Over the past few years, District 200 has been committed to learning acceleration and implementation of new instructional materials in kindergarten through eighth grade. Serving students with varied academic needs has always been part of the educational landscape, but the COVID-19 pandemic created more significant challenges.
District 200’s approach to address unfinished learning as a result of the pandemic, was to focus on acceleration instead of remediation. While we began these efforts as a result of the pandemic, we are so committed to this work that we identified learning acceleration as one of the strategies on the Vision 2026 Strategic Plan.
Adopting new instructional materials has been the main strategy to assist in the recovery of unfinished learning. High-quality instruction materials allow students to engage deeply in rigorous standards and provide teachers with support to teach the grade level content. Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds that were given to school districts across the nation during the pandemic allowed District 200 to purchase these new high-quality instructional materials.
The Federal funds that we used to purchase new materials were a major factor in the success of our learning recovery in math and reading.
All District 200 students in kindergarten through eighth grade are now using our new math materials called Illustrative Math (IM). Each IM lesson includes real world problem based solving experiences. In IM classes, students are often moving around the classroom working with peers, talking, and solving complex math problems.
The ability to utilize the same math materials across elementary and middle schools provides stability for students, which makes for a smoother transition to middle school math. Additionally, the alignment of math in kindergarten through eighth grade allows for more collaboration and coherence within District 200. Math coaches at the elementary and middle school levels engage in common professional learning development and lesson planning collaboration.
In the area of English Language Arts (ELA), kindergarten through fifth grades are in their first year of implementing Bookworms Reading and Writing. Bookworms provides teachers with research-based materials to support instruction in grammar, writing, vocabulary, comprehension, discussion, and targeted foundations skills. One of the reasons Bookworms was selected by our staff is because of the lessons provided for foundational reading skills. Foundational reading skills include print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency. Students in kindergarten through second grade experience a whole group foundational skills lesson and a lesson targeted to each student’s specific needs on a daily basis.
Recently staff in third through fifth grades received training to prepare for full implementation next school year.
At the middle school level, additional curriculum work is underway in the areas of English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Electives. Middle school Language Arts teachers will be piloting two instructional materials next year called StudySync and My Perspectives. The social studies teachers will continue working together to review the updated Illinois Learning Standards and review potential new materials. Updates to electives are underway as well. The goal of updating the middle school electives is to allow students to explore talents and interests to assist in selecting courses in the high school Career Pathways.
At the high school level, we are excited to share that there will be a new course implemented next year called Transitional English. This is a fourth-year English course designed to support students who are projected to be “not ready” for college-level English. District 200 is one of two districts in DuPage County that has completed both the development of this course, and that has received portability approval by the College of DuPage and the ISBE. This approval means that Transitional English students who successfully earn a “C” or better will be able to enroll into a credit-bearing English course at any public college or university in the state of Illinois.
District 200 will always be committed to providing students with rigorous and up to date learning experiences that inspire, educate, challenge, and support all students as they reach their highest level of learning and personal development. We want to thank District 200 staff for their hard work and dedication to implementing new instructional materials and reviewing current curriculum to support our learning acceleration efforts.
