District 202 Parents, Students, Staff Invited to Take State Survey

PLAINFIELD, IL — District 202 teachers, students and parents are encouraged to take the “Illinois 5Essentials Survey” between November 16, 2016 and January 16, 2017.

The 5 Essentials lets teachers, students, and parents help improve their schools by identifying strengths and weaknesses in their school’s climate and learning conditions. The Illinois State Board of Education produces and gives the 5 Essentials survey in partnership with local school districts.

The survey and related information will be posted on the front page of the District 202 web site (www.psd202.org) and all school web sites under “Announcements” starting Wednesday, Nov. 16.

Sixth through twelfth graders will take the survey during school. The 5Essentials Survey is a 25-minute research-based survey. Responses will be completely confidential.

Local school districts use 5Essentials data to refine and improve services for students, families and community.

The Illinois 5Essentials Survey provides a comprehensive assessment of school organizational culture with actionable reports to help drive school improvement on five indicators or “essentials”:

• Effective Leaders
• Collaborative Teachers
• Involved Families
• Supportive Environment
• Ambitious Instruction
  

Illinois 5Essentials generates data that helps schools target resources and make decisions that help accelerate learning and test score gains. Illinois 5Essentials also demonstrates that teachers and students can play a crucial role in school reform: What they share about their schools reliably predicts whether those schools are likely to improve or stagnate.

Twenty years of University of Chicago research in more than 400 schools has shown that schools that were strong on at least three of the 5Essentials were 10 times more likely to make substantial gains in improving student reading and math than schools that were weak on three or more of the Essentials. Those differences remained true even after controlling for student and school characteristics, including poverty, race, gender, and neighborhood characteristics. Strength on components within the Essentials also correlated with increased teacher retention, student attendance, college enrollment, and high school graduation.

Principals and superintendents will receive their 5Essentials Reports in March 2017. Survey results will also be reported publically on the 2017 State School Report Card website.

An optional parent survey will again be available to all schools as a supplement to the 5Essentials Survey for teachers and students—results from the parent survey supplement will be included only in the individual school 5Essential Reports.

photo via District 202