ICS ACADEMICS
ICS Mission Statement: The Indian Community School cultivates an enduring cultural identity and critical thinking by weaving indigenous teachings with a distinguished learning environment.
ICS Vision Statement: The Indian Community School imparts cultural identity and academic excellence that will light the path forward for our students to sustain our rich legacy.
Indian Community School is committed to providing engaging learning environments that places students at the center of the learning process. At ICS, we are dedicated to increasing student engagement, providing authentic cultural programming, promoting problem solving and critical thinking skills, connecting concepts to real world experiences, fostering creativity, and preparing students for their futures. The ICS curriculum has been developed from both academic standards and the Our Ways Teaching and Learning Framework™ to ensure a curricular center from which all grade level units, lessons, activities, and assessments are developed.
What are Academic Standards?
Academic standards provide transparent and comprehensive guidelines for successful learning beyond the classroom. In Wisconsin, all state standards serve as a model. School Boards adopt academic standards in each subject area to best serve their local community. Indian Community School aligns curriculum, learning, and assessments to the Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and Wisconsin Model Academic Standards as our roadmap for instructional practices. Along with the Our Ways Teaching and Learning Framework, we use these standards as the foundation for teaching and learning which allows teachers to identify and communicate essential understandings and learning targets. Alignment to standards ensures rigorous curriculum, promotes college and career readiness, and encourages the application of knowledge so that students can increase their understanding of the world.
What are ICS Course Overviews?
The development of ICS Course Overviews provides the foundation of an equitable, consistent, school-wide, standards-based instructional program. The Course Overviews are documents for each course at every grade level that provide clear, measurable learning outcomes based on Board-approved standards. Additionally, the Course Overviews provide the main source of communication to students and families outlining what a child should know and be able to do at each grade level.
What are ICS Learning Targets?
The Learning Targets have been developed from grade-level academic standards, deconstructed into short-term goals of learning. They are statements that clearly communicate to students, families, and educators what students are expected to know and do at the end of a lesson and/or unit of study. These explicit goals for daily instruction highlight essential skills, concepts and knowledge to provide a clear focus for the development of lessons and assessments. Learning Targets are written in student-friendly language, allowing students and teachers to create specific goals for learning that are personalized to each student’s individual needs.