Monthly District Newsletter
November 2024
Illinois State Report Cards Released: All High Schools Achieve Commendable Status
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has released the annual Illinois Report Card, detailing our academic progress for the 2024 school year. The data is available on their website at www.illinoisreportcard.com, providing an overview of our district’s performance.
This year, we are pleased to announce that all three of our high schools received a designation of Commendable, including Proviso East High School, which has improved its standing from Targeted to Commendable. Each school’s performance is assessed through a Summative Designation that reflects academic achievements and student success. The five designations are Exemplary, Commendable, Targeted, Comprehensive, and Intensive. The schools are evaluated based on five academic performance indicators and three school quality and student success indicators, totaling eight indicators: Graduation Rate, Science Proficiency, English Language Arts (ELA) Proficiency, Math Proficiency, English Learner Proficiency, 9th Grade on Track, Chronic Absenteeism, and Culture and Climate.
This year, our graduation rate has reached 87%, a slight decline from last year's 88%. The percentage of students who are 9th Grade on Track has decreased significantly, falling from 73.6% in 2023 to 62% in 2024. In Science Proficiency, we have made remarkable progress, increasing from 20% last year to 38% this year.
However, we recognize that there are significant areas that require our attention, particularly ELA and Math Proficiency. ELA proficiency has increased from 14% in 2023 to 16% in 2024, while Math proficiency has improved from 9% to 11%. Although these percentages reflect incremental progress, we acknowledge the need for continued efforts to enhance student learning outcomes.
In terms of attendance, we are striving to improve our rates. Chronic Absenteeism has decreased from 66% in 2023 to 59% in 2024, and Chronic Truancy has also shown improvement, dropping from 63% to 54%.
While we face challenges, the positive progress in several key areas reflects the hard work and dedication of our students, staff, and the community. As we move forward, we are committed to continuing to enhance our educational offerings and support systems to ensure that every student can achieve their fullest potential.
Proviso East English Language Learners Team Meets with Savvas for Instructional Coaching
On October 7, 2024, Nancy Christman, Education Consultant from Savvas, visited Proviso East High School to work with the EL Team: Ms. Catherine Bojalad, Ms. Patricia Gonzalez, Ms. Karen Hayslett, and Ms. Amal Daradi. Mr. Dimitrius “Jim” Kallieris and Ms. Angela Marino, District Coordinators, helped facilitate the session. Ms. Christman showed teachers how to use the unit planning guide to align standards with Lexile levels, text selections, first read strategies, and close read strategies.
Teachers explored “myPerspectives Plus” in the English Learner Support section including Q-Reads, Reality Central, and Accessible Level Texts to accommodate the different language proficiency levels in their classrooms. Teachers Toolkit provided further resources for teaching grammar, writing, and vocabulary development to build literacy skills. Teachers examined the Listenwise Current Events to provide non-readers and low-level readers with practice in listening comprehension while perusing the Hook and Inspire section for generating questions, building background knowledge, and making connections.
Mr. Kallieris was impressed with the Language Support materials provided by Savvas while Ms. Marino was excited about the collaboration opportunities during PLC time.
“Teachers are the experts on their students in their classrooms. Giving them a common duty period to collaborate on best practices in EL provides a tremendous opportunity for student growth and professional learning.”
Ms. Christman will return to Proviso East to work with the EL Team in February.
PMSA Freshmen Team Meets with Savvas for Instructional Coaching
On October 7, 2024, Nancy Christman visited PMSA to work with the IH Survey of Literature (Grade 9) Team: Ms. Silvia Foti and Ms. Robyn Phifer. Ms. Angela Marino, District Coordinator for ELA and the Arts, helped facilitate the session. Ms. Christman showed teachers how to use the Text Complexity chart that measures the knowledge demands, text structure, language & conventionality, and levels of meaning/purpose with extension activities.
Teachers explored the Hook & Inspire section including intro, through, and beyond reading activities. These activities “hook” students into the theme of the text, make it more relevant and more accessible, help them during their reading to bring the text alive, and then “inspire’ them to pursue extension activities.”
During this training, Ms. Christman discussed with the teachers the importance of student-generated questioning, helping students learn about wonderment, text-based, and inference type questions. This technique raises the level of rigor in the classroom and give students practice in metacognition. Teachers begin with first read strategies and move students to a close reading of the text during which students can generate who, what, why, when, where, and how questions. Alignment to Bloom’s taxonomy occurs as Depth of Knowledge levels are identified, increasing higher order thinking skills and college readiness.
“I have students participate in a whole class student-led discussion” explained Ms. Silvia Foti, PMSA ELA Teacher. “They are nervous at first, but then learn how to ask good questions and think at a higher level.”
Ms. Christman will return to PMSA to work with the Freshmen Team in December.
Proviso Staff Participate in October Inservice Day
On October 24, 2024, Proviso Township High Schools District 209 staff took part in a half-day in-service dedicated to professional development, focusing on enhancing classroom technology integration. Among the sessions held was “Tech Up!”, where educators explored innovative tools like Turnitin, Nearpod, EdPuzzle, WeVideo, Everfi, and Schoology. These sessions aimed to equip teachers with technology skills to foster positive student outcomes. Proviso West science teacher Ms. Klonowski expressed enthusiasm, sharing, “Sometimes they present on something you’ll never end up using, but this program I really like!” Mr. Fischer, an English teacher at Proviso East, added, “I would like more time to explore this resource for my students. I want to use it right away.” With more professional development opportunities scheduled for the spring semester, Proviso educators are committed to advancing their technological proficiency to support student success.
Savvas Education Consultant Visits Proviso West for Year 2 Implementation
On October 28, 2024, Nancy Christman, Education Consultant for Savvas, returned to Proviso West High School for the second year of our textbook adoption series myPerspectives for English classes in grades 9-12.
Year 1 included classroom visits, model lessons, and co-taught lessons at all three campuses. Virtual sessions were also provided to discuss instructional strategies for diverse learners, English learners, and students in the Honors program.
This year, new ELA teachers at Proviso West will continue to receive coaching and modeling of standards-aligned units of study that follow the gradual release of responsibility model while Special Education ELA teachers focus on strategies for diverse learners using the Savvas Realize platform. During the Focused Coaching session, teachers learned how to use the accessible texts, QReads for students reading below grade level, and the Toolkit in the student edition that includes first and close reading strategies, writing samples, and vocabulary lessons for whole group and small group instruction.
Ms. Martha Williams plans to use the Toolkit in her co-taught class with Ms. Angda Goel.
Mr. Kevin Morrow stated, “The accessible text feature is perfect for Beowulf for my seniors.”
Ms. Melissa Gadau found the resources very helpful and looks forward to using the QReads with her English 2 Instructional class.
Mr. Colin Doyle will design lessons with Ms. Christman at her next visit.
Ms. Christman spent the afternoon in Mr. Michael Costello’s EL classroom, modeling a lesson on student-generated questioning using a Spanish guitars article. Students engaged in developing their own questions about the text to enhance their reading and speaking skills.
By the end of the day, Mr. Costello taught the lesson and found the exercise productive and relevant.
All ELA teachers across the three campuses will engage in virtual PD throughout the year.
Teachers look forward to additional support from Savvas.
