A Shared Vision for Student Success: How Guttenberg Aligned Instruction Across PreK–8

Guttenberg School District is unlike most school systems.

Located in Hudson County, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, the district serves fewer than 900 PreK-8 students under one roof in a building known as the Anna L. Klein School. Students spend nearly their entire elementary and middle school experience together, giving educators the opportunity to build lasting relationships.

"Guttenberg is a very tiny but mighty district," said Director of Curriculum Ilvea Cruz. "We are a very tight community. You walk around the town and everyone knows you … it's a home."

Despite the strong sense of community within Guttenberg's school, district leaders found that classroom instruction lacked coherence in daily instruction, which hindered student performance. This led them to launch a deliberate, multi-year initiative to strengthen alignment across grade levels, subjects, and instructional practices.

Their strategy centered on adopting a suite of literacy and mathematics solutions from Savvas Learning Company. These high-quality instructional materials utilize consistent routines, share a single digital platform, and establish a common language for students and teachers — all essential elements for a cohesive learning community. To maximize this investment, the district implemented sustained professional learning, collaborative planning, and the rigorous use of instructional data.

Today, that work is helping teachers provide a more connected learning experience while contributing to measurable gains in student achievement.

Building a Shared Instructional Vision

After reviewing their instructional processes to identify why student performance wasn’t where they wanted it to be, Principal Keith Petry and his team noted that, despite operating within a single PreK–8 building, instruction lacked sufficient continuity.

“Pre-COVID, our numbers were really good,” said Petry. “Post-COVID, though, things had fallen off and we had to really take a strong look at exactly what had happened.”

The first area of concern they identified was that, while elementary students followed a shared literacy curriculum, middle school instruction was often fragmented, relying on varied individual resources. This disconnect created inconsistencies in routines at a stage when students reached a critical stage in their development.

Furthermore, leadership sought to enhance support for their diverse student body. With nearly one-third of the population consisting of multilingual learners, educators required resources that upheld high academic standards while accommodating diverse learning needs.

"We needed to align our resources with the specific needs of our student population," explained Vice Principal Josie Perez.

District leaders recognized these challenges were connected. Establishing cross-grade consistency would not only facilitate a seamless progression of skills for students but also provide educators with a unified instructional framework for long-term growth.

Choosing Resources to Support the Vision

District leaders sought to identify resources that would best serve their diverse student body while ensuring academic consistency across all grade levels. They also aimed to balance this new structural cohesion with the professional autonomy teachers require to excel.

To address these priorities, Director of Curriculum Ilvea Cruz led a comprehensive, year-long evaluation process. By recruiting teacher leaders from every grade level to review various programs, compare instructional strengths, and align candidates with the district's long-term vision, the team ensured the selection process was collaborative and purposeful.

Ultimately, the district adopted myView Literacy for grades K–5 and myPerspectives English Language Arts for grades 6–8, both from Savvas Learning Company, to foster a connected literacy experience across the elementary and middle school levels. As implementation evolved, leaders expanded this approach, integrating SuccessMaker Reading, SuccessMaker Math, and enVision Mathematics for grades 5–8 to further unify instruction, strengthen intervention strategies, and support data-informed teaching.

For Mathematics Coach Diana Merse, the primary advantage was the establishment of a common instructional language. "When everybody uses the same resources, they are using the same language," she observed. "It flows better from grade level to grade level, and from teacher to teacher."

This consistency also facilitated deeper teacher collaboration, allowing educators to share insights more effectively while reducing the burden of creating lessons from scratch.

Simultaneously, district leaders remained committed to preserving the unique creativity and expertise teachers bring to their classrooms. "Teachers crave structure," Cruz explained, "but they also need a program that allows them the autonomy to integrate their own experiences, knowledge, and creativity."

This balance resonated with staff. Seventh-grade English language arts teacher Maria Vizcaino noted, "Now we have this routine for reading; before, we didn't really have that framework." For newer educators, this shared instructional approach provided essential confidence. As third-grade teacher Isabella Lundquist shared, "As a first-year teacher, it was so nice to have everything in one place. I don't need to worry about pulling various phonics and writing resources, it’s all right there for me."

Supporting Teachers Through the Transition

District leaders knew that creating a more connected learning experience would depend on how well teachers were supported throughout implementation.

Professional learning began with administrators before teachers ever entered training. School leaders first developed a shared understanding of the district's instructional vision, then worked alongside teachers throughout implementation. Rather than relying on one-time workshops, Guttenberg committed to ongoing coaching, classroom modeling, learning labs, collaborative planning, and weekly professional learning communities.

"Teacher buy-in is extremely important," Petry said. "We needed to have our teachers understand that this is the direction in which we ultimately will have to shift, and then showing our teachers also that they're supported."

The district also resisted the temptation to implement everything at once.

Instead, leaders intentionally phased in the work. The first year focused on establishing consistent instructional routines. Once teachers became comfortable, the district shifted its attention to small-group instruction, intervention strategies, and making deeper use of the available resources.

"Here's what we're going to do and we're going to take it slow," Perez said. "Kind of a warm-up lap before we go for the full marathon."

Teachers say that deliberate approach made the transition feel manageable.

"I love having the routine," said third-grade teacher Sarah DiMaulo-Milk. "It's nice knowing what I'm doing three weeks away from now...having that structure is great for us just as much as it is for the kids."

Making Data Part of Everyday Instruction

As Guttenberg strengthened instructional consistency across classrooms, district leaders also wanted to ensure teachers had meaningful opportunities to reflect on student learning through the data they collected through various assessments. It was a challenge, however, making time to analyze that data together and use it to guide classroom decisions.

"For years we talked about data informing instruction. We say it all the time," Petry said. "Now it's no longer just talk, it's action."

Today, teachers regularly examine benchmark assessments, SuccessMaker reports, and classroom performance during professional learning communities. Those conversations help identify student needs, monitor growth over time, and determine where additional support is needed.

The district also works with a Savvas customer success manager to help administrators and teachers interpret assessment data and identify instructional priorities.

When it comes to data, the value isn't simply having access to more information, it's knowing how to act on it, according to Merse, the mathematics coach.

"[Savvas] provides the data to us, but it's up to us to actually use it," she said. "We're using it in those extra periods that we have. It's been very productive."

Teachers say those collaborative conversations have made data far more practical.

"It's hard for teachers to have the time to meaningfully look at data," third-grade teacher Isabella Lundquist said. "But the opportunities that we've been given…[Savvas specialists] tell us exactly what it means, exactly what we can tangibly do with it in the classroom."

Student data has become part of the district's everyday instructional conversations, helping teachers respond more quickly to student needs while reinforcing the district's shared instructional approach.