‘A Year’s Growth in a Year’s Time’

As registration season is in full swing for the 2024-2025 academic year, St. Norbert School in Northbrook is busy fielding inquiries from prospective families. Parents are most interested in learning what the school can do for their child(ren) and how that might be different from what they can find in other schools.

Principal Dr. Maggie Hoody has a ready answer to that question. “We can deliver a year’s growth in a year’s time.” This is an extraordinary claim today when many schools are still struggling to help students who have suffered ongoing learning setbacks from the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s not just school closings that set students back. “Face mask wearing had an impact on many young learners. Masks impact the clarity of speech and remove facial cues, which are critical to normal language and reading development,” says Hoody.

Recognizing the need to pivot to meet student needs, St. Norbert School implemented a new research-based phonics program during the 2022-2023 academic year that helped students in the kindergarten class achieve growth that was nearly two times the national average.

The research-based curriculum, called UFLI Foundations, explicitly teaches students how to decode written text (read) and encode spoken language (write). Each student receives explicit, systematic instruction with personal progress monitoring. This ensures that each child learns to crack the code of alphabetic text and develops into a highly capable reader and writer.

The academic gains at the school aren’t limited to reading or kindergarten. In this small school environment, students of all ages and levels receive support for their personal academic goals. The school-wide approach is getting results–student growth in math last academic year was acknowledged as a standout in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Last October, the school was visited by Greg Richmond, Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese who presented St. Norbert School with an award for students’ progress in math.

When talking to prospective families, Dr. Hoody is quick to add that the academics at St. Norbert School are just one part of what the school offers its students and families. She says, “Students and their families love the strong community that is rooted in a foundation of shared values.”

For more about St. Norbert School, visit www.stnorbertschool.org.