Support Services
Committed to fostering the success of all learners.
We value all aspects of student development, including personal, social and academic growth. The goal of Student Support Services department is to equip students, parents, and school staff with the skills, tools, and services necessary to foster the environment needed for students to find personal success.
Coaches/Title I interventionists/Reading Recovery
Coaches/Interventionists work in collaboration with classroom teachers to support students' academic needs.
Reading Recovery is a program for first graders who are in need of extra help in learning to read and write. Selected students have 30 minutes of individual instruction each day. Reading Recovery teachers have received special training to help children who are beginning readers and writers. The components of the Reading Recovery program are: fluent reading and writing, letter and word recognition, hearing sounds in words, and reading and writing strategies. Parent involvement with the program is critical. Parents must help their children with homework each night.
Title I is a funding source that provides resources for schools to assist in meeting students’ needs. Assessment data is used to determine student needs and intervention services.
Click here for more information on Title I and how to get involved.

Beth Determan
Title I Teacher
Academic Coach Teacher
Glacier Hills Elementary
School:
651-683-6969 x82429

Kathryn Haave
MTSS Multi Tiered System of S
MTSS Multi Tiered System of S
East Lake Elementary, Glacier Hills Elementary
School:
651-683-6969 x82486

Kristi Paulson
Reading Recovery Teacher
Reading Recovery/Academic Coach
Glacier Hills Elementary
School:
651-683-6969 x84352

Katie Kirley
Sp Ed Tier 3 Intervention Lead
Glacier Hills Elementary, Oak Ridge Elementary
School:
651-683-6969 x82407
English Learner
The English Learner (EL) program is for the instruction of students of limited English proficiency in the following English language skills: reading, writing, listening and/or speaking. The students we serve have first learned a language other than English and/or come from a home where another language is often spoken.
The EL students at Glacier Hills Elementary School of Arts & Science represent a wide variety of language groups. We have students whose first languages include Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Spanish, Somali, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish and Vietnamese. In the 2020-21 school year, there are 34 different home languages represented at our school!
Gifted and Talent Development
Gifted and talented children are those students with outstanding abilities and capable of higher performance when compared to others of similar age, experience and environment. They have significantly different educational needs from their peers and require educational differentiation as a regular part of their school day to ensure they reach their full potential.
Learn more about Gifted and Talent Development in District 196:
These services are available at all elementary and middle schools.
Gifted and Talent Development contacts by school/location.
- Parent Resources
- Gifted and Talented Advisory Council (GTAC)
- Service Model
- Gifted Identification
- Grades 3-5 Cluster Classrooms
- Acceleration
Parent Resources
Gifted and Talented Advisory Council (GTAC)
Join our Gifted and Talented Advisory Council and help shape the curriculum for future students. Visit our Gifted and Talented Advisory Council (GTAC) page for meeting information, dates and times.
Service Model
District 196 Gifted and Talent Development Service Model Goals:
- Enrich, enhance, and extend core classroom curriculum and instruction within the literacy workshop and math workshop blocks. Staff utilize critical and creative thinking strategies, problem-solving and inquiry to help students become independent investigators.
- Engage and empower learners across the full day
- Equip PLC (professional learning community) teams and individual teachers
- Empower collaboration among classroom teachers, GTD teachers, content coaches, parents, students, and community
Flexible and Fluid Service Model:
District 196 elementary schools cluster identified gifted students in grades 3-5. GTD specialists support cluster classroom teachers with differentiating for advanced academic needs in core instruction and in guided groups.
Students whose advanced academics needs extend beyond what can be provided in a cluster classroom may be referred for single subject and/or grade level acceleration.
Gifted and talent development services in District 196 is an inclusive, flexible and fluid model. A student does not need to be formally identified as gifted to receive support for their high academic and learning ability needs. GTD services are provided through flexible grouping based on formative and ongoing assessment of student learning in the classroom based on the content and standards being presented at that time.
Gifted Identification
Screening and identification process
District 196 conducts universal screening at a district level to identify students who are demonstrating outstanding abilities and are capable of higher performance when compared to their grade level peers at their school. We use multiple criteria for a strengths-based identification in math and reading.
We screen and identify students annually in grades 2 and 4.
- All second and fourth grade students enrolled in District 196 are universally screened.
- Students in grade 5 who are not previously identified but are demonstrating outstanding abilities may be identified by school request following a data collection process.
The identification process begins in October and ends in March. There is no screening available outside of this process. Notification will be mailed to the families of newly identified students in March. An appeals process will be available. Information about the appeals process will be posted in March.
Currently enrolled students
Gifted identification for currently enrolled District 196 students considers the following multiple measure criteria:
- Assessment of cognitive abilities (Cognitive Abilities Test- CogAT 8)
- Assessment of academic achievement in reading and math (MAP)
- HOPE rating scale (Having Opportunities Promotes Excellence - HOPE)
- All data is locally normed for each school and grade level. District 196 uses local norms for identification.
If a student has been identified in another district or state, contact Teri Emery, K-8 GTD District Program Facilitator, Teri.Emery@district196.org, for information about documentation for identification in District 196.
Grades 3-5 Cluster Classrooms
A cluster classroom is a regular grade level class with a small group of identified GTD students together in the same class. The cluster classroom teacher receives additional training to meet the learning needs of advanced students in math and/or literacy in their class. GTD cluster classrooms in 3rd-5th grades is an efficient way to provide gifted education strategies to students throughout the school day.
Every District 196 elementary school has cluster classrooms in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. Many schools have more than one GTD cluster classroom in each grade level. Cluster classrooms in each grade level have the same number of students as all other classes in the grade level. A cluster class includes identified GTD students and students with a broad range of abilities. The number of identified GTD students in a cluster class varies. It is recommended that the number of identified GTD students in a cluster class not exceed one fourth of the class.
GTD cluster classrooms seem like the other classrooms in the grade level to the students and to an outside observer. Each elementary school principal selects the GTD cluster teachers in each grade level on a yearly basis.
Gifted and Talent Development services in District 196 are curriculum based. The curriculum for students in the cluster classroom is the district's core curriculum for the grade level based on our state’s academic standards. The curriculum is differentiated to meet the needs of all learners. A primary objective of the cluster classroom is to place greater emphasis on high level abilities and go deeper with the curriculum with depth and complexity.
The role of the elementary GTD specialist is to support cluster classrooms by working closely with the classroom teacher. GTD specialists provide instructional support within the classroom environment based on classroom and student needs, as well as offering enrichment opportunities that are available to all students in their school community.
Acceleration
District 196 recognizes that students with superior abilities may have their needs best served by grade acceleration or single subject acceleration. Grade acceleration or single subject acceleration will be recommended only after other appropriate program changes or modifications have been deemed inadequate to meet the academic and emotional needs of the student in the student's current grade placement. This determination will be made by an assessment team.
Grade Acceleration (grade skipping)
Single Subject Acceleration
- Single Subject Acceleration of Students in Grades K-8
- Request for Consideration of Single Subject Acceleration Form
Early Entrance to Kindergarten
Dianne Dorle
Gifted and Talent Development Teacher
Glacier Hills Elementary
Dianne.Dorle@district196.org
School: 651-683-6969 x85544