Building the Foundation for Literacy Success at Glacier Creek Middle School

Great schools never stop asking how they can do better.

That mindset has long guided the educators at Glacier Creek Middle School in Cross Plains, Wisconsin, where collaboration, high expectations, and a commitment to continuous improvement shape everything from daily instruction to long-term planning.

"The thing that makes Glacier Creek special is that [we] have really high expectations for all students,” said Instructional Coach Holly Reardon. “And because of that, students rise to them."

As teachers and school leaders examined student data alongside emerging research on evidence-based literacy instruction, they saw an opportunity to strengthen reading outcomes for every learner — particularly multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and other students who were not yet experiencing the level of success the school believed was possible.

Rather than searching for a quick fix, Glacier Creek's educators spent years building a shared understanding of effective literacy instruction. They invested in professional learning that was aligned to research-based practices, and created a schoolwide implementation plan before selecting Savvas Learning Company’s myPerspectives® English Language Arts program as their high-quality instructional materials. It was critical that the curriculum they chose supported the instructional vision they had established.

The result wasn't simply a successful curriculum adoption. It was a transformation in teaching, collaboration, and student achievement that continues to shape literacy instruction across the school. This has led to significant academic gains by its students and the school receiving the highest possible rating of "Significantly Exceeds Expectations" on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s annual state report cards, after schoolwide reading proficiency grew by nearly 6 percentage points. 

The Challenge: Data Revealed That Too Many Students Were Being Left Behind

Glacier Creek Middle School serves approximately 1,000 students in grades 5–8 as part of Wisconsin's Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District. Educators at the school continually examine student data to identify opportunities for improvement and several years ago, they discovered two significant concerns.

Reading proficiency had been gradually declining, and longstanding achievement gaps showed that multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and students of color consistently weren't meeting growth expectations.

"We were noticing that our students with IEPs and our students of color were not growing," said Associate Principal Mary Kern. "It was the same thing that was happening year after year, and that really bothered us."

At the same time, emerging research around evidence-based literacy instruction challenged many long-held instructional beliefs.

"What we had to confront as a school district," Reardon explained, "was that our approach to literacy instruction was just not working for a significant number of our students."

Rather than immediately replacing instructional materials, Glacier Creek's leaders began by asking a more important question: How do we change teaching?

Building the Foundation Before Choosing a Curriculum

Long before a curriculum review began, Glacier Creek invested heavily in helping educators understand what research says about how students learn to read.

School leaders designed a multi-year professional learning plan centered on evidence-based literacy instruction. Together, teachers across every subject explored the practices that research consistently identifies as improving reading comprehension:

• Explicit vocabulary instruction
• Reading complex grade-level texts
• Building background knowledge
• Text-based writing
• Productive academic discussion

The work intentionally extended far beyond English language arts.

"Every teacher plays a vital role in a child's reading comprehension," Reardon said. "Every single moment of their day they're building knowledge, and every piece of knowledge from every content area is vital."

This shift transformed literacy from an ELA responsibility into a shared schoolwide commitment.

Teachers began replacing leveled texts with grade-level, complex texts supported by the use of strategic scaffolds. Vocabulary became explicit rather than incidental. Reading comprehension shifted from isolated reading strategies to deep engagement with challenging texts.

Choosing High-Quality Materials to Match High-Quality Teaching

With the bedrock of professional learning firmly established, the school transitioned to identifying instructional resources designed to activate the research-based strategies educators had mastered during their training.

For the group of teachers selected to review the possible new programs, the multi-year professional learning initiative cultivated a shared instructional vocabulary well before a curriculum review began. This foundational training empowered educators to recognize the specific resources that would most effectively support their diverse learners. When they explored Savvas Learning Company’s myPerspectives® English Language Arts program, it was immediately clear that the program aligned perfectly with their established vision.

"When we adopted the curriculum, teachers were looking through the daily routines and saying, 'Oh yeah, we've already talked about this. We've already been implementing this,'" said bilingual resource teacher Anna Penkert. "It was really a tool to bolster the foundation that we'd already been establishing."

Teachers found that the myPerspectives program empowered them to lead with greater assurance, providing streamlined access to high-quality resources rooted in evidence-based literacy practices.

"What the Savvas materials provided for our ELA teachers was this foundation to strategically and systematically implement all of these highly effective shifts in instruction," noted Reardon, the school’s instructional coach.

A Schoolwide Plan for Successful Implementation

Selecting the curriculum was only one step. Ensuring teachers could implement it successfully required an equally intentional plan.

Administrators remained deeply involved throughout implementation, attending weekly PLC meetings, visiting classrooms regularly, participating in professional learning, and helping remove obstacles teachers encountered along the way.

"The committed administrators really led the implementation," Reardon said. "They gave clear expectations, but they supported teachers every step of the way."

Instructional coaches worked alongside teachers every week, while educators received time dedicated entirely to collaborative planning during quarterly early release days.

Those extended planning sessions became essential.

Teachers unpacked upcoming units together, created common assessments and rubrics, anticipated student needs, and shared instructional ideas before instruction began.

"It wasn't just us on our own," said Allie Warner, a special education teacher. "They were in it with us."

The collaboration extended well beyond classroom teachers. Reading specialists, multilingual learner specialists, instructional coaches, and administrators all participated in planning conversations, ensuring every student had access to rigorous instruction.

"As a bilingual resource teacher, I attend all the planning meetings," Penkert explained. "We help with the scaffolds so multilingual learners are accessing the curriculum as well."

Throughout implementation, leaders maintained high expectations while trusting teachers' professional expertise.

Teachers were expected to faithfully implement core instructional routines while adapting scaffolds to meet the needs of the students in front of them.

"Our administration is very trusting that we are professionals," Penkert said. "We've been able to incorporate our own scaffolds that we know work well for multilingual learners."

The balance of consistency paired with professional judgment allowed implementation to remain both coherent and responsive.

Results That Extended Beyond Test Scores

When state assessment results arrived, Glacier Creek's leadership team immediately realized something remarkable had happened.

"We were literally jumping up and down," Reardon recalled. "We had just miraculous improvements."

Student outcomes reflected substantial gains across multiple groups.

• Black students increased reading proficiency by nearly 18 percentage points.
• Students with IEPs improved reading proficiency by 9 percentage points.
• Latino students increased proficiency by nearly 12 percentage points.
• Overall schoolwide reading proficiency grew by nearly 6 percentage points.

The success extended beyond state testing.

According to Reardon, the cohort that experienced the instructional changes now has the highest reading proficiency in the district, with ninth graders reaching approximately 91% proficiency on the district's STAR assessment.

Teachers also noticed meaningful changes inside classrooms.

Students became more confident tackling challenging texts, citing evidence, participating in discussions, and writing about increasingly complex ideas.

"I see kids who are much more able to go back into the text and find evidence," Warner said. "We can push them, and they can grow."

Penkert observed stronger collaboration among teachers as well.

"It feels like we're all working toward the same goal," she said. "We're able to have really rich discussions about what's working and how to better support students."

Looking back, Reardon believes the ingredients for success were surprisingly simple.

"You need nothing but a pencil, the core curriculum, a team of committed collaborative teachers," she said with a smile, "and a plan."