Our school is helping all students develop World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing opportunities for students to be self aware, creative, innovative and industrious. Started in 1965, Tanglewood has a rich history in developing, nurturing and supporting students and families holistically through strong community partnerships.
Located on the Westside of Greenville County, Tanglewood Middle School’s facility sits on 60 acres of land nestled between a growing industrial community and residential neighborhoods. A unique feature of Tanglewood is its cultural and multi-language diversity. There are approximately eight Latin countries represented at Tanglewood with a fast-growing Latin-x enrollment of approximately 45.4% to date. The balance of our student demographic consists of approximately 34.6% African American, 12.7% White, 4.1% multi-racial, and 3.2% American Indian/Alaska Native. The school staff demographic comprises approximately 60% White, 27.8% African American, 7.7% Latinx, 2.2% Asian, 2.3 other.
Tanglewood is also designated as a Title 1 school, which increases school funding. The additional funding provided by Title 1 is used to primarily decrease class sizes by hiring more teachers, increasing parental support programs and providing additional academic support resources to at-risk students.
Due to such a high poverty rate, our district and school teams realized that there was a great need to meet the needs of the whole student so as to decrease the opportunity gaps that prevent academic success, this gave rise to a very unique partnership. In 2015 The United Way of Greenville County became a critical partner to Tanglewood, enabling TMS to become a wrap around focus school. This approach and partnership brought multiple agencies together to support the needs of families with unique needs and extenuating situations. Programs such as OnTrack, Communities in Schools, Prisma Health, and Greenville Mental Health make Tanglewood a more relevant and holistic system that meets both the academic and social emotional needs of all of our families.
Our current motto “Success is the only option,” is a reflection of our recent leadership transition and the continued commitment of our staff to strive for excellence and maintain high standards in all we do. While students take increasing responsibility for their education, our teachers simultaneously make instruction more relevant, engaging and aligned to state standards and high school readiness.
Tanglewood Middle School offers a wide variety of both classes and clubs to challenge students' creative genius.
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Student Council
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Student Ambassadors
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National Beta
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Band
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Chorus
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Honors classes in Math, English, Social Studies and Science
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Momentum Bike Club
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Afterschool Tutorial/Saturday School
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Career Education
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Gateway to Technology
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STAR Academy
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Math & Reading Intervention Courses
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Google Apps
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Business Applications
These and many other examples allow our students to think critically and solve real world problems in our classrooms and after school activities. We focus on collaborative settings embedded in teamwork. Tanglewood Middle is continuing to expand the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by focusing on the soft skills required to be successful in life such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, agency, adaptability and global awareness. Our current morning advisory will provide us the opportunity to reinforce and allow students the opportunity to develop these skills along with social-emotional learning.
As mentioned, our staff is diverse, and includes staff from the Philippines, Jamaica, India and Columbia. This diversity allows our collaboration and professional learning communities to be rich, engaging and informative. Our collaboration and PLCs are designed to ensure that all of our classrooms provide student-centered instruction where curiosity and hands-on minds-on experiences help our students develop the needed skills to be successful in college, career and life.
Our teachers worked persistently to create a student-centered culture infused with technology in our one-to- one Chromebook initiative. Google classroom, along with many computer applications, opened the door for collaboration among our students. This 21st Century technological setting provided enhanced opportunities for learning in all content and related arts classes. Tanglewood added technology classes to our curriculum this year and will be expanding the selections next year to include Google Apps and Business Applications. We want students to not only learn the fundamentals of these programs but to also earn high school credit while in middle school. We believe in and practice Greenville County Schools’ Graduation Plus model!
In 2020, we completed our second year of the middle grades success initiative, On Track Greenville, with The United Way of Greenville and the Social Innovation Fund Grant. In the recent past, Tanglewood Middle School has received extended support with a sixth grade summer bridging program provided by Building Education Leaders for Life (BELL). Public Education Partners (PEP) provided professional development for teachers on balanced literacy. Greenville Hospital System (GHS) holds a clinic on site twice weekly to offer healthcare directly to our students. Communities in Schools (CIS) provides a total of three Site Managers (one per grade level) to work directly with children identified by the Early Warning and Response System. Greenville County Schools (GCS) also provides an additional Mental Health Counselor to work with our youth. This initiative is an innovative approach to enhancing academic achievement and could not have occurred without the support of the Greenville Partnership for Philanthropy and a growing list of funders.
We are proud of our multiple community partnerships and our diverse instructional staff that provide our students with a global worldview. It is due to this that we will continue to be committed to developing global citizens who are prepared for higher ed, the global workforce and citizenship. As our vision states, we exist to inspire, motivate and guide middle school students to develop socially, intellectually, physically and psychologically so that they will have the awareness, strength and courage to be the best versions of themselves as they matriculate into higher levels of adulthood.
Dr. Graysen Walles - Principal
Alicia Brewster - SIC, Chair
