At Wednesday's meeting of the Unit 5 school board, members spent the majority of time hearing and discussing updates to standards-based practices that met heavy resistance at least at the high school level when initially implemented several years ago.
Standards-based practices are meant to provide uniformity in the process for all district schools to follow. Assistant superintendent Michelle Lamboley said the practices can be broken into three prongs: learning, grading and reporting, which all get their own standards.
The district began adopting the model, starting with elementary schools, around 2016, according to Lamboley. Task forces convened more recently based on feedback from parents and teachers the past two years that resulted from surveys and focus groups designed to find improvements that could be made to the current system.
“So some of the things that we found from the surveys and focus groups was that students, families and staff were in support of standards-based learning,” said Unit 5’s Executive Director of Student Success Kristal Shelvin. “But there was a need to make some adjustments in standards-based grading and reporting at each grade level.”
The main change in grading when the district shifted to standards-based grading was that teachers were asked to use a numeric rubric.
Multiple presenters on Wednesday said the overall finding from the task forces is the need for consistency in grading across schools and teachers in the district.
Mauren Backe, who directs elementary education for the district and led the task force for the grade unit, said that means revised rubrics that give clearer descriptions of the standards set forth for grading by the state, with examples.
“This was really important,” she said. “It just gives more details. It really reduces that subjectivity from the teacher lens.”
She added it’s now also clearer for parents and caregivers so they can see how students can obtain fours — the highest rating on the elementary rubric. Additional changes to improve teacher methods and practices for tracking grades also were recommended and some already were put into use this academic year.
Deidre Ripka, the district’s director of secondary education, said the objectives for the middle school and high school task forces she led were two-prong: “Number one that the grade should reflect true student learning” and number two “is making grades bias-resistant.”
To aid students whose grades may not reflect the full value of their work, Ripka said the task force discussed implementing policies for reassessments and late work, to give students second chances.
“So that students can show what they have learned, and it doesn't matter if they're having a bad day and ‘Oh, I have this summative assessment,’” she said.
On the bias end, she said the task force recommends removing subjective language in grading guidance and opportunities for extra credit that can unfairly give some students advantages. She said these are all expected to go into effect next academic year, as well.
Additional changes also are expected and Lamboley said the goal is to continue convening groups and improving the standards-based practice model down the line.
Most of the adjustments are set to roll out next year. However, some, including an effort to make information more accessible and understandable to parents and caregivers have already been implemented. Lamboley said a one-pager is available, as well as a video that explains how to navigate Infinite Campus — which is the site the district uses to manage information surrounding attendance, grades and test scores.
Multiple board members asked questions about how the district plans to track the progress and success of adjustments being made, to which Director of Accessibility & Accountability Darrin Cooper said it’s too early to start that conversation. First, he said the new procedures need to be installed.
Other business
On the consent agenda, board members approved a new math curriculum in the elementary schools and junior highs. Superintendent Kristen Weikle said it’s the first time the district has made such an update in two decades. She said it follows a pilot program in various grade levels and is in line with the National Councilors of Teachers of Mathematics’ best practices.
Weikle also took time during the superintendent’s address to reiterate the county’s facility needs and how it plans to use the school sales tax funds if the referendum is approved by voters on April 1. She said in addition to around $52 million in necessary and largely immediate facility repair needs, the district is eyeing the revenue to support staff salaries and add security measures.
“I can't say vote yes or vote no,” she said. “I just ask that you go out and vote and make an informed vote.”
Weikle also walked everyone through the transparency dashboard Unit 5 created for the sales tax that includes estimated costs for facilities repairs and property tax relief. District 87 and a handful of other districts have made similar spreadsheets.
Due to severe weather warnings Wednesday afternoon, students at some Unit 5 schools were impacted. Weikle addressed the matter, stating that in the case where students were stopped from boarding buses and asked to shelter in the school, it was a safety move.
“We're trying to make, in the moment, decisions with real students on buses, where maybe bus drivers don't even have great visibility to continue to drive, you know, on the path that they intended,” she said.
