District approves three-year improvement plan for Churchill School after targeted designation

The Board of Education of Homeless School District 153 voted Aug. 11 to approve a three-year school improvement plan for Churchill School after the state designated the school as "targeted." The plan prioritizes growth for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and 504 plans, setting a goal of a 5 percentage-point increase in English language arts growth for that subgroup and similar targets in math and attendance.

The plan matters because the state’s targeted designation followed data showing students with disabilities at Churchill did not grow as much as their peers, district and school leaders said. "When the state gave money, they wanted you to focus on your children with disabilities," Churchill principal Tara Peacock told the board during the Aug. 11 presentation. "When you impact any population, it's gonna impact the entire population."

School leaders described a three-year cycle that begins with one year of planning and then three years of implementation. Key strategies include professional development and coaching for novice and veteran teachers, expanding co-taught classrooms from one to two per grade level, conducting learning walks to check fidelity of implementation, providing dedicated resource time for specialized instruction tied to IEP goals, and sharing assessment results with families every six weeks via Forefront reports and a new communication folder.

Peacock said the 5-point ELA target — from 50.13% growth for students with disabilities to an expected 55% — was chosen after reviewing recent year-to-year swings: "When we looked at our data from the past, we had dropped 5% from the previous year...so we thought if we lost 5, let's at least gain that 5 back." For math, the plan sets a comparable target, moving the subgroup from 33.75% growth to 39% growth on the district’s measures.

The plan also addresses chronic absenteeism: district staff explained Illinois counts a student who misses more than 10% of days as chronically absent and that the school intends to lower its chronic absenteeism rate below 20% with revised attendance procedures, increased parent communication and incentives for high attendance. Peacock described steps such as positive phone calls, homeroom rewards, and using the Regional Office of Education to pursue follow-up when absences accumulate.

During Q&A, a board member asked whether the decline noted in state scores referred to the subgroup or the total population; Peacock said administrators examined both and found the drop was larger for students with disabilities and linked in part to scheduling changes that reduced minutes for ELA and math in a prior year. The board approved the Churchill School improvement plan by voice and roll call vote.

The plan will be monitored with monthly fidelity checks and trimester meetings to adjust groupings and interventions based on updated assessment data. The school will use NWEA MAP testing three times per year to measure growth and Forefront for local assessment tracking. The approval makes the plan active for the next three school years and allows the district to access state-targeted funds designated for improvement.

The board did not adopt additional policy changes specific to Churchill at the meeting; instead, members stressed monitoring progress and returning with data during the plan’s implementation cycle.