Academics
-
St. Anthony of Padua is an accredited school through the Ohio Catholic School Accrediting Association, OCSAA. As a participating member of OCSAA, we are required to create a strategic plan that incorporates annual progress reports assessing the effectiveness of our instruction and student progress. Annual adjustments are made within the plan to continually strengthen areas of deficit aligning with our target goals and objectives in our strategic plan.
The curriculum implemented at St. Anthony of Padua is derived from the Diocese of Cleveland, aligning with the Ohio Academic Content Standards and OCSAA Standards. Our teachers continually evaluate their instruction and curriculum map to provide students with a rigorous education in accordance with the state standards and religious standards. Religious education is a fundamental component and is integrated throughout each content area.
St. Anthony of Padua values itself on providing an academic environment that is nurturing and supportive, while promoting rigor and high expectations for all students. In addition to the courses of study offered at St. Anthony of Padua, we provide extensive extracurricular options for students to expand their abilities in high interest areas that promote further development in fine arts, socialization, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and academic content areas.
Courses of Study
Art
Band (Grades 5-8)
English Language Arts
Health
Math
Music
Orchestra (Grades 4-8)
Physical Education
Reading
Religion
Science
Social Studies
Technology -
TechnologyTechnology Mission
St. Anthony of Padua School will seek to model best practices in the acquisition and incorporation of current technologies appropriate for instruction and administrative support. We will support our faculty and staff with training and tools in the service of our students, their families, and our colleagues.
Current Technology
In today's digital world, the evolution and advancement of technology is revolutionizing the educational learning environment. In alignment with our goal of providing an educational experience representing 21st century learning, we have taken drastic steps in improving the resources available to students and the capabilties of our infrastructure to continually support future intergration of technology into the learning process. Our goal is to remain on the forefront of technology in education and to help students become critical thinkers, problem solvers, and lifelong learners.
The successful application of technology into classrooms is correlated with teachers' ability to design instructional practices that enhance the learning process and increase the achievement of students. Teachers integrate 21st century skills within the context of their lessons and use technology as a resource for learning.
Technology Resources
St. Anthony School has both a traditional computer lab and a technology studio; students and teachers have access to the following resources:- 1:1 Chromebooks for grades 4 through 8
- iPads for kindergarten through grade 3
- Desktop computers
- zSpace virtual reality computers
- 3D printers
- iMac computers
- Live TV broadcast show on closed circuit cable
- Smartboards
- Wireless access points
-
Fine Arts
We believe the fine arts serve an invaluable role in the growth and development of our students. Too often, schools or districts facing budget cuts reduce or eliminate fine arts programs, thereby impacting their student populations and underestimating the benefits of providing such programs. At St. Anthony of Padua, we believe fine arts enrich the educational experience and contribute to the academic success of students. Students in kindergarten through eighth grade participate in weekly art and music classes with additional opportunities to join extracurricular clubs that refine their skills. Our fine arts programs are sure to excite the inner creativity of each St. Anthony of Padua student.
Visual Arts
Student art work decorates the hallways of St. Anthony of Padua and showcases the ability of our talented students. Each year, students’ work is submitted to local high school art shows and has resulted in many of our artists receiving awards and accolades for outstanding work.
Our visual arts program begins in kindergarten and progresses through eighth grade. As students progress through the program, they study various artists and art forms, resulting in creative interpretations of different art styles. Students will have the opportunity to create drawings, sculptures, 3D designs, paintings, and digital art. We believe the exposure of students working with different materials and mediums has contributed to the success of our students in visual art contests.
In addition to the visual art classroom experiences, we provide extracurricular activities that enhance and refine student capabilities in art. Our art club, which is open to all students in grade-level sessions, offers students the ability to deepen their interest with a particular art form or style. In addition, our visual art department provides an artistic component to the spring musical by having students help design the set. We also offer a program called Young Rembrandts, which enlists a local company to provide drawing instruction to a small group. Young Rembrandts is available for primary and intermediate students with a focus on developing drawing skills through interpretation of famous artists and art works.
Music
In the music classroom, students learn by engaging in music activities that include both creating and performing. Students build upon basic skills starting in kindergarten which allow them to better understand and appreciate music. Students are taught through a combination of Orff-Schulwerk and Kodaly pedagogies. Orff-Schulwerk uses spoken word to connect to musical rhythm, which then expands into note reading. It also uses meaningful movement to foster creativity and musicality. Both Orff-Schulwerk and Kodaly use meaningful musical experiences through the use of games and activities. Students learn sight singing using solfege and hand signs to foster music literacy. The goal is to instill in our students musical independence and creativity.
Instrumental Music
Our instrumental music program is a partnership with Padua Franciscan High School and consists of symphonic band and orchestra. Unlike the music and art classes offered to all students beginning in kindergarten, instrumental music is available for students in specific grade levels and is structured with students receiving individual lessons within the school day. Students participating in the instrumental music program will participate in bi-annual concerts and have the opportunity to attend Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) Solo and Ensemble Contests. It is possible for students within this program to receive high school scholarships based on their abilities and performances at OMEA.
-
AssessmentsAssessment is a key component impacting instructional practices within classrooms. At St. Anthony of Padua, we incorporate data-driven decision-making with the use of formal and informal assessments. The assessments used by teachers help determine what students are ready to learn, so instructional strategies can be catered to meet the needs of students. In addition, information gained from assessments help determine gaps in student understanding that may require additional levels of intervention and support.
From a classroom and school perspective, the value of testing serves a distinct purpose impacting classroom instruction, student intervention, and school strategic planning. The reason for multiple tests and different testing modules is to ensure our data is accurate and supported across multiple components. We fully believe that testing is not the only way to identify student performance as there are many other factors impacting students; rather, testing serves as a piece to the puzzle.
NWEA MAP Testing
Students in kindergarten through grade 8 participate in NWEA MAP testing three times a year. We use MAP testing to analyze student growth over time in the domains of reading, math, language, and science. Unlike traditional standardized testing, MAP testing uses a dynamic questioning module that changes the next question based on the response of the previous question. Through dynamic questioning, MAP can identify individual ranges of topics students are ready to learn. After a student has taken MAP once, future tests begin where the student left off on the previous tests. Since MAP testing is catered to the individual ability level of students, it is possible for students in the same class to experience different tests during the same testing window.
The benefit of using MAP testing is the tracking of student growth in subject domains over the course of time. The data obtained from MAP helps us to identify student strengths and weakness, while also allowing us to compare student scores with their peers from a school and national scale. The MAP database is so large that we can project future test scores on the ACT, SAT, and state of Ohio tests. In addition, MAP uses goal setting to assist students in meeting their target scores. As a school, we have implemented test talks in which teachers meet with each student to discuss goals throughout the year.
STAR Reading Assessment
The STAR Reading Assessment is a test given to students three times a year for students in kindergarten through grade 5. Students in grades 6 through 8 take the test once during the winter quarter. The STAR Reading Assessment differs from MAP because it operates like a traditional standardized test, meaning every student is taking the same test regardless of skill or ability level. The data gained from this test also differs from MAP because we can identify student performance based on the current grade level and national norms. The data obtained from STAR allows us to monitor our performance as a school and identify students performing below grade level.
Report Cards
Instruction at St. Anthony of Padua is driven by the standards of the state of Ohio and the Diocese of Cleveland. These standards contain guidelines for each curricular subject, including topics of study, skills, and other learning opportunities. The teachers at St. Anthony of Padua use a variety of assessment tools to identify what students are ready to learn and how they can best guide students’ progress. These assessments may include tests, quizzes, written work, projects, reading inventories, observations, etc.
Each student in grades 1 through 8 receives a report card at the end of each quarter. Kindergarten uses a standards-based report card beginning after the second quarter. Parents and students in grades 1 through 8 can view grades online using GradeLock, our online portal for grades. Grades are uploaded online on the first and fifteenth of the month.
-
Support ServicesPupil Personnel Services
St. Anthony of Padua School offers students additional support services throughout the school day to improve classroom performance when needed. Our support staff consists of the following professionals:- An intervention specialist
- A speech and language pathologist
- A psychologist
- A Title I reading specialist
- An English language learner specialist
Response to Intervention (RtI)
St. Anthony of Padua School uses the Response to Intervention (RtI) process supported by the Diocese of Cleveland and local districts. The RtI process is a systematic, tiered approach to identifying and helping students struggling academically or behaviorally. The process uses elements of universal screeners, diagnostic assessments, observations, interventions, progress monitoring, and strategic planning. While the RtI process can be lengthy and complex, it ensures our students with the highest need are adaquately distributed to the correct support personnel.
Jon Peterson Scholarship
St. Anthony of Padua School is not a Jon Peterson Scholarship provider, but we do accept Jon Peterson students based on whether we can meet the needs of the Individualized Education Program (IEP). We are contracted with Partners for Success and Innovation (PSI) to support our students on the Jon Peterson Scholarship, but the scholarship funds cannot be used toward tuition.