Shenandoah Spotlight – October 2026 – Jacob Christiansen 

 

Shenandoah Elementary School and Vimme Learning “Win Together”

 

In 2021, 47% of Shenandoah Elementary students reached ILEARN proficiency or above within the math section of the statewide assessment.  By 2024, that number had reached 70.1%.  A dramatic turnaround, increasing by 23.1 percentage points in just a few years.  To understand how Shenandoah got there, you have to look beyond just the scores and back to a time when teachers across the school were searching for a more consistent and reliable form of math instruction. 

 

Before Vimme Learning, math looked very different at the small Middletown Indiana school.

 

“Before we brought in Vimme, we were piecing together math materials from various sources,” SES Assistant Principal Lindsey Daunhauer explains. “We did not have a consistent curriculum that all teachers were following with fidelity. “ 

 

For fourth-grade teacher, Lindy Holdren, that meant knowing which Indiana standards she needed to prepare her students for, but ultimately having to source the materials herself.  This often included cobbling together whatever she could including videos, lessons, and worksheets.  The textbook available at the time was outdated and used the common core standards instead of the Indiana standards, making review and progress very difficult.  

 

“Before we began using Vimme, we had curriculum calendars set up in three-week intervals that we made during professional developments.  I knew what standards I had to teach each three weeks, but I had no curriculum to use other than an outdated book,” said Holdren. “We focused on teaching skills for the three weeks,” she continues. “And we would then move onto the next three weeks and go back during intervention as needed.  That is the only way the students received any kind of review of skills.”

 

Holdren highlights the other issue at hand:  Students weren’t consistently returning to concepts they had already learned.  

 

“There was no spiral review for skills that had been taught throughout the year,” Holdren said.  “The students never really had a chance to go back and practice skills that were previously taught.” 

 

Shenandoah needed a change.  It needed a common direction, and a plan.  One that they could follow with fidelity.  

 

Finding It Together

 

Holdren had heard about Vimme Learning through her aunt, a fifth-grade teacher at Selma Elementary School located east of Muncie Indiana.

 

“My aunt taught 5th grade at Selma Elementary School, and she had told me for two years that she loved Vimme and highly recommended us looking into the program,” said Holdren. “ I knew from her that it was a program that their school whole-heartedly believed in.” 

 

 And so, when it came time to assess and find a solution to this curriculum problem Shenandoah found themselves in, Holdren suggested school administrators look into Vimme Learning.  And to their credit, they listened.  

 

But that’s just the Shenandoah way. Teachers have a voice and this community was going to find a way forward.  Whatever the solution, they were going to pursue it together. 

 

Chandler Cross, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment for Shenandoah School Corporation, believes that collaboration is central to the school’s success.

“We don’t adopt the curriculum and tell teachers what to do. We have a committee,” Cross explained. “Teachers and administrators and central office administrators all work together when it comes to adopting curricular material here.” 

That philosophy reflects a Shenandoah core promise: Win Together.  It’s a commitment that extends beyond choosing a curriculum and into the classrooms where teachers put those decisions into practice every day. 

“Vimme has given us a common direction for math instruction across SES,” Daunhauer said. “It provides our teachers with consistent pacing aligned to the Indiana Academic Standards.” 

 

Raising The Expectations

 

When Holdren learned that Shnandoah actually decided to give Vimme learning a try, she was excited and nervous all at the same time.  

“I was actually very worried. The rigor and deeper level of understanding was very hard for the students in fourth-grade because they had never had to ‘think that hard’ in math in the years prior,” said Holdren. “Skills were being taught, but the depth of knowledge and the levels they were being taught at were very basic.” 

The students were not only being asked to demonstrate a deeper level of thinking than they were accustomed to, they were also being asked to recall this knowledge more frequently than ever before.

“We were more focused [previously] on teaching the skills and moving on,” Holdren continued. “It was what our three-week calendars were set up to do.” 

This was going to be a transition for the students.  Afterall, they were now being asked to think differently than ever before.  Initially, there were some challenges as the older students had to reshape how they processed and learned new material.  But as one year became two, and students began arriving in Holdren’s classroom already familiar with the structure and consistency of Vimme, something started to change.  Students became more comfortable with the new expectations and concepts that used to disappear after a three-week window kept coming back. 

“What I noticed was the biggest benefit the very first year was the spiral review,” Holdren said. ”No longer were skills being taught and never reviewed.”  

Students were no longer learning concepts to simply pass a test.  They were being asked to repeatedly prove that they understood the material from its fundamental core.  And over time, the higher expectations became the normal, not just the new program.  Over time, this became simply what math looks like at Shenandoah Elementary. 

 

A Schoolwide Expectation

 

Today, in 2026 Holdren sees the difference. Her students already know.  They know the work is going to challenge them.  They know once they learn a new concept or skill, it’s going to return throughout the year and beyond.  And they know they’ll be expected to keep working through the material when it’s difficult.  

 

“It is just a schoolwide expectation now,” Holdren said. 

 

That may be the difference between adopting a curriculum and building a culture around it.  Vimme isn’t just being used in one classroom or grade level at Shenandoah.  The entire school has bought into the program.  Students are now seeing a consistent curriculum throughout their entire elementary career.  

 

To go back to Assistant Principal Daunhauer, she claims that Vimme’s pacing guides have helped Shenandoah maintain strong vertical alignment from first through fifth grade.  That consistency and collaboration among the different grade levels and teachers has strengthened this culture of expectation and results.  And the results continue to speak for themselves. 

 

Cross also sees the same alignment as one of the central reasons the schools’ approach has worked this time. 

 

“A big part of our success is our ability to buy-in and follow the curriculum with fidelity and to have complete alignment,” Cross stated. “Alignment is so critical to the success of any endeavor.” 

 

Cross further explains that this alignment means teachers are looking beyond their own classrooms.  They are preparing their students to have success next year as well.  This philosophy he describes as “educating for success.” Through vertical collaboration and alignment, teachers at Shenandoah are doing their best to ensure proficiency isn’t just a standard for this year, but for the next and beyond into life. 

 

“We want to set them up to be successful in the future,“ Cross said. 

 

The Results of Moving Together

 

In 2021, 47.0% of Shenandoah Elementary students reached ILEARN proficiency or above. That climbed to 58.2% in 2022, 68.6% in 2023, and 70.1% by 2024. 

 

Over those years Vimme became more deeply embedded in math instruction across the entire school.  Students weren’t simply getting the new material, they were experiencing the benefits of a consistent approach every year within every classroom. Vimme’s rigorous, standards-aligned instruction, continual spiral review, consistent pacing and assessment data had become embedded in a way Shenandoah taught math.

 

For Holdren the connection between that consistency and the school’s growth became pretty clear.  

 

“I honestly think that what has contributed to the success we are seeing in math is that all teachers are faithfully using Vimme,” she said. “All students in all grade levels are being exposed to a very rigorous program that has high expectations.” 

 

But Vimme’s impact is also tied to the way the school chose to embrace it.  A strong curriculum can provide the structure, but the teachers still have to bring that to life for their students. 

 

“I think it’s a celebration of a dedicated, hardworking staff that work together, collaborate, and do what is best to lead the students in their room forward,” Cross said.

 

More Than A Number

 

The rise from 47% proficiency to 70.1% tells an important story.  But it does not tell the entire story about the community at Shenandoah Elementary.  

 

Behind those numbers is a staff of teachers who are committed to the consistency and structure of the program, trusting the rigor and spiral review that Vimme has become the gold standard for providing.  Supporting those teachers is an administration who gave them a voice in that direction and supported their collaboration and efforts.  But perhaps even more impressive is the student body who learned to embrace higher expectations, supported by families and a community that takes pride in their school community that they share. 

 

“We will care for them and lead them forward every single day,” Cross said. 

 

The numbers show how far Shenandoah has come.  The people behind them provided the commitment and drive.  Vimme provided the consistency, rigor, and common direction. 

 

At Shenandoah Elementary School, they win together.