Galesburg Reporter

Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board of Education met Oct. 25.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Call to Order: President Arvanitis called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

Board of Education Members

Present – Mrs. Athena Arvanitis, President; Mrs. Elizabeth Hosler, Vice-President; Mrs. Kelly Asseff; Mrs. Kara Caforio; Mr. Jim Collins; Dr. Kelly Henry

Absent – Mrs. Courtenae Trautmann, Secretary

President Arvanitis stated there are 6 board members present, 1 board member absent, a quorum is present.

Administration

Present - Dr. Keisha Campbell, Superintendent; Dr. Scott Grens, Associate Superintendent; Mrs. Tonya Daniels, Exec. Dir. Communications; Mr. Rudy Gomez, Exec. Dir. Technology; Mrs. Katie Lyons, Exec. Dir. Elementary Ed, Ms. Kerry Leuschel, Exec. Dir. Secondary Ed; Dr. Kevin Rubenstein, Asst. Supt. Student Services; Dr. Joe Schumacher, Asst. Supt. Human Resources; Mr. Chris Whelton, Asst. Supt. Finance & Operations

Absent - none

Pledge of Allegiance: Board members led those present in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.    

Public Comments: There were no public comments.

Reports and Presentations

Results from State and National Assessments

Dr. Campbell introduced the second annual COW meeting to share the results from State and National Assessments. She stated that tonight presents an opportunity for the Board to reflect on last year’s areas of focus and analyze the impact of various board decision made and how those decisions contributed to SY 22-23 State Summative data and designations. The time together will conclude with how current decisions align to our priorities and will impact projected student outcomes for the school year 23-24. Dr. Campbell shared the meeting agenda to include: Reflection on SY22-23 Impact; Presentation on SY22-23 National Assessments, State Assessments, and ECRISS Projected vs. Actual Student Outcomes; Data Analysis and Reflection Protocol; and Next Steps for SY23-24 Impact. She also shared a brief history of measures that have been used in schools, which have shifted in the past several years and it is important that we recognize these shifts.

Reflection on SY2022-2023 Impact

From last year’s COW meeting in October, the table groups reflected on the 4 areas of focus (Climate/Culture Survey, Leadership & Teacher Development, Student Success in ELA & Math, and EL Learners) highlighted during last year’s board reflection and answered which board decisions supported growth and development in these areas throughout this past year?

The following are the reflections from each of the table groups.

ELA support with new curriculum but also support for implementation, which included professional development to help students maximize learning.

Elevating the importance of professional development.

The data last year showed pockets in math where we didn’t see growth and the board charged the administration to do a math review. The results showed some adjustments were needed, which included some new curricular material, along with professional development to support teachers to implement materials.    

Supported administrations work in an ELL audit to better support students.

The board supported staffing decisions that helped fill gaps, which helped the climate and culture for staff and students.

Ms. Leuschel presented the next slides to review the national and state assessment summative data and also highlighting how actual student outcomes compared to projected performance through ECRISS. She reviewed the Composite Graduation Rate; Freshman on Track; SAT Achievement - ISBE Benchmark, College Board Benchmark, and Projected Achievement vs. Actual Achievement; IAR Achievement - Percentage of Students Meeting/Exceeding and Projected Achievement vs. Actual Achievement; and Science Assessment Percentage of Students Proficient or Exemplary.

Mrs. Lyons presented the next slides to highlight data beyond what the Illinois state school report captures but are critical to our district priorities and student outcomes. She reviewed slides to highlight additional data points that illustrate the focus that District 205 places on proficiency, where proficiency remains a critical focus for our schools as we continue to elevate student outcomes to the highest levels of achievement.  

Dr. Rubenstein presented how summative designations are determined by reviewing the 2 biggest measures in the summative ratings, Student Growth and Graduation Rate. He reviewed the long term goals for Illinois Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan through 2033 and covered how summative designations are determined, along with the categories for Summative Designations.

Dr. Campbell shared the preliminary State Summative Designations. Noting the official Designations will be published by the State for public access on October 30th. She stated that all schools in District 205 are predicted to receive the top two designations of Exemplary or Commendable. These designations are reflective of the hard work of our administration, staff and students - in partnership with the support of our families and community. Dr. Rubenstein followed with a closer look at the data with a graphic example from Jefferson Elementary school showing the percentages for each category making up the predicted exemplary designation before moving into Phase 1.  

Committee of the Whole: Data Discussion Protocol

The next session of the meeting uses the Data Discussion Protocol, which is a tool designed to guide discussion focused on various data points and the continuous improvement of student growth and performance. It is adapted from the ATLAS-Looking at Data Protocol to support the Committee of Whole meeting format. In each phase of the activity, the facilitator will ask the Board and Cabinet members to collaborate in groups by answering guiding questions.

NOTE – In each phase, the table groups rotated who responded first, next, and last.

Phase 1: Describing the Data

Guiding Question – What facts do you see?

Listed below are the table group’s insights, highlights, questions, and wonderings from this section.

The first table group looked at the data for York, Emerson, Churchville, and Fischer. York graduation rate met the target; Opportunities for growth in math & ELA at Emerson, Fischer, & Churchville; Chronic absenteeism is an area of growth; and Climate survey was met.

Next table group looked at the data for York, Sandburg, Edison, Field, and Hawthorne. All but one are in the exemplary category; All schools met the proficiency benchmark; Math growth needs some attention; and Absenteeism at York is still shows lower performance.

The last table group looked at the data for York, Lincoln, Jackson, Jefferson and Bryan. Elementary schools received many points for ELA and math growth; and A lot to celebrate but still work to do to individualize each school.

Phase 2: Interpreting the Data

Guiding Question – What does the data suggest? and What are the assumptions we make about schools, students, and learning?

Listed below are the table group’s insights, highlights, questions, and wonderings from this section.

The first table group commented that the district spent a lot of time on K-5 ELA curriculum shifting and implementing to Wit & Wisdom and Fundations; Created professional development opportunities for staff engagements that can have a profound impact on student learning; and Schools are meeting proficiency marks and students are gaining growth.

The next table group commented that putting all the data together and working to target certain data points helps to make informed decisions, which is evident as seen in the graduation rate, along with the ELL group graduation rate is higher; and Using data in an intentional way that shows progress.

The last table group identified that proficiency is high but still shows opportunities for growth; Wondered how to differentiate our instruction for Tier 1 students to individualize student growth to go from good to great; and Absenteeism is still impacting our scores, what can we do; and Maybe we can have a multidisciplinary approach to target absenteeism.    

Phase 3: Trends, Themes, & Considerations

Guiding Question – What did we learn from the data and the collective input of one another?

Listed below are the table group’s insights, highlights, questions, and wonderings from this section.

The first table group commented that chronic absenteeism is a theme and that it impacts student growth; Looking at EL student absenteeism, how do we identify appropriate supports for those students based on student needs; and Important to continue to disaggregate the data to focus on specific groups to identify what supports are needed to create opportunities for student growth.  

The next table group commented that we want to continue to focus on student growth; What kind of support can be provided for students that are proficient and how to push those students to grow; Ensuring alignment in protocols around the data from the board level, to the classroom, & to the individual student; How things such as chronic absenteeism can impact data; and Maybe coach students to help them grow, such as more challenging content areas.

The last table group stated that consistent chronic absenteeism is an area of improvement; Based on the K-5 schools the table reviewed, they show a need for attention on math grow; Wondered what is needed at these schools that are not meeting the target; and How can our instructional and school leaders focus on certain areas to provide support and opportunities to teachers and students to start to see those areas elevate.

Key Take-Away Board Reflections:

Reflection Question 1 - Are the District priorities aligned to the targeted areas of opportunity discussed today, and are there any additional areas of focus that should be added, based on the SY 22-23 state data?

Reflection Question 2 - As you reflect on the District’s Strategic Plan priorities for this year and based on tonight’s data analysis/discussions, which decisions made by the board will impact SY 23-24 outcomes?

It is important to build meaningful student and staff relationships in a trusting environment. It is important for students to be in a trusting environment to feel welcome and comfortable at school. There are many that play a part in the role to welcome students and create a trusting environment such as teachers, counselors, coaches, and parents. Maybe there can be some focus on PD for welcoming and inclusive environments to help students feel they want to be in school and that they are important. Motivate students to want to be in school. A focus on meaningful student staff relationships are important.

We talked a lot about absenteeism, are we understanding what is keeping kids from coming to school and who might be looking at this absentee data to understand the why. Could there be some trends that materialize to help us as a District target absenteeism? Could there be a parent speaker series to provide parents with additional knowledge for added ways to support their students? Continue to analyze the data. Is there anything needed from the board to help support student groups that struggle with absenteeism?

The 2023-24 district wide priorities still correlate to the four areas of focus from last year. They are worded a little differently but are speaking about the same topics: Support individual student academic and social-emotional needs through varied programs and supports, based on progress monitoring and assessment data - Align curricular resources, programs, and instructional practices to research, standards, and data - Build meaningful and trusting student-staff relationships. There are Board decisions that have an impact on student learning such as math curriculum, which led to a math audit. The Board recently approved the curricular resources for English Language Learners to support students. There is a lot of parallel and consistency moving into this school year. We see some great improvements as seen in the states measuring tool, there is growth but do our systems sustain growth over time. We want to see consistency of growth over time. We look forward to seeing the impact on the Board’s decision to support the recommendations to hire assistant principals and to see how that decision supports student learning, along with supporting climate and culture. In connecting the Board work to the priorities set forth by the district, which is in line with the strategic plan of continuous improvement.

In closing, Dr. Campbell stated this board should be extremely proud of the work they’ve done and the administration thanked the board for their support to provide our students and staff with the supports to have an impact on student outcomes. She thanked her cabinet team and the school staff across the District because these results presented tonight are because of the many, many staff & team members that work in  our schools every single day.

President Arvanitis thanked Dr. Campbell and her team. She stated it’s about leadership, direction and intentionality, because we’re seeing the impact that it’s having on our kids.

Board Communications: There was no board communications.

https://go.boarddocs.com/il/elmhurst/Board.nsf/Public