District 65 leaders outline instructional framework, building-thinking classrooms and tweak standards-based grading rollout

District 65’s teaching-and-learning team used the Committee of the Whole meeting on Aug. 4 to review a new instructional framework, describe school-level school work plans and report changes to standards-based grading reporting based on staff and parent input. Regina Colquitt and Sonia Radhakrishnan, directors on the district teaching-and-learning team, said the framework centers curriculum standards, relationships/community building and instructional practice. The presentation identified eight high-impact, content-agnostic instructional practices; the district will focus first on three practices aligned with standards-based grading and “building thinking classrooms” in pilot schools. Why it matters: The framework is intended to align district curriculum, school professional development and school work plans so classroom practice and district assessment/reporting produce more consistent measures of student learning. What administrators presented - Instructional framework: The district will lift three focal practices this year…