Clayton Ridge Pros And Cons

The Clayton Ridge Community School District is located in beautiful and scenic northeast Iowa along the Mississippi River and Lock and Dam #10. The PreK-3rd grades and high school are located in Guttenberg, and the 4th-7th grades are located in Garnavillo, which is located about 10 miles north. Clayton Ridge was formed in 2005 when two school districts (Guttenberg CSD and Garnavillo CSD) decided it was in the best interest of the students, staff, and communities to combine efforts (2017). Overall, the merge has been a positive experience for everyone involved. Clayton Ridge Community School District has an enrollment of approximately 625 students (PreK-12), whom are mostly Caucasian (97%). The students are approximately 50% male and 50%

Approximately 85% of students are currently proficient in reading and math. If, after analyzing pertinent data, individual students were non-proficient or “on the bubble,” swift interventions were implemented, and the majority of these students have shown vast gains in those scores. We began specific interventions two years ago. In the elementary and middle school, non-proficient students receive the common curriculum in their homerooms, and then are redirected to different staff members for remedial aid. In the high school, specific classes were created for interventions in reading and math such as: Short Stories, Extended Learning, Algebra Concepts, and Geometry Concepts. This has been very beneficial to students, as they are receiving curriculum specifically designed for their learning abilities and

The difficulty is that these groups are constantly changing, so a feeling of stability is not always present. Currently, the high school is divided into three PLCs (“STEAM,” Humanities, and CTE). As a music educator, I am part of the “STEAM” group. I do believe there are benefits to participating in this particular cohort, but ideally a PLC of specifically “The Arts” would exist in our district. By being encouraged with others in our specific subject area we can invest in innovative initiatives that support instructional practice, research, and leadership in arts education. (National Art Education Association,