Dear District 86 Families,

We hope you are having a great summer and getting the chance to enjoy quality time with family and friends. 

Although the start of the 2022-23 school year is still several weeks away, we have updates about our curriculum alignment work, grading practices and communication plans for next year that we wanted to bring to your attention as soon as possible. 

As you review this message, please know that nothing we are sharing at this time is urgent or requires any action on your part. In addition, this information will be repeated in building-level communications sent closer to the first day of school, included on all teacher syllabi and reiterated during Curriculum Night in September.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. Please contact me if you have questions or need additional information. 

Dr. Chris Covino
Assistant Superintendent for Academics
(630) 655-6107

Summer School 
More than 650 students participated in the district’s summer school program, with the vast majority of them taking at least one credit-bearing course (not credit recovery) in the new online and hybrid format. Some of the more popular classes included Civics, Health, Consumer Education, and Science Inquiry and Research.

Summer Curriculum Alignment Work
Teachers, department chairs and administrators have spent the past couple months continuing the curriculum alignment work that is tied to Goal 1 (Student Growth and Achievement) of the district’s strategic plan. By tackling portions of this work over the summer, we can stay on track to finish it by the fall of 2024. We can also preserve more of the time that our teachers have with their students during the school year. 

As a reminder, our curriculum alignment work is focused on the following areas that are common across the district:

  • Program of studies - e.g., course description, credit, prerequisites, etc.
  • Course fees (if applicable)
  • Course materials - e.g. textbooks
  • Course objectives - maintaining rigorous exit outcomes
  • Unit alignment - establishing a sequence for instruction
  • End-of-term assessments - common assessments designed to hold students accountable to the rigorous standards and objectives for each course
  • Grading practices - common district course team practices for assessing and communicating student academic achievement

Grading Practices - Updates for the 2022-23 School Year
During the fall/winter of 2019, the district developed the following philosophy to guide our grading alignment work: 

In District 86, grades communicate achievement on course objectives and support meaningful learning and growth. 

During the 2020-21 school year, we refined this philosophy to include three pillars that help guide our common grading decisions - i.e., gradebooks should be accurate, actionable and hold students accountable. Using the philosophy and pillars, we established a common grading scale (50-100%) for all courses, a framework for gradebook category weights, and alpha indicators (Missing/M and Missing and Essential/ME) to clearly identify when a student was not doing their work.

Last year, the following stakeholder groups helped us monitor/assess the implementation of these changes:

  • Learning Leadership Team (LLT)
  • Parent-Teacher Advisory Committee (PTAC) and the board (including community feedback)
  • Academic cabinet 
  • Curriculum Leadership Team (CLT) 
  • Teacher course teams 
  • Building and district administration 
  • Superintendent’s Roundtable 
  • HHSTA leadership 

They also examined our gradebook data. 

After reviewing the observations and feedback provided by these groups, we have decided to make the following revisions to our practices for the 2022-23 school year: 

  • We are moving to a 70/30 summative/formative gradebook category weight for most (75%) of our courses.*

  • We are discontinuing the use of the ME indicator. The M indicator will now represent all missing work. In addition, missing work will no longer automatically translate to an Incomplete (IC) grade.

  • We will be issuing an M when a student does not submit an assignment or take an assessment, which will now be calculated as a zero in the gradebook. 

*Instead of implementing a universal gradebook category weight, which is what some other school districts have done, we encourage our course teams to make grade weight decisions based on their content, curriculum and students. While we will move toward greater uniformity next year, discrepancies in grade category weights and reassessment practices will continue to exist between our campuses until we complete the curriculum alignment process. With that said, it is important to note that there were no expectations for aligned practices between our buildings or within identical course teams prior to the start of our work in 2019. Thanks to the hard work of our course teams, the vast majority of our students can now expect and benefit from having access to common, consistent grading practices for each of their courses.

There are several things to keep in mind about the revisions we are making to our grading practices this fall. 

  • If assignments or assessments are completed/submitted by the assigned due date, and are done in alignment with the appropriate standards or instructions, the 50-100 grading scale will be applied. 

  • Since M scores will remain in the gradebook and be calculated as zeros, students will continue to be encouraged to complete/submit all assignments or assessments on time.

  • In order for an assignment or assessment to receive credit and be scored on the 50-100 scale, the work that is done on it must comply with the instructions provided (i.e. be completed in good faith).

  • Students who need additional time for an assignment or assessment must advocate for themselves. They must request and receive their teacher’s approval for an extension prior to the due date of the assignment or assessment, and demonstrate that they are taking advantage of the school’s/district’s academic support services (e.g., tutoring, interventionists, early release Wednesdays, help before and after school, etc.). Below is information from the district’s student handbook about excused absences. The handbook also includes details about the consequences associated with missing assignments due to an unexcused absence.
  1. If an assessment was assigned prior to an excused absence, the student must be prepared to turn it in or take it the day they return unless they have made arrangements with their teacher to extend the number of days.  
  2. If an assessment was assigned during an excused absence, the student will have an equal number of days to complete and turn in class assignments and make-up any tests or quizzes unless they have made arrangements with their teacher to extend the number of days.

Expanding Curriculum Conversations/Connections
The CLT is taking several steps next year to provide parents/guardians and community members with additional opportunities to contribute to the district’s conversations about curriculum and/or academics in general. These steps include:

  • Adding more PTAC meetings to the calendar for the 2022-23 school year. These meetings, which are open to the public and feature discussions about topics such as curriculum and student services/support, will now occur almost every month.

  • Expanding the number of parents/guardians who serve on PTAC.

  • Limiting the number of topics that are covered during each meeting to help ensure there is adequate time to have a robust conversation about them. 

  • Hosting a town hall-style meeting prior to each PTAC meeting so that more people can engage in the conversation and share their thoughts/perspectives about topics that might include: curriculum alignment, grading practices, honors credit, student support systems, instructional bell schedules (block scheduling), Portrait of a Graduate and college/career/life readiness. These meetings will not feature formal presentations or question and answer sessions. Instead, they will serve as an opportunity for people to connect with curriculum leaders in a more casual, relaxed and open setting. Additional administrators and faculty members may be invited to attend these sessions based on the topics that are being discussed.