News From the May Board Meeting
|
|
Junior High to Return to Letter Grades
|
|
Following a year of a standards-based grading at Northbrook Junior High, the district is making adjustments for the 2019-20 school year. Student, staff and parent feedback provided useful information in crafting the changes. Superintendent Dr. Larry Hewitt presented the results of the surveys conducted this month at the May 21 Board of Education meeting.
Standards-based grading at the junior high was implemented this year after research and planning by a district-wide Report Card Committee and NBJH staff. The practice relies on a number scale of 1 to 4 to be assigned to each learning standard in a given subject, instead of an overall grade.
“Studying (standards-based grading) can take us only so far. It’s in the actual ‘doing’ that allows us to identify what works and what needs to be changed,” Dr. Hewitt commented.
|
|
Math Enhancements to Launch With New School Year
|
Work is underway to revise and enhance the math program as part of the district’s curriculum review cycle. Updates provided to the Board of Education at the May 21 meeting include:
- Math consultant Kristen Clegg is working with the district’s math interventionists to look at assessments and the pacing calendar – what concepts are taught, the order in which they are taught, and how much time is spent on major and secondary concepts.
- A homework task force for K-5 has formed and is defining the purpose of homework and uniform practices that are age-appropriate across all three elementary schools. The group will finalize their work before the end of the school year.
- The district is in the final interview stages of hiring a math instructional specialist for the junior high.
- Teachers have registered for summer professional development, including 13 sessions on math instruction.
|
|
MAP Scores Will Help Guide Resources
Students in grades 2-8 are taking the NWEA/MAP math tests in May.
MAP tests from NWEA, a research-based, not-for-profit organization, are used by more than 9 million students in the U.S. and 145 countries. MAP tests are computer-adaptive tests, meaning the level of difficulty of the questions a child sees adjusts based on the child’s performance.
Individual results will be sent to parents. The junior high completed the tests earlier this month, and overall results were shared with the Board of Education on May 21.
The grade-level results are a useful tool to assess curriculum and analyze staff resources to support students.
The national norms place 20% of test-takers in each of the five quintiles: high, high avg., average, low avg. and low. The following are the percent of students performing in the top two quintiles (40% nationally):
- 57% of 6th grade high/high avg.
- 65% of 7th grade high/high avg.
- 67% of 8th grade high/high avg.
|
|
Board Appoints New Director of Buildings and Grounds
|
|
Joel Gallegos has been appointed the new Director of Buildings and Grounds. He will start work July 1, upon retirement of Bill Gilstead, who worked at the district for 25 years.
Mr. Gallegos comes to Northbrook from Barrington District 220, where for two years he was Coordinator of Operations, Custodial and Grounds. He managed the day-to-day operations for 12 schools. He also served on the Facilities Committee, which plans for and completes an average of $2.5 million in summer projects annually.
Prior to Barrington, Mr. Gallegos managed custodial operations at College of DuPage for four years and was a facilities manager at Mundelein High School for four years. He began his career as a district manager overseeing corporate facilities.
Joel’s colleagues and supervisors credit him as a knowledgeable, strong team-builder.
He will oversee operations at all four district schools and manage the custodial and maintenance staff.
|
|
Participants in the Illinois Junior Academy of Science State Exposition were invited to the Board of Education meeting to be recognized for their accomplishments. From left is Zoey
Godnik, William Soh, Alice Smagorinsky, Leah Goldberg, Shon Ginzburg, Zoey
Kenny and Maddy Gallinson.
|
|
Students Recognized for State Science Fair Awards
When it comes to science fairs, Northbrook Junior High School students have the right stuff to win. Four NBJH students’ projects presented at the 2019 Illinois Junior Academy of Science State Exposition captured top honors in their category, and a majority of the 25 NBJH students who participated received gold medals.
The school received a first-place trophy for having the most gold awards among schools of similar size at the competition, which was held at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale April 27.
Eighth-grader Paul Bae won a special award, Outstanding Project in Applied Psychology, for his project, “The Effect of Stress on Academic Performance.”
Three other eighth-grade students received Best In Category awards:
- Colin Rowan, in chemistry for “The Effect of Acid on Metals.”
- Shon Ginzburg, received top honors in astronomy for “Heat from the Void” where he determined whether the spin of black holes affects its Hawking radiation.
- Natalie Hong, received top honors in Botany for “Buzz Kill,” which tested the effect of electromagnetic radiation on germination and plant growth.
All of the participants were invited to the Board of Education meeting to be recognized. Zoey Godnik and Felicia Pace gave brief presentations of their projects. Others who participated but were not able to attend are: Paul Bae, Gabriella D’Agaro, Timmy Feng, Natalie Hong, Zoey Kenny, Daniel Kramer, Sarah Kramer, Bella Larsen, Emma Larsen, Jessy Luna, Nate Muhl, Luke Nelson, Felicia Pace, Colin Rowan, Jon Stephenson, Ben Vishnevskiy, Olivia Zhao, and Taeho Yu.
|
|
Holocaust Survivor to Students: Tell Someone About Me
|
If you see a Northbrook Junior High seventh-grader, chances are they will have something to tell you about. It’s their homework assignment, actually.
The students have a story to share that they heard from an increasingly rare individual, a Holocaust survivor. Steen Metz, now 84, was 8 years old when he was sent to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in what is now the Czech Republic. His presentation capped off eight weeks of studying the Holocaust through historical documents, timelines, historical literature and documentaries in language arts.
|
|
|
Nora Project Helps Build Empathy and Friendships
|
Fourth- and fifth-grade students at Meadowbrook School experienced the true meaning of friendship as they developed empathy and understanding for students with disabilities through a year of activities.
Following the model established by the national organization The Nora Project, typically developing students were introduced to students with disabilities from other classrooms.
Read the full story
|
|
STAY CONNECTED TO WHAT'S HAPPENING IN DISTRICT 28!
|
|
#TLC28 #Innovate28
District 28’s official hashtags! You can search the hashtag on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to monitor posts from teachers, administrators and the district accounts. These hashtags help us tell the story of Teaching, Learning and Caring in District 28 and the innovative teaching and learning around Learning First.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|