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District outlines instructional playbook, AVID electives and benchmark gains in math and reading
Summary
Joliet Township’s office of educational services reported implementation steps for a district instructional identity, AVID electives, professional learning, and benchmark results showing growth in math and reading. Leaders recommended continued investment in intervention staff and AVID professional development.
Joliet Township High School District 204’s educational services team presented semester work on an instructional identity, an emerging instructional playbook, AVID elective expansion and benchmark data showing student growth in math and reading.
District leaders said they developed a district instructional identity and a one‑page set of instructional norms (lesson beginning, middle, end) and are building a playbook of classroom strategies aligned to those norms. The office is using AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) as a change‑management and instructional resource, operating AVID elective sections at the freshman level and planning professional development and an AVID summer institute for teachers and leaders as the program expands across grades.
The presentation described a three‑tier MTSS framework: Tier 1 (core instruction for all students), Tier 2 (additional supports such as 55‑minute literacy or math learning labs and double‑block math) and Tier 3 (interventionists who pull out or push in for targeted supports). District officials said online tutoring (funded by federal grants) offered 918 scheduled sessions in semester one and is available to all students evenings and weekends; building‑day learning labs and math interventionists provide in‑school supports during advisory or lunch periods.
Benchmarking: Renaissance Star fall‑to‑winter benchmarks showed growth for several grade‑level instructional groups in algebra and reading. The presenters said instructional groups that had been in the 30s growth percentile have shifted toward expected or above‑expected growth (35–65 percentile expected band), and some intervention measures (IXL growth and math interventionist outcomes) averaged more than one grade level of growth for students served in semester one. The team asked the board to consider adding a math interventionist at Central next year because Central serves more students in double‑block math and therefore has greater demand for intervention supports.
District coaches and teachers emphasized supports for multilingual learners, increased use of Newsela (an adaptive reading platform) and IXL (practice and growth tracking) and the creation of watch lists and MTSS data days to monitor progress. The team also recommended additional release time for freshman teams and continued alignment of school improvement days and new‑teacher orientation with the instructional playbook.
Board members asked about AVID elective enrollment (open but not required; several sections at the 9th‑grade level at both campuses), bilingual staffing for intervention roles, and where the district stands relative to the 80/15/5 MTSS distribution goal. Presenters said they will supply breakdowns by subgroup and continue to use data to drive staffing recommendations and professional learning.
