Academics

Village Glen School offers comprehensive elementary, middle, and high school programs for students with communicative and social differences. An innovative and integrated curriculum, coupled with small class size and high teacher to student ratio, enables students to achieve academic success.

The fundamental areas of learning include:

• Academic achievement and enrichment
• College preparatory, Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses
• Critical thinking, reasoning, problem solving for real-world applications
• Organization, study and test-taking skills
• Oral presentations, debate and public speaking
• A focus on project-based learning
• Development of self-reliance and self-advocacy
• Creativity and self-expression
• Social skills instruction

Learning comes alive through classroom and small group participatory, interactive, hands-on, multisensory instruction in a stimulating and motivating environment. Village Glen offers a cutting-edge, integrative teaching strategy – STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math). At Village Glen, students are given the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential, both socially and academically

View Village Glen SARC 2022-2023

Technology

Village Glen is committed to providing our students with a state-of-the-art campus outfitted with a wide range of technology enrichment. Students of Village Glen both benefit from and rely on technology more than their typical peers. 

Smart Boards

Smart Boards are interactive whiteboards that allow teachers to deliver dynamic lessons, access an unlimited variety of instructional material and online visual media, write notes and save and electronically send work completed in class. Smart Boards stimulate the visual learning and interest of elementary students to high school seniors and encourage natural collaboration between teachers and students.

Innovation Lab

Students at all grade levels have scheduled sessions in the campus Innovation Lab that is equipped with a 3D printer, electronics and materials for project-based learning. Whether it be building a robot or preparing props for an Odyssey problem, the Innovation Lab is always a place where students can explore and create.

Mac Lab and PC Carts

The computer lab at Village Glen is used by all grade levels and is a valuable resource for teaching crucial skills necessary for our students to succeed in today’s information-based society. Access to PC carts is available to each classroom on a daily schedule.  In addition to a variety of technology-based curriculum options, students are offered numerous learning opportunities through the use of several innovative and practical software programs. The available programs include: Teach Town, Inspiration 9, Write Out Loud, Read Out Loud, Solo Sign In, Co-Writer 6, Draft Builder 6, and Kidspiration. We also offer several of these programs for families to use at home to assist with the homework process.

iPads

iPads are utilized by Village Glen students who may find it easier to access information digitally. The iPads provide a visual interface that many of our students find educationally preferable. They are equipped with specific software to enhance the learning experience, as well as aid in the comprehension of concepts.

Gradelink

Village Glen utilizes Gradelink, a schoolwide management system that integrates classroom management, teaching tools and school-home communication. Through the use of Gradelink, parents and students are readily able to access grades and assignments in order to track and monitor student progress.

Social Skills

Village Glen School believes that students show the most growth when they are provided with a safe, predictable, and structured learning environment. The Village Glen social skills philosophy is based on the belief that it is important to strengthen skills by highlighting what a student is doing correctly, rather than focus on inappropriate behaviors. Throughout the day at Village Glen, students are reinforced with immediate, specific, and positive feedback each time they demonstrate appropriate behaviors or approximations thereof.

Students at Village Glen School are taught social skills on a daily basis utilizing the “Super Skills” program by Judith Coucouvanis as its core curriculum for all grades kindergarten through 12^th. This curriculum is supported by Brenda Smith Miles (author of “The Hidden Curriculum”) and reflects all the key concepts reflected in Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking curriculum, the Boystown model, and Skill Streaming. The curriculum focuses on 4 areas of skills necessary for social success:

• Fundamental skills
• Social initiation skills
• Getting along with others
• Social response skills

The Super Skills’ “Steps to Success” are published each week in the campus newsletter that goes home to each family every Friday. In this way, families are able to practice and reinforce the same skills teachers are working on during the week. Teachers use a developmental approach and may encourage students who move at a faster pace to serve as role models or peer mentors to the other students.

In addition to the Super Skills curriculum, the Village Glen Middle School includes featured elements of the “PEERS Program” by Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson and Dr. Fred Frankel. The PEERS Program is a school-based, teacher-facilitated social skills training model for teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Student Life

Village Glen believes that a good education involves much more than just providing a strong academic program.  Our students learn by doing, and at Village Glen students are given the opportunity to participate in various non-academic activities which support and enrich their classroom experiences. Some of these activities include field trips, choir, athletics, the arts, Student Council, Odyssey, First Robotics Competition, College Fridays, Participation in a community art show and community service. These activities, combined with the academic program of Village Glen, provide our students with the tools to develop into well-rounded young people who are ready for life beyond Village Glen School.

Clubs

Village Glen clubs provide students with an opportunity to meet and practice social skills with other students from all grade levels who share common specific interests. To ensure student enthusiasm, students and staff determine what clubs are established each semester based on their interests. Clubs have included Chess Club, Math Club, Anime Club, Glee Club, Art Club, Improv Club, Guitar Club, Documentaries, Odyssey of the Mind, Cheer, Basketball, Cooking, Dance and many more.

Student Council

Village Glen is proud to offer a dynamic, empowering Student Council experience for the high school student body. Students taking part in Student Council at Village Glen gain many benefits from their participation including deepening their sense of duty to their community, developing a voice as a citizen, learning to work in a group dynamic within a real life model, and advocating for themselves and others. Election of officers and grade-level representatives are held in November each year.

Dances

School dances are an important component of a student’s experience during his or her middle school and high school years. There are three regularly scheduled school dances during the school year – one in October/November, one in February and one in May. In addition to the three scheduled campus school dances, there is also a Junior/Senior Prom which is typically held off campus, and a Winter Formal held on campus. The dances are held in the evening with a DJ who is familiar with our population, as well as knowledgeable about appropriate songs for a school function. These dances provide students with an opportunity to interact socially in an age-typical event and an atmosphere which is safe and nurturing.

Environmental Education Trips

Some of Village Glen students’ favorite memories come from the Elementary, Middle and High School trips that they take each Spring semester.  At Village Glen we believe that the travel experience brings to life the learning process for all students. Students gain a deeper understanding of the world around them by observing, seeing and interacting with it. These trips also provide our students with the opportunity to practice social skills and be independent in a safe and secure place away from home, while having a wonderful time!

Community Service

For more than a decade, Village Glen students in grades K-12 have partnered with the Milken Family Foundation to be of service to their community. Over the course of a school year teachers and students embark on a mission of service where each classroom identifies an area of need or way that they can contribute, locally, nationally or internationally. Throughout this year-long partnership, students develop a sense of service to their community, begin to effect change, and develop a sense of ownership of the world around them.

Athletics

Village Glen students are offered specially designed physical education on a daily basis. We introduce playground activities to students in small groups. This allows students to explore and practice various movement concepts, sports-related skills, cooperative games and social skills. Physical education can play a big part in the development of our students not only physically, but socially as well. All students use a variety of age-appropriate equipment so that they have multiple opportunities to practice skills. As skill level develops, students begin to understand the relationship between correct technique and practice. Students learn team games such as basketball, volleyball, baseball, football, tennis and hockey.

Village Glen High School is a member of the California Interscholastic Foundation (CIF) that competes with other schools in Basketball, Track and Field, Flag Football, Softball, Soccer, Volleyball and Beach Volleyball. CIF is the intramural regional league for many schools located in the Los Angeles area. Students can earn credits while competing on one of these teams. These sports activities not only involve the team participants but also engages the entire school leading to tremendous school pride and spirit. Nothing on campus matches the enthusiasm that is brought to the school by having a basketball game on campus. Go Knights & Eagles!

College Counseling

Village Glen High School is a premier learning environment which fosters academic excellence along with social growth and development. Throughout their course of study in Village Glen, students are prepared to enter various post-graduation settings, including community college or a four-year university. A college counselor works with all high school students and their families to ensure a smooth transition between high school and post-graduation studies. College and Career Nights with representatives from colleges and universities occur each year, as well as organized college tours.

Village Glen School also provides the following supports and activities for students 14 years of age and older:

1. College Counseling
2. Career Pathways Classes
3. Life Skills Classes
4. Individual Transition Plans
5. Workability Program
6. Concurrent Enrollment with Neighboring Colleges – 11^thand 12^th grade
7. Dual Enrollment with Student’s Home High School – Grades 9 through 12

Thank you for your interest in the Village Glen School. We encourage you to attend our Open Houses.

For dates and times and to RSVP, please contact the Admissions Office at admissions@thehelpgroup.org or 877-943-5747.

Locations

Village Glen – Sherman Oaks
13130 Burbank Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91401

Village Glen – Culver City

4160 Grand View Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

Administration

Pamela Clark, MA
VP of School Administration

Kalee Miller
Head of School

Jason Petro
Dean of Students

Laurie Stephens
Village Glen School Psychologist

The Help Group admits students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion and of either sex.
* Certified by the California State Department of Education