Oak Park principals present school improvement plans centering focus cohorts and tier‑1 instructional practices

Leaders from Longfellow and Lincoln elementary schools presented school improvement logic models Tuesday night at the Oak Park ESD 97 Board of Education meeting, saying they are concentrating instructional and social‑emotional work on a district focal cohort so that improvements to core Tier‑1 practice benefit all students.

The two presentations outlined similar approaches: (1) identify a school focal cohort — at both sites the cohort includes Black students and often overlaps with multilingual learners, students with individualized education programs and students eligible for free or reduced‑price lunch — (2) use Universal Design for Learning and standards‑aligned Tier‑1 instruction to raise outcomes for that cohort, and (3) surface student voice and family engagement to shape interventions.

Why it matters: District staff said focusing resources on a small, defined cohort is intended to reduce persistent opportunity gaps by improving core instruction and school climate so that gains “scale up” across classrooms.

Longfellow Elementary Principal Amy Jefferson described a schoolwide process of building leadership team work, weekly data conversations and classroom professional development tied to Universal Design for Learning. Third‑grade teacher Allison Nelson described classroom practices to cultivate a growth mindset and “productive struggle,” citing Building Thinking Classrooms strategies used in math and grade‑level trivia and project activities tied to nonfiction writing for ELA practice. Nelson said, “We do use pre and post test check ins and constructive feedback,” and described classroom techniques such as problem‑solving boards that preserve student thinking instead of erasing mistakes.

Longfellow said the school completed individual interviews with every student in its focal cohort this year; staff disaggregated responses to identify “glows and grows.” Glows included students reporting trusting relationships with multiple adults; growth areas included conflict‑resolution skills in upper grades and gaps in executive‑functioning supports. Longfellow described targeted responses: lunchtime check‑ins, recess supervision changes, reinstituting an optional alternative lunch/recess for overstimulated students, and adding organizers, checklists and timers for executive‑functioning skill support.

At Lincoln Elementary, Principal Mary Anne Rayfield said the school has 554 students and 61 identified focal‑cohort students. Lincoln shared six “simplified structures” that guide professional learning and classroom practice — including daily community meetings, integrating social‑emotional learning beyond discrete lessons, and data‑driven collaborative planning. Rayfield said staff use NWEA (fall) and Panorama (belonging/engagement) data to set year‑end goals and to map progress.

Lincoln highlighted steps taken after student voice work: a “soft start” option when a student reported difficulty with early arrival, procurement of noise‑canceling headphones when a student requested them, and more science experiments when students requested additional science exposure. Rayfield said the school is intentionally using building leadership and MTSS teams to align instruction and supports and emphasized co‑teaching and special education services as “what is good for one is good for all.”

Board questions focused on measurable short‑term wins, parent engagement, and transition supports for fifth graders moving to middle school. Longfellow and Lincoln staff described family outreach strategies: curriculum nights, newsletters with homework examples and passwords for digital resources, targeted family coffee hours and teacher outreach to families of focal‑cohort students. On transition to middle school, both schools described joint visits with middle‑school staff and summer bridge programming contact points to reduce family anxiety.

District context and next steps: The principals said these logic models feed into a district monitoring process. Schools will continue trimester data dives, and district leaders said they expect to return with updates and cross‑school syntheses later this spring.

Ending: Both schools asked the board for continued attention to replicating classroom practices that showed early wins and to supporting district‑level work that helps translate school models into consistent, measurable improvements across sites.