Board hears middle-school redesign progress, advisory plans and career-exploration work
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Summary
District presenters described a middle-school redesign focused on equity and belonging, reported improved Panorama survey results (sense of belonging up ~14 points), outlined advisory development and 'win time' tiered supports, and previewed career-day plans with high student participation.
Oak Park Elementary School District 97 staff updated the board on progress toward a middle-school redesign intended to increase equity, engagement and students’ sense of belonging.
Lisa Leon and the middle-school team described a redesign guided by middle-level-education best practices and equity principles. Presenters said the district has increased core instructional time, preserved first-choice electives, and added structured social time and daily teacher collaboration. The district’s Panorama survey showed gains in middle-school sense of belonging (presenters cited roughly a 14-point increase), and staff said bullying reports — including online incidents — have trended downward according to student self-reports.
The board heard that advisory structures are in development: a committee is defining advisory goals, resources and an adoption process with implementation planned after committee approvals. Presenters emphasized tiered supports such as a 'win time' model that allows students who had been recommended for tier 2 interventions to return to tier 1 when appropriate, limiting large schedule disruptions.
Career exploration is another focus. Presenters said roughly 94% of students completed a career inventory; top career clusters reported were arts/entertainment/design, health care/human services and management/entrepreneurship. The schools plan career-day events with four rotations for grades 6–8 and asked the community to serve as presenters; school-specific career-day dates were identified for August 18–20. Staff asked the board for permission to use funds to continue the middle-school connection work and reported about 90% participation and roughly 600 student attendees at a recent related event.
Board members praised the results, asked for comparisons to prior-year budgets (presenters said the projected budget is similar to last year), and discussed capacity to scale the work as cohorts expand. The presenters noted that, as the program scales, it will require coordination of staffing and scheduling and will be subject to the board’s eventual funding approval.
Next steps: staff will submit a memo requesting approval to use funds for the middle-school connection work and provide additional budget comparison details on request.
