studies education is to prepare students to be responsible and productive citizens in a democratic society and a globally interdependent world. Through an integrated study of social disciplines, students will acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes as they become lifelong learners. All students have access to a standards-based social studies curriculum working to build knowledge of specific discipline content, thinking skills, commitment to democratic values and citizen participation, all essential to maintaining a democratic way of life.
 

Social studies provides content that students will use to understand political, social, and economic issues and apply their knowledge and skills to make effective personal and public decisions. With a variety of relevant learning experiences that connect the present to the past, engage active learning, and promote ongoing measures of student achievement, highly skilled teachers ensure students become informed, active citizens who thrive in a culturally diverse, global society.


GIPS follows the Nebraska Department of Education's Nebraska Social Studies Standards.  As per the Nebraska State Board of Education, "the purpose of the Nebraska Social Studies Standards is to teach our children to become young patriots who have an intellectual understanding of the genius of our country's founding principles and who feel an emotional connection to our nation. Achieving this purpose requires teaching Nebraska students to become responsible citizens who are prepared to preserve, protect and defend freedom and democracy in our nation and in the world." For the full transcript, follow this link.

GIPS Social Studies Curriculum Resources: 

Kindergarten - 5th Grade:

• Amplify / CKLA
• The Nebraska Adventure 4
• Teacher's Curriculum Institute (TCI) 5

6th - 12th Grade:

• 6th Grade: TCI History Alive! The Ancient World
• 7th Grade: TCI Geography Alive! Regions and People
• 8th Grade: TCI History Alive! The US Through Industrialism
• 9th Grade: TCI History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals
• 10th Grade: TCI History Alive! World Connections
• 12th Grade: TCI Econ Alive! The Power to Choose/Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You

At Grand Island Public Schools, we are committed to the academic success of our English Learners (ELs), honoring their unique backgrounds while celebrating and preserving their cultural and linguistic identities.

We advocate for and provide:

• Specialized instruction designed to build English proficiency across all four language domains: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
• Meaningful access to rigorous core curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
• Equal opportunities to participate in all curricular and extracurricular activities.
• Collaborative partnerships with students, families, and staff to achieve shared educational goals.
• Strong connections to school, the community, and society to support a sense of belonging and engagement.

Upon enrollment in GIPS, students in grades K–12 complete a Home Language Survey to determine if a language other than English is spoken at home.

If another language is indicated, the student will participate in an English Language Proficiency (ELP) Assessment at the GIPS Welcome Center to determine eligibility for EL services.

Students qualifying for the EL Program receive ongoing support until they demonstrate English proficiency on the annual ELP Assessment.

​​​​​​​Contact the GIPS EL Department at (308) 385-5900 for more details about our English Learner programs and services.

Grand Island Public Schools is committed to recognizing, identifying, and serving the unique needs of gifted learners. Gifted learners perform, or have the capacity to perform, at greater levels in one or more domains of instruction in comparison to individuals of the same age, educational experience, or environment  and who require accelerated or differentiated curriculum programs to develop those abilities fully.

Students will be identified for gifted services in reading and math and monitored through the Multi- Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework. The MTSS team may include parents, teachers, students, gifted specialists, counselors, instructional coaches, coaches, psychologists, and administrators. A body of evidence, gathered from multiple sources of data to demonstrate exceptional development, will be reviewed throughout a student's enrollment in GIPS within the MTSS framework. 

Through the GIPS Gifted & Talented Program, gifted learners engage in a rigorous differentiated curriculum; collaborate with like-minded learners; explore college and career opportunities aligned with their academic strengths; and receive social-emotional support tailored to the unique characteristics of giftedness.

Assessments in Grand Island Public Schools

Grand Island Public Schools uses a comprehensive assessment system to provide helpful data that may help to inform decisions at all levels of the organization. 

This includes data for:

• Driving classroom instructional decisions
• Measuring student progress toward mastery of standards
• Guiding the development of and evaluating the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction
• Evaluating equity through monitoring academic achievement and other student outcome data
• Measuring perceptions around teaching, learning, and school climate

Parental Access to Educational Practices including information regarding opting students out of district testing are explained in Policy 9110 (linked below).

If you have any questions, please reach out to your child(s) building Principal or contact the district office at communications@gips.org.

• Policy Reference - 9110 Parental Access to Educational Practices

ASSESSMENTS CALENDAR

A calendar view of all 2024-25 Assessments is available below:

• GIPS 2024-25 Assessment Calendar download
   

ASSESSMENT LIST 

American College Testing (ACT) - Spring

• Taken by 11th Graders in the Spring
• The ACT is designed to measure college readiness skills.
• The test is made up of four subsections (English, Math, Reading, and Science) and the writing test.
   

Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) - Spring

• 11th Graders (Optional)
• PSAT measures college readiness skills in Reading, Writing, Language Arts, and Math and can be used to predict how a student will perform on the SAT.
   

NSCAS Growth: Reading & Math - Spring

• 3rd - 8th Graders
• State assessment that measures growth and proficiency toward mastery of Nebraska state standards in ELA and Math.

NSCAS: Science - Spring

• 5th and 8th Graders
• Proficiency in mastery of Nebraska state Science standards.
   

ELPA 21 - Spring

• Kindergarten - 12th Grade English Language Learners 
• A state-wide assessment for English learners that measures progress toward English proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

MAP Growth: Math - Fall, Winter, & Spring

• Kindergarten - 5th Grade (Math only)
• Measures achievement and growth and use in progress monitoring over time. 

AimsWeb Reading and AimsWeb Math - Fall, Winter, & Spring

• 5th Grade (Math only) and 6th - 8th Grade (Reading & Math)
• 9th - 12th Grades for English Language Learners (Reading & Math) 
• Measures achievement and growth and use in progress monitoring over time in reading (for ELs) and math.
   

mClass DIBELS 8th Edition - Fall, Winter, & Spring

• Kindergarten - 5th Grade
• The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment is a set of brief, standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy designed to predict the literacy growth of children from Kindergarten through eighth grade.

CogAT - Fall & Spring

• 2nd Grade 
• The CogAT is a universal screener that measures learned reasoning and problem-solving skills in three different areas: verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal. Reasoning skills develop gradually throughout a person’s lifetime and at different rates for different individuals.  CogAT scores show how a child performed in comparison to other children throughout the nation who are the same age. 

School Culture / Climate Survey (Panorama) - Fall & Spring

• 3rd - 12th Grade students, families, and all staff
• Survey measuring perceptions around teaching, learning, school climate, and growth mindset.

End-of-Unit Assessments - Ongoing

• Kindergarten - 12th Grades 
• Measuring student progress towards mastery of the standards and essential learning covered in a unit of study. Includes benchmark assessments.
   

OPT OUT

Parents / Guardians may out-out for their students to participate in surveys or assessments.  A copy of the form linked below must be submitted for each student requesting to opt out:

• GIPS 9110.2 Opt Out Form
   

QUESTIONS

If you have any questions regarding assessments, please reach out to your building Principal or contact us at communications@gips.org.