Plainfield SD 202 elementary leaders describe kindergarten redesign, literacy gains and math interventions

Plainfield School District 202 elementary administrators presented districtwide enrollment and assessment data and described changes to kindergarten and classroom instruction during an Oct. 15 meeting of district administrators and the Board committee.

Administrators said the district is emphasizing language development across early grades and is pairing that focus with targeted literacy and math interventions. “Language development — I hope — is one of the things that you hear throughout here,” said Casey Hartman, middle school curriculum instruction director for elementary education.

The presentation grouped three main topics: a kindergarten redesign launched this year, ongoing literacy work tied to the state literacy audit, and math interventions aimed at critical transition grades.

Why it matters: administrators said the changes are intended to improve school readiness and downstream performance on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), particularly in mathematics where progress has been less consistent districtwide.

Key data and takeaways

- Enrollment and school-size snapshot: administrators said the district’s 18 elementary schools range from about 259 students at Crystal Lawns to about 708 at Wauwat Oaks, with a district elementary average near 560 students.

- English learners: the districtwide percentage of EL students ranges widely by building; administrators reported a district average of about 19% EL students, with one building (Lakewood Falls) at roughly 38% and Lincoln reported at about 10%.

- IAR results (elementary buildings, report-card year 2024–25): administrators said ELA building-level IAR scores ranged from a low of about 28 (Grand Prairie) to a high of about 64 (Walkers Grove), with a reported average of 42 across buildings. Math scores ranged from about 17 (Grand Prairie) to about 58 (Freedom), with a reported average around 34.

Kindergarten redesign

Administrators described several changes implemented this year intended to support socialization, language and developmentally appropriate instruction. Jeff Schafermeyer, principal at Walkers Grove, described the first four days of school this year as a staggered A/B start (alphabet split) that let teachers work with roughly half of a class at a time to teach routines and procedures. He said the district also added a guided recess (teacher‑led play and social skills instruction), a half‑time kindergarten paraprofessional who serves across classes, and 90 minutes of daily “exploration time” for dramatic play and targeted teacher support. “It allowed our kindergarten teachers the opportunity to work with essentially half the class and really work on acclimating them to the building,” Schafermeyer said.

Administrators said the changes were informed by 18 months of planning, classroom visits to other programs and a committee of kindergarten teachers, reading specialists, social workers and building leaders.

Literacy and language development

Administrators said ELA instruction is the district’s most historically developed area and that the recent state literacy audit informs next steps. The district described the audit as a systematic review of strengths and gaps and said future focus will include explicit instruction in speaking and listening (oracy), which administrators described as a pillar of the literacy plan.

Math instruction and interventions

District leaders described math as more “sporadic” than ELA and said they have increased math intervention time across elementary schedules. The district is using targeted resources — cited in the presentation as Envision math and i‑Ready — together with teacher planning and learning specialists to pull small groups for focused skill work. Administrators said four elementary schools currently have full‑time learning specialists and other schools use part‑time specialists; specialists typically lead interventions for students scoring lowest on i‑Ready while enrichment is provided for higher‑level learners.

The district also described “building thinking classrooms,” an instructional approach that organizes students into rotated problem‑solving groups and encourages math talk and multiple solution strategies. “We are now getting students to talk and use vocabulary explicitly about math,” a building leader said.

English learner outcomes

Presenters highlighted a subgroup analysis for five elementary buildings (those with 20 or more former‑EL students in grades 3–5). They reported that former EL students in those buildings scored, on average, about 3.5 percentage points higher than the overall building population in the measures shown, and administrators argued that focused language work supports achievement growth for all students.

Next steps and context

Administrators asked the board and public to attend a fuller data presentation at the next meeting; the district said the committee will return with the full Illinois School Report Card / IAR analysis at the next scheduled session. No formal decisions or votes were taken on curriculum or staffing in the presentation; most items were presented as ongoing initiatives and data updates.

The presentation included principals from multiple elementary schools and district administrators who answered board questions about licensing, staffing pathways for kindergarten endorsements and how building‑level variation affects implementation.