CURRICULUM

Pendleton Academies adheres to the Oregon Standards Curriculum published annually by the Oregon Department of Education. The statewide standards provide common curriculum goals, grade-level benchmarks, passing criteria, and instructional accountability. Student accountability in meeting these goals is measured by statewide assessments administered on a schedule using prescribed procedures. Current Oregon Curriculum Standards are available online at:

http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/newspaper/.

Textbooks used are selected from the Oregon Department of Education approved lists. Resource materials are purchased or created to meet the educational needs of students identified in their individual education plans and from other information in a child’s school records.

School staff interview and administer an intake assessment and appropriate skills and knowledge testing on admission. The -information gained is completed as the basis for designing each child’s individualized educational program. The goal of the program is to help children catch up and acquire the learning skills they will need to keep up on return to their home community. Parents and children are expected to participate in the design, regular reviews, and updating of educational plans.

In addition to participating in classroom activities, children who come to Pendleton Academies with limited academic success and few academic credits from their previous schools are provided opportunities for credit recovery. They are offered an opportunity and support to complete learning packets and online course materials that, on passing tests, qualifies them for high school credit. These include PLATO Learning instructional materials (www.plato.com), Oregon State University’s accredited k-12 online instructional programs, (http://k12online.oregonstate.edu/), and Oregon Career Information Systems program at the University of Oregon (http://oregoncis.uoregon.edu/about.html). Pendleton Academies offers children an opportunity to complete a General Education Diploma (GED), if that is an appropriate choice, in cooperation with Blue Mountain Community College.

Pendleton Academies’ philosophy supports character education through an implicit curriculum, emphasizing that adults teach children how to behave by the example of their own actions and attitudes, both in the classroom and at home. In the Pendleton Academies’ school environment, teachers create an extraordinarily safe and dynamic learning atmosphere in which students feel needed, listened to, and taken seriously. In our therapeutic host homes, we teach children that everyone in the family is important and responsibly participating as a member of a family is part of a successful life. Such environments empower children to begin claim ownership and pride for the success they experience in their lives at Pendleton Academies.

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