Oct. 25, 2024
Shine Bright with Supt. Rebecca A. Jenkins
Dear District 70 Families,
It has been a busy fall in District 70! While busyness is not necessarily something to strive for, our busy fall has been full of learning, growth, and opportunities.
A few weeks ago, we had the honor of hosting the Illinois State Board of Education Lake Division meeting at Highland Middle School. Senators Edly-Allen, Johnson, McConchie, and Representatives Didech and Favre Dias were in attendance and shared important information with board members about education in the state of Illinois.
This week we celebrated our Principals during Illinois Principals Week. Coming up are musicals, performances, classroom parties, and athletic competitions on top of our daily commitment to learn together! Busy but wonderful, indeed.
Our staff is also beginning to prepare for one of the most important meetings of the year – Parent Teacher Conferences. Conferences will take place on November 13 and 14. Please make a plan now to be available to meet with your child’s teacher(s); we value your partnership and participation.
Shine Bright!
Rebecca
Rebecca A. Jenkins
Superintendent of Schools
Libertyville School District 70
Rebecca's Twitter
Rebecca's Instagram
Hands-on practice of the STOP strategy took place with Dr. Amie Krummick and Coaching Coordinator Danya Sundh in Amy Hays Copeland Manor classroom. Students were able to take note of the Space, Time, Objects, and People in the library and the office.
Congrats to our Fire Safety Poster Contest winners - Nancy K. (winning fifth grade school wide, Grand Prize, and Regional Champ!), Vivian Q. and Violeta V., both grade level school wide champions!
Sending a Test Emergency Notification on Nov. 8
District 70 will send out a TEST of the emergency notification system on Friday, Nov. 8, at around 6 pm. If you do not receive this test within 30 minutes of 6 pm, please email your school main office with new information on a correct phone number, and/or email address.
This system is used when schools are closed for a Snow Day or for eLearning.
Making Schools Safer by Relocating Video Intercoms
Exciting changes are coming to D70! The relocation of video intercoms to the outside of each building's main entrance will significantly boost security. With an extra set of locked doors, visitors will now need to communicate with the front office through the intercom, allowing staff to grant access based on purpose.
Once inside the secure vestibule, visitors can sign in using the visitor management system. For parents and guardians dropping off items, there will be a designated table or cart in the vestibule, ensuring a smooth and secure process. This enhancement is expected to be completed by late October or early November, all aimed at creating a safer environment for everyone.
Families Learning Together is a District 70 initiative to provide learning opportunities for our parents, staff, caregivers and community.
This year District 70 has partnered with FAN. FAN is an organization that curates a high-quality speaker series for local school districts and other government groups. These events are free for our families and staff to attend.
FAN Topic: Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me
Presenters: Glory Edim
Interviewer: Natalie Y. Moore
Date: November 1, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Location: Zoom Link: www.bit.ly/EdimFANSponsor
Program Information:
Edim is a literary tastemaker, entrepreneur, and advocate for diverse voices in literature. In 2015, she founded Well-Read Black Girl, an online platform and book club dedicated to celebrating the works of Black women authors and creating a supportive online community for readers. Edim's new memoir is a homage to all the books (and libraries) that helped her to become the leader that she is. She traces her path through the inspirational words of the sisterhood of Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, and others. We're excited that FAN fave Natalie Y. Moore will interview Edim -- she always brings nuanced questions and an easy manner.
Presenters: Christine Crawford, MD, MPH
Interviewer: TBD
Date: November 18, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Location: Zoom Link: Coming Soon
Program Information:
Crawford is the associate medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the country’s largest grassroots mental health organization. She is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair of Education at the Boston University School of Medicine and provides outpatient psychiatric care to children and adolescents at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Crawford has compiled an invaluable resource, and it includes many stories from patients and parents about their paths to recovery.
All FAN event videos are posted to FAN's YouTube channel, linked here.
K-5 Standards-Based Report Cards
Report cards are issued three times a year on a trimester schedule in Libertyville School District 70. The purpose of a report card is to communicate student progress toward achieving end-of-year objectives that are based on the Illinois Learning Standards.
A standards-based report card:
provides a clear message to parents about which skills and concepts students know and are able to demonstrate in relation to established state and national standards;
helps teachers and students focus on identified end-of-year expectations from the very beginning of the year, giving students a direction for their learning;
aligns instruction, assessment, and grading with standards;
and creates a higher level of consistency and continuity in assessing among teachers and across grade levels
Standards-based assessment is based on the belief that every child can learn given quality instruction and ample opportunity for practice. Standards-based assessment is used to help every student understand where they are in relation to meeting standards so they can improve and to help teachers accurately communicate progress toward learning targets or benchmarks to students and parents. This is different from traditional assessment and reporting, which gives a single letter or number grade for broad subject categories. It also uses averaging of student work over time and other student characteristics such as work habits and effort. A standards-based report card puts the emphasis on student learning. Standards-based assessment focuses solely on a student’s academic achievement and continued mounting evidence that indicates a true measure of the student’s attainment of learning targets (such as the ability to write a paragraph or add and subtract whole numbers). Extraneous factors like work habits, attendance, and effort are assessed and reported separately, within “Characteristics of Successful Learners.”
Additionally, on a standards-based report card, subjects are divided into a list of skills and knowledge that students are responsible for learning. Students receive a separate mark for each standard.
Performance descriptors on the report card do not correlate with letter grades. The following performance descriptors are used to indicate a student’s progress in meeting academic learning standards:
Extends - The student consistently demonstrates an understanding and application of skills and concepts beyond what was taught in class.
Meets - The student demonstrates consistent understanding and application of skills and concepts taught in class. The student is consistently on target for meeting established end-of-year, grade level learning objectives. It is not anticipated that students will receive “Meets” in all areas of the report card as many skills and concepts are revisited over the course of a year to support consistent understanding and application.
Approaching - The student demonstrates partial understanding and application of skills and concepts taught in class. The student may require more exposure or practice to fully demonstrate consistent understanding and application. A mark of “Approaching” is expected and often occurs when a new concept or skill is introduced.
Below - The student consistently requires assistance to demonstrate understanding and/or application of skills and concepts taught in class. The student may benefit from work that is adapted or from differentiated instruction in order to demonstrate better understanding or application of skills and concepts.
Blank (not assessed) - The student was not formally assessed this trimester. However this does not mean the student did not receive instruction on this standard or topic.
Standards-based report cards improve teaching and learning. Knowing where the students are in their progress toward meeting standards-based learning objectives is crucial for planning and carrying out classroom instruction. Teachers teach to the needs of each student. Standards-based assessment and report cards give teachers and families information about each student’s progress in meeting the level of proficiency required by each standard.
K-5 report cards will be available to parents on Nov. 21st.
(HMS 6-8th report cards also will be available on Nov. 21st.)
Using the interactive white board at Adler Park School to teach other students how to complete a math problem. Our students are leaders!
Save the Date for Dec. 4th
Join us for our first Special Education Parent Network event!
When: Wednesday, Dec. 4th, 6-8 PM
Where: TBD
Special Education Parent Network
The Special Education Parent Network is designed to create a supportive and collaborative space for families of students with special needs. By bringing together parents and District 70 staff, the network aims to encourage open communication, share valuable resources, and offer guidance throughout your child’s educational journey.
We hope to see you there!
