Brookfield - LaGrange Park School District 95

Office of the Administration
3524 Maple Avenue
Brookfield, Illinois 60513
Phone: 708-485-0606 Fax: 708-485-8066
www.district95.org

Dr. Mark L. Kuzniewski
Superintendent

Superintendent

Spring, 2013

Dear District 95 Community:

As we welcome the spring weather, District 95 is preparing to meet the challenges of several state mandates as well as continuing to implement instructional changes to foster continuous improvement.

One change at the State level is the reporting of ISAT test results. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) recently decided to increase the minimum "cut-scores" for the 2013 ISAT. As a result of these higher expectations, ISBE has informed us that all public school districts should expect "to see a significant drop in where students rank in 'meeting' and 'exceeding' standards" when scores of this year's test are reported next fall. In addition to reporting the scores against a more stringent expectation, the State will also be reporting the effectiveness of schools through a new School Report card. This is part of the State's 5 Essentials model for rating a school's effectiveness. The new tool will include survey data from students and teachers with parent responses being optional in the first year.

These changes are being prompted in part by the shift to a federal curriculum know as Common Core Standards (CCS). As such, District 95 has been bracing for upcoming changes by aligning its curriculum with the new CCS. The District has established a process and procedure, developed an implementation time line, and has begun work to complete this alignment process. The District's work over the last four years to solidify differentiated instruction and assessment has proven to be a solid foundation for this work.

With all the changes that are occurring rather quickly within the realm of education, it is important to note that District 95 has purposefully positioned itself to meet the necessary change requirements without losing stride in our work to improve all areas of the District. In doing so, we are beginning the process of examining the manner in which we report grades and reviewing the need to move to a standard based reporting system.

All of these changes certainly can result in a number of questions. In order to facilitate communication, we have scheduled two information nights for the community to help provide clarity to thee changes. Those meeting dates include: March 7 at S.E. Gross from 5:30-6:30 and March 11 at Brook Park from 7:00-8:00.

As always, I invite you to contact me at anytime to discuss the District.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mark Kuzniewski
Superintendent of Schools