North Cook News

Evanston-Skokie Community Consolidated School District 65 recently issued the following announcement.

The Illinois 5Essentials Survey is now open for teachers, parents, and students. In District 65, we find the information collected as part of the statewide survey to be extremely valuable. We are opting to administer it once again to reflect on progress made since last school year so that we can continue to improve our schools and create an even better environment for teaching and learning.

The survey window opened for Illinois school districts on December 11, 2018 and will be available to District 65 students, staff, and families through February 15, 2019. New this school year, the student portion of the survey has been expanded to include fourth through eighth grade students. During this window, time will be set aside for students to complete the survey between January 8 and February 15, 2019.

To take the survey, please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey. If at least 20 percent of parents from each school complete the survey, a parent supplement will be generated. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child. Survey reports will be sent to district and school administrators in March and results will be included in the State School Report Card in the fall. Thank you in advance for completing the survey and providing this very important and useful feedback.

About the 5Essentials Survey

The survey gathers data related to five indicators that can predict important student outcomes, including improved attendance and larger test score gains. These five indicators that affect and predict school success are:

• Effective Leaders
• Collaborative Teachers
• Involved Families
• Supportive Environments
• Ambitious Instruction

Prior research in more than 400 schools has shown that schools that are strong on at least three of these “5Essentials” indicators are 10 times more likely to improve student learning gains in math and reading than those that are weak on three or more Essentials. This research informed the development of our strategic plan and the survey data is used each year for school improvement planning across the District.

For more information about the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, or to view previous years’ reports, please visit https://illinois.5-essentials.org.

Original source can be found here.