Click here for the Canvas Learning Management System link for students:  Canvas

OUR PRIMARY GOAL
The primary goal of the Greenville City School District is to facilitate maximum learning for every student.

Every instructional decision that we make is made with this goal in mind. We consider ourselves successful when we help every student achieve at a level that is equal to or more than his/her ability.

Our most important work takes place between teachers and students. Teaching is not synonymous with learning. If a student does not learn, then the teaching/learning cycle has not been completed. Teachers have not completed the task of teaching until learning takes place. It is the teachers’ responsibility to complete the learning cycle. Effective teachers ensure that every student learns. Greenville City Schools expects that all of our teachers will be effective, as measured by every student achieving at a level that meets or exceeds his/her ability.


ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

Our efforts to maximize learning for every child originate from the answers to our district’s essential questions. Teachers, principals, other administrators, and all staff focus on the following:

What do students need to know?

How will we know when they have learned it?

How will we respond when they don’t learn?

How will we deepen the learning for students who have already mastered essential knowledge and skills?


WHAT DO STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW?

Our continuous improvement efforts center on the needs of our students. We review state and national standards and align the Greenville instruction and assessments accordingly. We identify our students’ needs by analyzing who our students are and what they need to maximize their learning. We collect and analyze classroom teacher assessment information, standardized test data, classroom teacher observations, and survey information.

In the classroom, our teachers need to know each student and know individual learning needs of each student. We expect teachers to examine records, pre-test students, and consult with other teachers to analyze student learning related to each indicator, aligned with our pacing guides. To teach our students effectively, we believe our staff needs to continually monitor the learning of each student and their progress on the curriculum map.

In the classroom, our teachers are expected to design their teaching around the needs identified for each student. Our staff is expected to facilitate student learning, based on standards, at all levels. Specific instructional decisions should produce excellent student results and be based on educational research and teacher experience.

High expectations are a prerequisite for high achievement. It is essential that our staff expect the best performance from our students and then facilitate maximum achievement.


HOW WILL WE KNOW THAT THEY LEARNED IT?

We are committed to measuring the results of our instructional efforts. Helping students achieve is our top priority. The result of our instructional effort (each child’s achievement) is the final evaluation of our success or failure.

In the classroom, we expect our teachers to measure the results of our instruction every day in various ways. We want to measure short- and long-term learning for the class and the individual student. We assess student achievement with classroom teacher assessments, classroom teacher observations, and standardized test data.


HOW WILL WE RESPOND IF THEY DON’T LEARN?

We are committed to maximize learning for every student. If some students do not learn what they need to know, then we will re-teach the curriculum utilizing different ways until learning is achieved.

In the classroom, we are responsible to see that every student learns every map indicator at every level.

HOW WILL WE RESPOND IF THEY HAVE ALREADY MASTERED THE ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS?

We are committed to maximize learning for every student. If some students already know what they need to know, then we will extend their thinking utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy.

In the classroom, we are responsible to see that every student achieves at least one year’s growth in one year of instruction.


WE NEED TO CONSTANTLY IMPROVE

Former Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes once said that “football teams either get better or they get worse”. Organizations are no exception. Greenville City Schools is an exceptional school system that will continue to improve or it will get worse. We must constantly strive for excellent performance within our school system, measured by our ability to facilitate maximum learning for every student.

We expect our staff to help us to continue to create new standards of excellence. We want to become an even better school system than we are today. We will only improve by working together.

Too many organizations house everyone under one roof, but essentially serve as a group of independent contractors. Our work is simply too difficult for us to approach independently. We work together to ensure that when children are not learning, we seek out other professionals who can help us assess why this may be occurring, design lessons to remediate their achievement, and ensure we are facilitating maximum learning for every student.


WE ARE A SERVICE ORGANIZATION

Our sole purpose is to serve the educational needs of our community’s children. Without the students and their parents, there is no need for this school system. Our task is to provide the best, most cordial and prompt service that we can provide. Everyone – teacher, administrator, cook, custodian, maintenance, bus driver, or office staff – has the same task before us: serve the needs of our students and their parents. We want students and parents to feel welcome and to have their needs met when they call or come to our schools. The parents and students are the most important people in our schools. They are the reason we’re here.


THE SUCCESS FACTOR

The Greenville City School District community has many of the elements of a successful school system:

•motivated and able students who come to school believing that education is important;
•involved parents who make their child’s education one of their top priorities
•dedicated and talented staff that try to do what is best for kids; and,
•a supportive community that provides adequate resources to create conditions that maximize learning.

The degree of strength of each of these elements directly affects the overall strength of our school system. We believe that our partnership with parents is important and a priority for the success of our students.