D65’s Illinois State Report Card shows continued growth

D65’s Illinois State Report Card shows continued growth
7 highlights and areas for improvement

Dear District 65 Community -

This week at the School Board’s Curriculum and Policy Committee Meeting, our team shared an update on student academic progress aligned to our strategic plan goals.  Some of this data is also included in the annual Illinois Report Card which was released at the end of October.

Our students are the center of our world here in District 65. Everything we do is to help fuel their academic and social emotional growth and to prepare them for success in high school and beyond. We are seeing post-pandemic growth and yet there is so much more that is needed so that our students can achieve all that we know they are capable of.

I would like to share some high level highlights and areas for improvement — “glows” and “grows,” you could say!

Glows: Promising Trends

• For the first time since the launch in 2018 all D65 schools received “Commendable” and “Exemplary” designations from the Illinois State Board of Education! Summative Designations are intended to show progress in overall academic performance and student success.
• Special shout out to the Haven Middle School community for all their hard work to move from the ‘Targeted’ to ‘Commendable’ designation.
• D65 continues to outperform state averages in English Language Arts - ELA (44%)), Math (41%), and Science (62%) on Illinois Readiness Assessment (IAR) and Illinois Science Assessment (ISA).
  The District outperforms the state in the percentage of eighth-grade students who are passing algebra (91% in District 65 compared to 31% statewide).
• Based on the 5Essentials Survey, students agree/strongly agree that teachers make them feel safe (93%), comfortable (90%), and respected (90%).
• Overall student attendance is at its highest percentage (average daily attendance 93%) since before the pandemic.

Grows: Areas for Improvement

• A smaller percentage of students with IEPs are showing proficiency in ELA compared to last year. Intentional and explicit support is needed to address learning gaps for students with IEPs.
• D65 continues to see a gap in ELA and Math scores by race, income status, and IEP status.

This is only a snapshot of the robust data presented at this week’s meeting. I encourage you to take some time to review the meeting presentation (or watch online) for additional context and data on a variety of areas critical for student learning.

Transparency continues to be one of my highest priorities as Interim Superintendent. I am aware that there is always room to grow; at the same time, I am extremely proud of the progress our students have made in the past year!

I also find that we don’t say thank you enough, so to our educators, support staff, administrators, and families I say THANK YOU for all that you do for our students! When we work together, we can achieve great things for our students!

Yours in education,

Dr. Angel Turner (she/hers)
Interim Superintendent