Teaching & Learning

The Glendale-River Hills School District strives to create a supportive learning environment that inspires all students to strive for excellence and success.

The Department of Teaching and Learning is tasked to lead and support increased student achievement. This is accomplished through collaborative, dedicated work with high-quality educators and families to best meet students' learning needs and goals.

The Department of Teaching and Learning oversees:

Assessment

Assessment is simply a way to provide results to make informed decisions. It is a source of gathering information about a student so teachers can plan. Most assessments fall into one of two general categories: assessments of learning and assessments for learning. Both categories have their place in education and in the classroom.

Assessments of learning (summative) happen after learning is supposed to have occurred to determine skill and concept mastery. These assessments provide teachers an overview of cumulative skills and knowledge that students have gained over a long period of time. Unit post-tests as well as final learning projects and presentations are some examples of how assessments of learning are used within Glendale-River Hills School District.

Assessments for learning (formative) happen frequently, while learning is still underway. These are assessments that we conduct throughout teaching and learning to diagnose student needs, plan our next steps in instruction, provide students with feedback they can use to improve the quality of their work, and help students be in control of their journey to success. Teacher observations, pre-tests, draft compositions, self evaluations, and homework are some examples of how assessments for learning are used within Glendale-River Hills School District.

Screening Assessments

Glendale-River Hills uses Star Enterprise Assessments as a screening tool for grades K5-8th to help understand student growth and achievement around grade level standards as students progress through the school year. This information is used to make instructional decisions to both support and challenge students academically.

Star assessments are administered three times every school year: once in the fall, once in the winter, and again in the spring. The Star Enterprise Assessments consist of Star Early Literacy, Star Reading, and Star Math. All three Star assessments are computer-adaptive tests that measure student achievement on subject skills.

Additional information in progress

Academic Standards

Curriculum

The district curriculum is in a constant state of revision to reflect changes in our society, the requirements of the state, and, most importantly, the needs of the students we serve.

In our curriculum review process, we identify the Essential Learning Targets that each course is designed to help students attain. All classes and learning targets are aligned to national and state standards, state assessments, and local community expectations.

If you have any general questions about curriculum, please contact Jennica Stick at jennica.stick@gdrh.org or (414) 351-7170, ext. 2106.

If you have questions about specific learning assignments or assessments, please contact your child's teacher directly.

Educational Technology & Library Media

English Learner Services

Glendale-River Hills School District is dedicated to educating students who are linguistically diverse, also known as English Learners (ELs). By supporting the students in their goals to read, write, speak, and listen to English proficiently, Glendale-River Hills enables English Learners to be successful in their regular education classrooms, the school community, and the community at large.

English Learner specialists work in collaboration with general education teachers to:

develop students' academic language by providing instructional materials and vocabulary-rich learning environments
design units and lessons to meet the needs of EL students, using the framework of district benchmarks and WIDA standards
monitor student proficiency on grade level expectations and give feedback to students and families
modify and accommodate academic assessments as needed, to best meet student need and reflect what students have learned
provide an environment that promotes, supports, and values cultural identity

Fun fact: At Glendale-River Hills School District, our families collectively speak over 20 languages!

EL Program Plan (Nicolet Area Partner Schools, 2023)
What is an EL Student?
English Learners in Wisconsin
What is Language Testing?

ACCESS Testing

ACCESS is a state-wide assessment that provides sufficient data to show English language proficiency of EL students in each of the four domains areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The test is an opportunity for students to demonstrate all the ways that they understand and communicate in English, therefore it is not necessary for students to study for this assessment. Students with significant cognitive abilities take the Alternate ACCESS assessment.

ACCESS is taken once every school year, from December to February. When students reach the highest levels of language proficiency, they no longer need language support services.

WIDA

The ACCESS assessment is a tool developed by the WIDA (World-class Instructional Design and Assessment) Consortium. The scores from ACCESS and the Alternate ACCESS meet Wisconsin's federal and state reporting requirements, and provide a standardized measure of English Language Proficiency.

In addition to the standards and curriculum that guide general instruction at Glendale-River Hills School District, our English Learner specialists also utilize the WIDA English Language Development Standards.

Intro to WIDA Standards

English Learner Specialist

Sara Kramer

sara.kramer@gdrh.org

(414) 351-7190, ext. 2048

Grading & Report Cards

Update in progress

Understanding Your Student's Report Card

The purpose of the report card is to communicate progress on priority standards in each content and specialist area. While there are many skills and concepts taught each day, week, month and trimester, the report card provides a summative level of performance of each priority standard. Caregivers and students will receive feedback on formative assessments (projects, tasks, classwork) as they happen to ensure that each student’s performance level is not a surprise.

K4 follows a semester schedule in which report cards are administered twice per year (January and June)
K5-8th grade follows a trimester schedule in which report cards are administered thrice per year (November, March, June)

Viewing Report Cards on Infinite Campus

Intervention & Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

Talent Development

Glendale-River Hills School District provides experiences for scholars to unlock their potential and develop the skills necessary for life readiness through academic enrichment, leadership opportunities, and creativity. Through the specific curriculum used by GDRH, students will be able to meet and exceed the various state standards, which develops and enhances critical thinking skills, problem-solving and transferable knowledge.

There have been recent, significant adjustments to Talent Development. The most crucial change is transforming from a Talent Development program to integrating Talent Development into our daily instruction system. This is a shift for teachers and district leaders as we become more inclusive in our practices to ensure we are providing differentiated instructional practices that meet the needs of our diverse student population.

Talent Development Family Handbook
Identification Process (update in progress)
Middle School Math Acceleration Process (update in progress)
Gifted & Talented Education in Wisconsin

Talent Development Coordinator

Lalitha Murali

lalitha.murali@gdrh.org

(414) 351-7160, ext. 2120

In addition to the areas listed above, the Department of Teaching and Learning oversees instruction, professional development, as well as the new-to-teaching mentoring program.

Director of Teaching & Learning

Jennica Stick

jennica.stick@gdrh.org

(414) 351-7170, ext. 2106

Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and the Office of Teaching & Learning

Diana Knight

diana.knight@gdrh.org

(414) 351-7170 ext. 2104

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