D-15 evaluates its progress toward a 21st century education
Plans underway to develop a Community Curriculum Advisory Committee as well as new student performance targets.
Perhaps it was the timing – it was the end of a four day weekend. Or maybe it was the weather. Regardless of the reason, the turnout for Community Consolidated School District 15’s second Navigate15 community engagement session on Jan. 18 was significantly less than the first one in November.
The evening’s topic was curriculum. What do our children need to know to be successful in the future? Arguably the most important of the six discussion topics planned to get district residents involved and provide their input to set long term goals for the district.
Much of the hour long presentation focused on the development of new Illinois Learning Standards designed to incorporate new math and English/language arts academic standards for K-12 education. The goal is to better prepare Illinois students for success in college and the workplace in a competitive global economy.
However, the implementation of these new standards still are a few years away and a corresponding assessment system to evaluate student progress will not be in place until the 2014-2015 school year.
It also can be argued that District 15 cannot wait another four years to make changes to its elementary and junior high curriculums. Too many children now are not prepared to take advantage of rigorous high school courses at Palatine and Fremd high schools.
So it was encouraging to hear Mary Zarr, District 15’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction announce at the conclusion of her presentation that the district wants to develop an ongoing Community Curriculum Advisory committee. The plan is to have information nights, similar to the Navigate15 format, to show parents and others what is being taught now in the classrooms – and to find out if it reflects the type of education the community expects for its children.
The district also is actively working on new Student Performance Targets. These most likely will be presented to board members after the April 5 school board election.
However, the general consensus of those in attendance was that District 15 does need to strengthen its curriculum in order to meet the needs of its 21st century learners. It’s not a new idea and has been brought up before when district goals were determined a year ago – but voted down by a majority of the current board.
One critical question raised during the curriculum presentation was how to evaluate whether a student has understood the material presented in class by his teachers.
What will we do if they haven’t learned it? If they are not learning, there are many ways a teacher can differentiate instruction to help a child succeed.
That same question can be asked to determine if our school board understands the opinions expressed by its constituents. If they are not listening and incorporating community input into their decisions, what can you do?
But before any input can be understood and acted upon by the board, it must be received – and Navigate15 is one way.
After all, they can’t learn if we aren’t teaching them.
For future meeting dates and topics, check out the Navigate15 webpage.
celtic citizen
11:48 am on Thursday, January 27, 2011
Nice job, Ms. Mondy, on putting a negative spin on the school district doing exactly what you have been saying they need to do all along. This meeting utilizes transparency, community input, and quick movement to increase the rigor of our curriculum- yet you turned this into another dig at the school board (go ahead and name the four you don't like if you are going to use the transparency you so clamor for). People like you will never be happy with this school district. Your OPINION page should have the title "District 15 Education Stinks", because that is what your opinion conveys EVERY time you publish here.
celtic citizen
11:55 am on Thursday, January 27, 2011
Here is evidence of your extremely negative "opinion" of our world class schools- I just looked at the titles of your most recent "opinion" articles:
-Are D-15 Students on Track for College? – Part II (this one merited TWO articles from you)
-D-15 Must Get Students on Path for College
-D-211’s Academic Initiatives for Struggling Freshmen
-Lower than forecasted CPI brings even bigger deficits in D-15 (this one implies the CPI is controlled by D15)
-Vote NO to Move District 15 Forward
Why do you even send your children to school here in this school district? You obviously think this is the most substandard school system around.
The Palatine Patch needs to find a better "opinion" contributer.
Scott
1:22 pm on Friday, January 28, 2011
Celtic citizen would rather you just write about rainbows and puppies.
Maryb
12:01 pm on Saturday, January 29, 2011
That would be rainbows with pots of gold at the bottom.
celtic citizen
1:55 pm on Saturday, January 29, 2011
LOL Scott and Maryb!
Literacygirl
1:26 pm on Sunday, January 30, 2011
I agree with Celtic. "The Patch" is extremely anti-District 15 and very anti-teachers. It's very disgusting. You would think that these journalists would at least try to remain somewhat unbiased.
badge
8:44 pm on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
enough with the district 15 bashing, its boring. i agree with celtic citizen and literacygirl it seems like a personal grudge with board members, not constructive criticism.
Kathy O.
10:06 am on Saturday, February 5, 2011
Honestly, I reread this article and didn't see anything "bashing" D15. How is covering a news story "bashing"? I agree with Scott and Maryb. Trying to stop journalists from writing a story and keeping the public informed is what is truly "disgusting" - to borrow a word from Literacygirl. Celtic Citizen, those stories you bring up are informative, what are you so afraid about?
badge
5:18 am on Wednesday, February 9, 2011
It's not strictly jornalism, it is opinion, and it says so right under the authur's picture. So the author has a POV. The the tenor of the opinion piece is that the Borard members can't understand the input they are getting from constituents. That they are somehow unable to "Learn", and I consinder the articale a "bash"job. And frankly this author has little to say positively about district 15, and I feel in the long run that is not good for the students.
Kathy O.
9:22 am on Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Badge, I respectfully disagree about the "bashing". It also bothers me that you are bringing up the "for the good of the student" argument again. I don't think that is the real problem (that is just my opinion.)
If the author and others in the community have an opinion and one that can be backed up with facts, it is best to talk about it to make positive change not just try and end the discussion by trying to silence the author.
Claude B
2:48 pm on Friday, February 25, 2011
Perhaps this article should have made reference to the USA's ranking against other countries with respect to elementry education then made a comparison of how Illinois standards stack up against other states and then finally how D15 performs to current Illinois Standards. D15's mission statement is to create world class learners. So is it bashing if the author makes comments to D15's performance against world class standards?
So some quick facts...
On the MAP tests against the national averages D15's averages in Reading 6th grade is 64% percential in Math 6th grade is 68% percential. (So if the USA ranks 23rd in Math among developed nations and D15 is not in the top 25% of USA schools .....)
The competition for college spots is much greater for today's students than a generation ago and much of the competition is from global learners. So there is a very real need to prepare our students to be able to compete for a college spot by preparing them for HS so that they can be successful in HS.