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District 59 superintendent outlines strategic-plan refresh, reports preliminary gains in reading and math
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Galini presented a strategic-plan refresh focused on high-quality instruction and a high-performance culture and reported preliminary benchmarking gains (reading from 13% to 33%; math from 9% to 31%). The administration outlined interim digital assessments, summer professional learning, and a plan to —reset' how the district uses adaptive digital programs such as i-Ready.
Dr. Galini, the district's superintendent, told the board the district is finalizing a strategic-plan refresh that will emphasize high-quality instruction, leadership development and fiscal stewardship as priorities going into the new school year. The plan will be paired with measurable objectives and a schedule of community listening sessions to gather feedback.
The superintendent said the district is already seeing early assessment improvements this year. "At the start of the year we were at 13% in reading; our most recent data this afternoon shows 33% on-grade-level in reading. For math we moved from 9% to 31%," Tom, a district cabinet member responsible for assessment and accountability, told the board. The administration cautioned that testing is not complete and that more work remains to raise results for larger groups of students.
Why it matters: the refresh is intended to align classroom instruction, professional development and district goals so teachers and leaders are working from the same priorities. Administrators said interim digital assessments will give teachers more frequent, actionable data so instruction can be adjusted in real time.
The district also announced a digital-resource —reset' for tools used in classrooms. Dr. Galini and Dr. Robinson said the goal is to use diagnostic benchmarking (the district currently uses i-Ready for benchmarking) while limiting the amount of adaptive, out-of-class digital practice that has grown in some classrooms. "We need to reset how we use personalized pathways so they support, not replace, strong teacher-led instruction," Dr. Robinson said.
The board was told the district will develop interim digital assessments on a roughly six-week cadence, make those assessments ready for teachers prior to instruction, and use existing grant funds to fund summer professional learning for instructional leaders. The administration emphasized it will retain high-exposure, grade-level instruction in the core classroom while using intervention periods and interventionists for targeted supports.
Next steps: the board will receive additional drafts of the strategic plan and a rollout schedule for interim assessments and summer professional learning. The superintendent also said the district will continue community outreach for feedback before formally adopting the refresh and implementation plan.
