Principals report standards-based grading, family engagement and math initiatives across district schools

Principals from three elementary schools told the Flossmoor SD 161 board that efforts to implement standards-based grading, strengthen family engagement and boost math proficiency are underway and that early indications are encouraging.

At Flossmoor Hills, Principal Evita McNeil said the school launched a new parent volunteer group — a male caregiver network the school calls “Dad Force 1” — to support recess supervision, coach students in sportsmanship and host open-gym time. McNeil described a recent parent-academy night that explained the district’s standards-based grading approach and introduced a weekly “family data talk” form sent home to help students and parents discuss progress. She said a visiting team from Portage Park Elementary (Chicago Public Schools) observed classrooms and praised the level of student engagement around proficiency scales and data talk practices.

The Heather Hill principal reported work on reading stamina, writing stamina and targeted small-group instruction. The school is using NWEA (MAP) and classroom common assessments together to form in-year groupings and is focusing on foundational phonics screeners for K–3. The principal described efforts to increase collaborative practices among staff and to use accountable-talk sentence stems to deepen student discussions.

At Serena Hills, Principal Beth described a district examination of 5Essentials survey results that led the building leadership team to focus work on collective practice, program coherence and perceptions of student and teacher safety. Among practical changes, Serena Hills implemented a hall-pass system and a limit on bathroom occupancy to reduce incidents of misbehavior and to make students feel safer during transitions. Beth said the school has added daily math talks, is practicing with released IAR items, and scheduled weekly professional development sessions for grades 3–5 focused on mathematical practices and progression of skills.

District staff said they will bring winter assessment data to the board in an upcoming meeting and provide end-of-year school updates later this spring. Trustees acknowledged that many of the improvements described — standards-based grading, small-group instruction and targeted math discourse — require ongoing professional-development time and coordination with the district’s calendar of institute days.

Why it matters: The presentations show district-level alignment around a combination of academic practice (standards-based grading and targeted instruction) and family engagement strategies intended to make classroom learning and assessment more transparent to parents and to improve early-grade foundational skills. Several principals asked the board for continued support for time and resources to sustain the initiatives.

Next steps: Administrators will return to the board with winter-data results and end-of-year SIP updates; principals requested ongoing time for professional development and alignment across grades.