Grant Line Elementary

Grant Line Elementary School is located on the north side of the city of New Albany, Indiana. Most of our children live in recently built subdivisions off Grant Line and Charlestown Roads, north of Interstate 265. Our school was opened in 1957 with additions made in 1967, 1986, and 2006. Renovations in 2006-2007 included a new office, library, cafeteria, and gymnasium. Also added were a music room, art room, computer lab, and three additional classrooms. A second computer lab was added in 2010 and a third computer lab in the summer of 2012. The school has experienced rapid growth because of the many new subdivisions being built in our area in the past ten years. In 1990 our enrollment exceeded 625 students. Because of overcrowding, it has been necessary to redistrict three times. One hundred students have gone to Mt. Tabor Elementary and 50 were sent to Slate Run Elementary in recent years. In 2004 our sixth graders were moved to Scribner Middle School. In the summer of 2010, the entire New Albany Floyd-County Consolidated School Corporation was completely re-organized and redistricted.

The reorganization closed four elementary schools and sent hundreds of our students to various other elementary schools in the district. This included about a hundred students at Grant Line. In addition, the fifth grade students were sent to Scribner Middle School. The changes brought 125 students to Grant Line Elementary from Mount Tabor and Slate Run Elementary. The summer of 2010 re-organization brought to Grant Line Elementary two new teachers from Pine View Elementary along with a new building principal. In addition, three teachers within the building changed grade levels. After twenty years, Grant Line Elementary had a new building leader starting in the fall of 2010. It was only the second time in the school’s history the building leadership was changed. Raymond Bruce Jr. was the principal at Grant Line Elementary from 1957 – 1990. In 1990, Leland Lang became the principal through the summer of 2010. The re-organization consisted of rapid growth and change throughout the school corporation. The changes were initiated under the direction of a new superintendent, Dr. Bruce Hibbard, starting in the fall of 2009. All of this change was done in an effort to keep our school’s enrollment just under 600 as well as implement new curricular changes in both the New Albany-Floyd Consolidated School Corporation and Grant Line Elementary. The efforts to date have worked; Grant Line Elementary currently has an enrollment just under 600 students and is working towards positive changes. In addition, achievement scores are higher than they have been in a number of years. Finally, in the summer of 2016 Grant Line added an addition special services program. The Deaf/ Hard of Hearing program was brought to Grant Line after many years at Mount Tabor Elementary. The program as of now includes three Deaf/ Hard of Hearing interpreters, one Deaf/ Hard of Hearing teacher, and four students. This program joined an ever growing special education population.

Description and location of the curriculum
The content taught is based on the Indiana College and Career Readiness Standards. Pacing guides have been developed.

Professional Learning Community
Grant Line Elementary staff is a Professional Learning Community and continues to grow in all areas of a PLC at work. The team uses data to guide their instruction and acceleration time to support learning. We believe that all students’ learning should be accelerated forward. In addition, teachers are using data to drive all of their instruction. The staff collectively is using the four essential questions of a Professional Learning Community to guide what they teach and when they teach it based on data driven decisions. The four essential questions are as follows:

1. What is it we want all students to learn?
2. How will we know when each student has learned?
3. How will we respond when students experience initial difficulty in their learning?
4. How will we enrich and extend the learning for students who are already proficient?