Dear Parents and Guardians,
In 2014, the LFHS District 115 Board of Education charged the administration with ensuring "significant intellectual, social, and emotional growth for every student." We have made substantial gains focusing on each and every student in our academic program by providing increased levels of opportunity and support. This has been accomplished through:
- expanding subject resource center supports
- offering concerted professional development for our staff and parents on executive functioning
- clarifying expectations of what we want students to know and be able to do
- changing our school day to offer more opportunities for students
- increasing opportunities for students to "ladder" up to more rigorous coursework
- eliminating barriers to rigorous coursework
The result of this work has been, among many things, a dramatic increase in the number of students accessing "their next level of challenge" coursework and a record-high number of students accessing, taking, and passing AP tests.
However, the hardest challenge before us is assessing social and emotional growth. While we have sound definitions of social/emotional well-being through the Illinois Learning Standards adopted by the state, we lack a valid and reliable assessment for student social/emotional growth.
Gallup has spent the better part of the past decade researching student hope, well-being, entrepreneurial aspirations, and financial literacy. These are sometimes called "non-cognitive factors in student learning." Gallup student surveys are brief and actionable, asking questions parents care about when entrusting their students to our schools. Gallup has determined that simple questions produce clear answers, such as, "Do you have a best friend at school?" and "Do you have at least one teacher who makes you hopeful for the future?" These questions go straight to the heart of the school experience for students and the school's ability to effectively serve every student at Lake Forest High School.
On Monday, October 23, sophomores will complete this brief survey. Survey responses are anonymous and reported to us by grade. We hope our students take the brief survey seriously, and we expect to gain more knowledge and understanding of how best to serve your students on a social and emotional level.
Sincerely,
Michael Simeck
