Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning Greg Wolcott shared with the Board of Education the annual mid-year curriculum update that provided updates and highlights on current year initiatives and shared instructional plans and recommendations for the 2023-24 school year.

• District FOCUS: Focused on “Creating engagement through meaningful experiences”; emphasized implementation of the Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) instructional framework; began implementation of items from the special education audit
• Culturally Responsive Teaching & Leading Standards: Held monthly Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading committee meetings with representation from all schools; members of the Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Committee co-facilitated professional learning for all staff during four school improvement days
• English Language Arts: Refined units to meet rigorous standards and student needs; provided systematic and strategic supports to students; set up cross-grade level “shadowing” of students between the elementary and junior high and the junior high and high school
• Math: Trained elementary staff at all schools in the Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics concepts; district-wide book study about building fact fluency; created a math advisory meeting (21 teachers from all elementary schools and all grades); provided systematic and strategic supports to students via a new differentiated engagement block (DEB) at the elementary level
• Science/Social studies: Visited several school districts to view social studies resources in action; initiated a pilot of the InquirED Journeys curriculum in social studies at grades three through five; began looking for ways to deepen inquiry instruction in the primary grades
• Exploratories at Jefferson: New courses (Innovative Communications, Flight and Space); revised existing courses Visual Arts (formerly Graphic Design), Music Mindfulness (formerly Music 700)
• Art/Music/PE: Began revision of curriculum in order to better represent the students we serve; full implementation of Quaver music curriculum
• Instructional Technology: Learning Resource Specialists worked directly with grades K-6 to co-teach and assist in streamlining computer literacy standards within the core content standards; implementation of Kami, Book Creator, and WeVideo for content creation and alignment within the SAMR goal; scope and sequence of core digital tools by grade level aligned to computer literacy and core content standards; Kindergarten received flip/touch Chromebooks
• Gifted Services: Differentiation professional development provided to elementary staff who teach clustered gifted students (2 half-day trainings with ongoing observation and support); PETS talent development targeted to 2nd grade students; capstone inquiry units for elementary gifted cohorts; continued development of enhanced writing skills in 7th and 8th grade gifted ELA
• Multilingual Services: Implemented new newcomer protocol designed in January 2022; received record number of newcomers to the country
• Special Education: Implementation of co-teaching model throughout the district with increased access to grade-level standards for students with disabilities; ongoing coaching to support co-teaching practices and the implementation of specially designed instruction in general education environments; requested five additional learning behavior specialists in order to effectively meet the needs of our students with Individualized Education Plans
• Accelerated Placement Act: what it means and its impact on Woodridge 68 students

Last year the Board of Education instructed the District administration to conduct a study to examine the feasibility of daily Spanish-language instruction for all students. The District contracted with Catalyst for Educational Change (CEC) as a neutral third party to facilitate this process of examining Spanish language in elementary schools (SLES). A coordinating Plan Team was assembled consisting of seven individuals representing the Board, administration and staff. A Core Team, which was responsible for providing stakeholder input, was made up of 75 members and included representation from the Board, parents, staff and community members. The Core Team held 4 meetings: October 3, 2022; November 7, 2022; November 28, 2022; and January 19, 2023.

When evaluating whether or not to implement the SLES program, it is important to consider a number of important items. Final thoughts, feedback, questions, and concerns from the stakeholder committee were compiled and shared. These items fall within nine categories and include accountability, curricular, existing program, financial, impact, scheduling, space, staffing and student.

The presentation and a full report can be found in BoardBook on the district website. The Board took no action at this time and directed the administration to conduct further research on world language after-school programming options.

Woodridge 68 parents Jeff and Anna Schiefelbein submitted an online comment regarding concerns over student screen time.

The next Woodridge School District 68 Board of Education regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 27, 2023 at 7:30pm at the District Administrative Center. All regular Board meetings are also streamed live on the Zoom platform; links to the livestream will be posted on the district calendar. A schedule of upcoming meetings, notices and agendas are posted in accordance with the Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120/) on the district website through BoardBook.