Twin Cities German Immersion School
School performance rating
About
Languages spoken by school staff
English, German
Extra programming
Music, Sports, STEM/STEAM Clubs, Visual Arts, Library Club & various Enrichment Activities
Extracurriculars Offered:
Library Club, Music, STEM/STEAM Clubs, Sports, Visual Arts Clubs
Uniforms
Students who attend Twin Cities German Immersion School are not required to wear uniforms.
How to enroll
To enroll, contact Nicole Crashell at (651) 492-7106 or enrollment@tcgis.org.
Students at this school
Teachers at this school
Average student to teacher ratio
Academics
99%
Academic programming
TCGIS is a language-immersion school, which means German is the primary language of instruction in grades K-8. TCGIS teaches Minnesota State Standards in German, so students are learning both the language & the same subject matter that their peers across Minnesota learn. With exceptions for English class beginning in 3rd grade, & Math beginning in 5th grade, students meet their learning targets using German, learning language through the content. TCGIS provides additional support for students who don’t speak German yet, as well as English-language support for students who speak a language other than English at home.
Teachers & support staff are a combination of native German speakers, non-native, fluent German speakers, & German-language learners. A robust intern program integrates 15-20 native-German-speaker student teachers into all grade levels & subject areas each school year.
Academic Programs Offered:
Language Immersion
Special education programming
TCGIS is committed to providing a Free & Appropriate (FAPE) education to all students who receive Special Education Services. At TCGIS, general & special education teachers collaborate to ensure that students with an IEP have as much access to the general education curriculum (taught in German) with the necessary accommodations & modifications to be successful. It is important to note that students with disabilities are general education students first.
Special Education is instruction & services that are offered to meet the needs of a student with a disability. It is important to understand that Special Education is a service–not a place. These services & supports are provided through the development of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), which addresses the student’s unique needs related to his/her disability.
English language learner programming
TCGIS has a licensed ELD teacher to work with EL students at 0.2 FTE (Heidi Scholtz). Current family background languages include: German, Spanish, Amharic, & Japanese. Students who are new to the school have a Family Intake Survey on file. The family indicates what language(s) are used at home & what the student’s preferred language is. Once TCGIS identifies the language profile & ELL interest, they make contact with the family. After that, the student meets with the EL teacher to identify language needs & is administered the WIDA ACCESS Screener. Generally services are pull-out in collaboration with the classroom teacher(s) along with some online resources for students to use in their classroom. The curriculum is tailored to each student’s needs.
Proficiency
5 out of 10 students are performing math at grade level
7 out of 10 students read at grade level
Progress
7 out of 10 students are progressing to graduate on grade-level in math
8 out of 10 students are progressing to graduate on grade-level in reading
Climate
62%
School values
Twin Cities German Immersion School’s (TCGIS) values are: Curiosity, Kindness, Challenge & Support, Community, & Intercultural Engagement.
The school sees these values in the TCGIS Pädagogisches Konzept–their educational philosophy & structure, which is the result of years of responsive, adaptive, & innovative educational work in German immersion. The Pädagogisches Konzept is rooted in their mission of “Innovative education of the whole child through German immersion.” TCGIS uses best teaching practices & research-based instructional strategies to prepare children for world citizenship, prioritizing social-emotional & academic learning equally.
TCGIS values seeing the world through the lens of another language & culture. Students learn German, specifically, because it opens doors & connects them to a culture that innovates & excels in science, art, politics, economics, & education. TCGIS’s students also benefit from the cultural value placed on developing self-reliance & curiosity for life-long-learning in German-speaking countries.
Discipline Policy
Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS), Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), & Equity & Belonging cut across all grade levels & subject areas. These programs directly support the school’s mission to develop the whole child at TCGIS.
PBIS is a school-wide program to help standardize & communicate behavior expectations to students & adults while at school. PBIS aims to reinforce desirable positive behaviors that support school-wide expectations of: sicherheit (safety), verantwortung (responsibility), respekt (respect), & freundlichkeit (kindness).
Increasing student understanding of SEL (social-emotional learning) helps kids to build stronger friendships, increase school success, & better understand themselves.
Teacher retention
Attendance
Discipline
Equity
78%
Equity vision
TCGIS believes that all students should have access to an innovative education of the whole child through German immersion & that students’ experience & education are dramatically enhanced by multi-dimensional diversity in the school community.
Their vision is “Andere hören, andere sehen, weltoffen denken und handeln” (Educating multilingual world citizens who listen to others, see others, & think & act with an open mind). The TCGIS community (staff, teachers, students, parents, & board members) uphold the school’s established value framework–Curiosity, Kindness, Challenge & Support, Community, & Intercultural Engagement–& will champion diversity, belonging, inclusivity, & equitable learning at TCGIS.
See their full Statement on Equity, Diversity & Belonging at: tcgis.org.
