Student Support Services

We aim to support and celebrate the unique gifts and abilities of each learner. Our commitment to nurturing the academic, social, and spiritual growth of each student is reflected in our Student Support Services. These services are designed to meet individual goals by providing the specific support a student needs to thrive. Student Support Services includes comprehensive programming—Educational Support Services, Inclusion Services, and services for students with academic talents—helping each learner reach their full academic and social potential.

GIrl and Dog — Our Vision

The Support Services staff at Grand Rapids Christian Schools aims to collaborate with staff and parents to offer tailored support and instruction to students with unique learning needs. Our goal is to help each student grow spiritually, academically, and socially as a servant of Christ.

OUR COMMITMENTS

The Support Services staff at Grand Rapids Christian Schools is committed to the following:

Staying knowledgeable, highly educated, and recognized as experts by parents, colleagues, and the broader community.
Approaching our work with vibrancy and dedication as a unified team of coordinators and paraprofessionals, going above and beyond to provide the best possible educational experience for each learner.
Striving to be Christian servant leaders who nurture the faith development of each student.
Creating an environment that cares for the whole child—where each learner feels safe, valued, and accepted.
Providing effective, targeted instruction that meets the unique needs of each learner, helping them grow into self-directed Christian servants.
Supporting frequent and meaningful communication among parents, staff, and students, intentionally building relationships that foster strong, collaborative partnerships.

STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES AT GRAND RAPIDS CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

Academic Interventions

We recognize that each student is unique, with their own strengths and challenges, and we offer tailored support to address individual needs. By understanding each student’s situation, we can customize our teaching to provide targeted intervention, remediation, and accommodation as needed. Our education and support teams work together to create a multi-tiered system of support that provides early, effective intervention for students who are having difficulty meeting academic benchmarks. We use data to identify students who need help, provide appropriate interventions, and closely monitor progress.

Based on a student’s response to these targeted interventions, they may be formally evaluated to determine whether a specific learning or other disability is present. If so, they receive further assistance, increased support, remediation, and accommodations.

Each of our five campuses has an Academic Intervention Coordinator who collaborates with general education staff to ensure that each student receiving support, remediation, or accommodations is equipped to achieve their educational goals. Additionally, our Support Services team includes support aides who assist students in the general education classroom or in small-group instructional settings.

download a parent's guide to Response Intervention

Inclusion Services

We are committed to creating an inclusive school community that reflects God's Kingdom. We offer personalized support for students with diverse abilities, including those with moderate to severe physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges. These students are fully integrated members of our classrooms and receive additional assistance from our inclusion staff to ensure they have the necessary accommodations and modifications for a successful school experience—and are valued members of our school communities.

Each of our five campuses has an Inclusion Coordinator who oversees the educational plans of each student receiving inclusion services. We are also blessed with dedicated inclusion aides on our Support Services team who assist students in achieving their educational goals.

Sensory Integration Services

Students with autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit disorders, behavior disorders, anxiety, and/or developmental coordination challenges may have difficulty processing or tolerating sensory information. Sensory-based therapy can be one component of a comprehensive support plan.

We provide sensory instruction using brushes, swings, balls, and specially designed equipment to offer vestibular, proprioceptive, auditory, and tactile input, helping to organize sensory pathways for students diagnosed with sensory difficulties.

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) Resource Center

Evaluation Services

We aim to thoroughly understand each student’s learning profile so we can provide the best possible support for that individual. We use a collaborative approach—partnering with parents, teachers, Support Services staff, and other professionals—to determine whether a comprehensive psychological evaluation is appropriate for a student.

We work closely with the licensed psychologists of the All Belong Center for Inclusive Education, as well as other area psychology offices, to gain a comprehensive understanding of a student’s learning strengths and challenges through an in-depth, multi-perspective evaluation process.

A list of service providers is available through each campus’s Educational Support Services (ESS) or Inclusion Coordinator.

School Social Work Services

School social work support is available to promote educational success by helping students navigate the social and emotional challenges that arise throughout elementary, middle, and high school. Students at each campus have access to a school social worker.

GRCES Evergreen | Nicole Robbins
GRCES Iroquois | Nicole Robbins
Rockford Christian School | Meredith Mockabee
GRCMS | Ryan DeVries
GRCHS | Rachelle Rosario

Our school social workers offer a variety of interventions that are systematic and responsive to student needs. These services include consulting with school staff about student concerns, developing and implementing interventions to increase academic engagement, assisting students in crisis situations, providing preventative classroom presentations, and meeting with students individually or in groups to help them process challenges in a safe and supportive environment. Parents and guardians benefit from open communication with the school social worker to monitor and support their student’s progress.

While school social workers do not provide intensive therapy, part of their role includes communicating with outside counselors or therapists who work with students beyond the school setting. If a student requires support that falls outside the scope of school social work, families are connected with appropriate resources in the community.

Additional Services

Speech and Language Services, Occupational and Physical Therapy, Audiology and Vision Services.

As required by the State of Michigan, students who qualify for these services through the public school IEP process are served on our campuses by itinerant staff from Grand Rapids Public Schools and Rockford Public Schools. We respect and value the collaborative relationship we have with the public school professionals who provide these supplemental services to students on our campuses.

Non-Public Services Plan Notification Form
Michigan Alliance for Families

GET IN TOUCH

Inclusive Education

Rockford Christian School

Anna Zokoe

School: 616.574.6425

Middle School

Christine DeWildt

Inclusion Coordinator

School: 616-574-6330

High School

Missy Meekhof

Inclusion Services Coordinator

School: 616.574.5656

Academic Intervention

K–8th Grade

For questions regarding Academic Intervention for grades K-8, please contact the building principal for more information.

9th–12th Grade

For questions regarding Academic Intervention for grades 9-12, please contact your school counselor for more information.

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