St. Joseph Catholic Church

Academic Standards

St. Joseph School is accredited in the State of Ohio. Our curriculum meets the Academic Content Standards established by the State of Ohio.
All faculty members hold the appropriate teaching license as required by the Ohio Department of Education.
St. Joseph School has been recognized as a Benchmark School in the Cleveland Diocese for Using Data to Improve Student Learning.

St. Joseph School meets the Ohio Department of Education Academic Standards for Math.
Math enrichment activities are provided for students at all grade levels.
Math leveling begins in fifth grade. Leveling provides greater individualized instruction to meet the needs of all students according to aptitude and achievement.
In grades 3-8, math skills are systematically reviewed and reinforced with the supplemental math series, Simple Solutions.
Approximately 70% of the seventh and eighth grade students participate in advance math classes and complete Algebra I as eighth graders.
After school math clubs are offered to middle school and junior high students. The students work collaboratively on higher- level math problems that sharpen problem-solving skills and enhance the entire math curriculum. These teams compete in regional math competitions.

The English Language Arts Curriculum develops the skills of communication: reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and researching.
St. Joseph School meets the Ohio Department of Education Academic Standards for Language Arts.
The Accelerated Reader program offers students in grades 1-8, an individualized program to enhance reading and comprehension skills. This program encourages a love for reading and introduces a variety of authors and subject matter.
Junior Great Books, a supplement to the Language Arts curriculum in grades 2 and 4, introduces students to the great works of literature through folktales and classic and modern fiction.
Sadlier’s Vocabulary Workshop extends and enhances the development of vocabulary in grades six through eight.
Power of the Pen is a statewide writing competition for seventh and eighth grade students. During the competition, students are provided writing prompts on a variety of topics. To prepare, students practice their writing skills after school twice a week with the seventh and eighth grade faculty. During the 2006-2007 school year, our 7th grade team won the district competition.

St. Joseph School meets the Technology Competency Standards established by the Diocese of Cleveland.
St. Joseph School has a highly skilled educator who teaches computer skills in a state of the art computer lab.
Students in grades K-8 attend weekly computer classes. Instruction includes basic computer skills, keyboarding, graphing, internet research, and presentation skills.
Maintaining the latest technology is a key element of St. Joseph School’s commitment to providing an engaging learning environment that stimulates student interest and achievement in the classroom.
All classrooms have wired and wireless Internet access.
ActivBoards, the most up-to-date classroom technology, are implemented at every grade level and in the science lab.
In September 2007, the computer lab was updated to include 20 iMac Intel computers, which can run both Macintosh and Windows operating systems.
The Mac OS X system, with its iLife software, camcorder, and digital camera, enables teachers and students to make slideshows, movies, podcasts, and web pages.
A Mobile computer lab, including 36 iBooks and 2 printers, brings the benefits of technology to classrooms of all grade levels throughout the year.