Quincy Reporter

Community Consolidated School District 181 Board of Education Academic Success Committee met April 11.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Call to Order

The Academic Success Committee meeting of the Board of Education of Community Consolidated School District 181, DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois, was called to order by Grace Shin, Board Member, and Committee Chair, at 12:01 p.m. on April 11, 2024.

On roll call, the following members were present: William Cotter and Grace Shin.

Also present: Dr. Kathy Robinson, Dr. Dana Bergthold, Kristin Reingruber, Sara Clary (arrived at 12:03), and Recording Secretary Jean Duggan.

Pledge of Allegiance

Grace Shin led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Approval of Minutes

Grace Shin made a motion to approve the minutes from the March 7, 2024, Academic Success Committee meeting. Bill Cotter seconded the motion. All in favor, the motion carried.

Public Comment

No public comment.

Discussion Topics

Assessment Calendar

Ms. Reingruber shared that each year the Department of Learning creates an assessment schedule/calendar for the following year. The testing windows include a fall, winter, and spring testing schedule.

Ms. Reingruber shared that assessment is a critical component of identifying what to teach, how long to teach content areas, and determining if students learned the presented information. D181 strives to implement an assessment calendar that includes all three kinds of assessment to meet the needs of all students in our schools and ensure the rigorous learning that our community expects.

Reoccurring assessments include:

● i-Ready Math Diagnostic

○ Provide personalized instruction and support the needs of all learners. I-Ready supports teachers as they plan instruction, set goals with students, and assess learner progress.

○ Fall, Winter, and Spring for all students in K-5

● Individual Growth and Development Indicators for Infants and Toddlers (IGDIs)

○ Universal screening tools are given to students who turn four before October 1st to monitor growth and progress. Staff use this information as a means to guide their instruction and identify student needs within our early childhood educational program.

○ Fall, Winter, and Spring for all preschool students

● AIMSweb Plus

○ Universal screener to assist with the state’s required Child Find Process. District 181 has a responsibility to assess students yearly to identify students in need of additional support. This assessment also serves as a benchmarking tool and a progress monitoring tool to identify progress for students requiring interventions.

○ Fall, Winter, and Spring for all students in Grades K-2 and will be used to assess the progress of students in grades 3-5 receiving Tier II or Tier III interventions in reading or math

● Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System (BAS)

○ Diagnostic assessment to seamlessly link assessment to instruction along the Continuum of Literacy Learning. This comprehensive system for one-on-one assessment reliably and systematically matches students’ instructional and independent reading abilities to the Fountas and Pinnell Text Level Gradient.

○ Fall, Winter, and Spring are for students in grades K-5; there are fewer windows for older students and those meeting grade-level expectations.

● Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments: MAP 6+, MAP 2-5, and MAP for Primary Grades (MPG) ○ Diagnostic tools designed to assess students’ strengths and weaknesses in reading and mathematics three times per year. The MAP assessments are used within our school improvement plans to set school and grade-level SMART goals. The school improvement cycle is monitored three times per year using the data to raise student proficiency and growth in reading and math.

○ Fall, Winter, and Spring for 1-7; Fall only for grade 8

● Satchel Pulse

○ Social-emotional screener, which provides a complete, detailed view of each student's social emotional learning profile via an age-appropriate, easy-to-answer survey

○ Fall and Spring; Students in grades K-8 In addition to recurring assessments, several assessments on the calendar are only completed by students once during the school year. These include:

● Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS)

○ The KIDS assessment is core to the Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) goal. Every child in Illinois deserves to attend a school wherein all kindergarteners are assessed for readiness. KIDS provides teachers and parents with information about a child’s abilities across math, English language arts, and social/emotional development.

○ Fall (40th day of school)

● Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)

○ This test is not an achievement or intelligence test but rather a test to measure abilities in the areas of verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and spatial or non-verbal skills

. ○ Fall: All students in grades 2 and 5

● ACCESS for English Language Learners

○ State-mandated assessment for students who qualify for English Language services throughout the school year. Assesses their English language proficiency and determines whether students continue to qualify for this support.

○ Spring: all students in K-8 that qualify for the English Language services

● Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI)

○ State-mandated climate assessment. The CSCI measures twelve essential dimensions of a healthy school climate in five broad categories: Safety, Teaching and Learning, Interpersonal Relationships, Social Media, and Institutional Environment, as well as two distinct dimensions for personnel only. ○ Spring: All students in grades 4-8

● Placement Writing Assessment (PWA)

○ One component of the placement criteria for the ACE and Advanced English Language Arts (A-ELA) programs is that students respond to a writing prompt that is then scored by a rubric.

○ Spring: All students in grade 5

● Illinois Science Assessment (ISA)

○ State-mandated assessment. Online statewide student performance assessment that aligns with the Illinois Learning Standards for science, which incorporate the national Next Generation Science Standards.

○ Spring: All students in grades 5 and 8

● Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR)

○ State-mandated assessment and accountability measures for Illinois students enrolled in a public school district. IAR assesses the New Illinois Learning Standards Incorporating the Common Core and will be administered in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

○ Spring: All students in grades 3-8

Ms. Reingruber shared that during the 2018-2019 school year, the Department of Learning worked with building-level administrators, CIACC members, reading specialists, psychologists, MTSS/RtI members, differentiations specialists, and members of the SACS to determine what assessments and how often they will be administered to gather the data needed to develop goals to support students in reading, math, and science growth and proficiency.

Since then, the list of current assessments and the timing of the assessment window, has been reflected upon and refined through staff and administrative feedback. Over the years, amendments have been made to minimize the number of assessments delivered to students and the impact on classroom instruction.

For the 2024-2025 school year, the Department of Learning recommends integrating the Satchel Pulse Social Emotional Screener for grades K-8 and the tighter alignment of MAP, BAS, and AIMS assessments with our internal benchmark and target review procedure.

Ms. Shin requested that the District develop a plan to share the dates of the assessments with families, especially MAP, as early as possible. She also shared that she was happy to see the information on the purpose of the assessments.

Mr. Cotter noted that many of the assessments are state-mandated and suggested mentioning this at the Board of Education meeting.

CSCI Results

Ms. Reingruber shared that the State Board is now mandated annually to implement a learning conditions survey that will finally help paint that fuller picture. It is primarily intended to help local administrators, such as teachers, principals, and superintendents, identify strengths and weaknesses at the district and school level and better target resources and interventions.

The Illinois State Board of Education sets the climate survey's administration window and identifies a state provided survey: the 5Essentials. ISBE provides school districts two alternatives to the 5Essentials: Cognia

(Formerly AdvancEd) and CSCI. Since 2017, D181 has opted to administer the CSCI instead of the 5Essentials. The Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) is a nationally-recognized school climate survey that provides an in-depth profile of a school community’s particular strengths and areas for improvement. The CSCI measures twelve essential dimensions of a healthy school climate in five broad categories: Safety, Teaching and Learning, Interpersonal Relationships, Social Media, and Institutional Environment, as well as two distinct dimensions for personnel only.

Specific assessment versions are administered to students in grades 4-8, all certified D181 staff members, and parents in all nine schools.

Ms. Reingruber shared that student and staff's response rates are very high. During the 2024 administration, 98.6% of students in grades 4-8 participated in the survey. Similarly, 100% of D181 certified staff members completed the school personnel survey. The District also received over 1000 family respondents to the study (48.3%).

The CSCI, as a measure, is intended to provide information about school climate.

There are measured twelve dimensions of school climate:

● Safety

○ Rules & Norms

○ Sense of Physical Security

○ Sense of Social/Emotional Security

○ Online Safety

● Teaching and Learning

○ Support for Academic Learning

○ Social and Emotional Learning

● Interpersonal Relationships

○ Respect for Diversity

○ Teacher/Student Relationships

○ Peer Relationships

● Institutional Environment

○ School Connectedness

○ Physical Surroundings

○ Social Inclusion

For school personnel there are two additional scales are included:

● Leadership and Efficacy

○ Administration and Leadership

○ Collective Efficacy CSCI Scoring Procedures

Ms. Reingruber explained that for each question, scores are first organized by each respondent group and the median score for each respondent group is derived. Then, the average score for each dimension is derived for each respondent by creating an average for each individual based on how they answered all of the questions in the dimension. Next, the median score of all the individual respondent averages is calculated for each dimension. This becomes the dimension score for each school and respondent group. Finally, the median score for all individual averages across all dimensions is identified to create the overall score for a respondent group or school. Dimensions whose average median score is below 2.5 are considered negative, meaning there is a high level of negative judgment. Scores above 3.5 are considered positive, meaning there is a high level of positive judgment regarding this dimension. Scores between 2.5 and 3.5 are viewed as neutral. A score change of +/- 0.2 is considered a “notable change” by CSCI.

She said there is no statistically significant difference in scores from year to year or across dimensions. Results for all three respondent groups in D181 have generally averaged at/above a 4.0. The 3-year average (2021- 2023) for students is 4.12, for staff is 4.58, for families is 4.11, and overall is 4.27. During the 2024 administration, the median score was higher for students (4.13), families (4.30), and overall (4.35), with the staff average remaining consistent (4.63).

Overall scores for all nine D181 schools are above 3.5, with seven schools over 4.0. In addition, when elementary and middle school respondent groups view the results, only two areas (sense of social-emotional security for middle school students and online safety for middle school parents) are at an average median score of 3.75 or below.

D181 students, staff, and families judge the schools as positive places for learning and growing. She noted that the District and school results have been shared with building and district administrators. Building leaders will share results with their school staff and determine which shifts, if any, need to be implemented for the 23- 24 school year and for the 2024-2025 school year.

Grace Shin asked if CSCI has always only given the District the median score. Ms. Reingruber shared that all the principals receive a more detailed report.

Bill Cotter noted the great participation rate for the CSCI survey.

Satchel Pulse

Dr. Dana Bergthold, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, shared that the Satchel Pulse screener was utilized during the 23/24 school year to assist school teams with identifying students who may need additional social-emotional support. The Satchel Pulse lessons have been implemented at all Elementary Schools to aid in the development of the skills measured by this screener.

Dr. Bergthold shared an update on student growth measured by the Satchel Pulse screener. Data Analysis:

● District-wide all students increased their reports across all five CASEL competencies.

● Teachers reported that students in their classes also increased their skills.

● While these differences are not significant, they indicate that the overall social-emotional health in the District is above the expected 5.0 score.

● Schools will continue to use this data to create both individual and school-wide plans for students. Between the Fall screener and the Spring screener, the data indicates the following:

● The number of Tier I students increased by 5%

● The number of Tier II students decreased by 2.9%

● The number of Tier III students decreased by 2%

Dr. Bergthold said that District 181 paid for the SEL licenses, data integration for all seven elementary schools, and a training package. The total cost for the 23/24 school year was approximately $19,897.50. An expansion of the use for grades K-8 will cost $29,815.00 This screener resource will be paid for through the IDEA Grant. The recommendation was to continue the use and expansion of the Satchel Pulse for District use as a screener for grades K-8 in the 24/25 school year and to continue the use of Tier I lessons for all students in D181.

Dr. Berthold commented that the structure of MTSS will be different during the 2024-25 school year. She said she would like to see more building input.

Ms. Shin commented that self-management was an area of need.

IDEA Needs Assessment

Dr. Bergthold shared the results of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) annual needs assessment. Annually, school districts are required to send a survey to all parents regarding the school district's support and services available to students to develop a plan for the use of the IDEA grant funds for the following school year.

She said the District-wide data is utilized to observe trends or identify areas of need. The IDEA needs assessment allows for feedback from both families and staff to focus efforts for improvement utilizing IDEA grant funds. Parent and teacher feedback was gathered via Google Forms during the month of March 2024. The results were summarized and compared to previous years to identify areas of continuous improvement.

Dr. Bergthold noted that it should be celebrated that parent and staff feedback continues to demonstrate the high quality of services, support, and communication between school staff, specialists, and parents. Areas of focus will be added to Professional Development activities for teachers and to focus resources for parents.

Parent Survey

● 134 Responses (decreased from 359 in 22/23)

● All schools represented

● Approximately 59% of respondents indicate that their student does not have an IEP, approximately 41% of respondents indicated that their student has an IEP

Teacher Survey

● 70 Responses (decreased from 78 in 22/23)

● All schools represented

● Approximately 39% of respondents indicate that they are general education teachers, approximately 61% of respondents indicated that they work in special education

Per a question, Dr. Bergthold confirmed that the District’s law firm would provide legal professional development for staff.

District-level Committee Updates:

The Department of Learning updated the committee on the District-level Committee meetings.

Recognition

Board members Shin and Cotter thanked Der. Bergthold for her hard work and wished her the very best.

Adjournment

Grace Shin made a motion to adjourn at 2:08 p.m. William Cotter seconded the motion. All in favor. The motion carried.

https://go.boarddocs.com/il/hccsdil/Board.nsf/files/D4ZSAL6F4911/$file/2024_04_11_ASC_Minutes.pdf