Community Unit School District 200 Board of Education met Sept. 27.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
The Committee of the Whole meeting for the month of September of the Board of Education of Community Unit School District 200, DuPage County, Illinois, was called to order at the School Service Center, 130 W Park Ave, Wheaton, IL by Board President Rob Hanlon, on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 7:00 PM.
ROLL CALL
Upon the roll being called, the following were present:
Board Members:
Mr. Rob Hanlon
Ms. Julie Kulovits
Mr. Dave Long
Ms. Angela Blatner
Mr. Erik Hjerpe
Mr. Brad Paulsen
Mr. John Rutledge
Also in Attendance:
Dr. Jeff Schuler, Superintendent
Mr. Matt Biscan
Ms. Erica Loiacono
Ms. Melissa Murphy
Dr. Brian O’Keeffe
Dr. Chris Silagi
Mr. Jason Spencer
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Board Member Rutledge led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.
SUSPEND THE RULES AND ADJOURN TO A WORKSHOP SETTING
MOTION
Member Paulsen moved, Member Kulovits seconded to suspend the rules and adjourn to a workshop setting. Upon a roll call vote being taken the vote was: AYE 7, NAY 0. The motion carried 7-0.
Instruction
All-Day Kindergarten Report
Enrollment has increased in the All-Day Kindergarten Program over the past ten years. In 2013-14 37% of our kindergarteners enrolled in All-Day, compared to 80% of our kindergarten students being enrolled in All-Day Kindergarten in 2023. The All-Day Kindergarten program is also tuition based, while our Half-Day Kindergarten program is not. Last school year, the Board of Education was presented with a report on Early Learning and Kindergarten Programming. In response to that report, the Board of Education asked for an updated status report on All-Day Kindergarten in the early part of 2023 to take into consideration Universal All-Day Kindergarten.
Dr. Chris Silagi, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services provided a report on All-Day Kindergarten to the Board of Education. Enrollment history, parent interest, finances, and space implications were discussed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the program for consideration of potential future universal programming. The update was attached to the Board report, and included information on the following:
• Three Guiding Questions
o What are the enrollment trends and parent interest levels in All-Day Kindergarten (ADK) programming?
o What are the programming and space considerations for implementing a universal All-Day Kindergarten program?
o What are the financial considerations for implementing a universal All-Day Kindergarten program?
• HB 2396
o Beginning with the 2027-2028 school year each school board must establish a kindergarten with full-day attendance (that is not solely tuition-based full-day attendance)
• Enrollment History
o Enrollment numbers for All-Day, Half-Day, and Total Kindergarten enrollment provided for years 2013-14 through 2023-24
• Enrollment History by Percentage
o Enrollment percentages for All-Day, Half-Day, and the Total Kindergarten enrollment provided for years 2013-14 through 2023-24
• Kindergarten Programs by Elementary Building for Half Day and ADK
• Parent Interest Survey – Why did you choose to enroll in Half-Day Kindergarten instead of the All-Day Kindergarten program?
o 117 responses
o 65.8% - The ADK tuition was not the reason; preferred their child attend half-day instead of full-day for other reasons
o 34.2% - Did not want to pay the ADK tuition
• Parent Interest Survey – If All-Day Kindergarten were offered free of tuition would you have enrolled your child in the ADK program? (This question was asked to validate that tuition was not a deterrent for choosing a half-day program).
o 117 responses
o 65% - No
o 35% - Yes
• Programming Considerations
o Class Size
o Learning Acceleration
o Specials: Art, Music
• Space Considerations
o Maximized Space
o Half-Day to All-Day
o Continue Monitoring
• Comparable Districts
o Naperville 203 and IPSD 204 – Universal All-Day Kindergarten
o Barrington 220, Elmhurst 205, St. Charles 303 – Tuition Based All-Day Kindergarten
• Financial Considerations (*All financial considerations are estimates)
o Revenue Reduction
▪ FY24 ADK Tuition Program Full Fees - $1,209,300
▪ FY24 ADK Tuition Program Reduced Fees - $48,200
o Revenue Gain
▪ Estimated Increase in State EBF for FY25 - TBD
o Additional Revenue Consideration
▪ Return of Registration Fees (All Grades) to 2020-21 Approved Fee Schedule Levels (using 10-day enrollment figures from 2023-24) - $940,302
o Expense Increase
▪ Salaries for (6.5) Certified Teachers - $389,871
▪ Benefits for (6.5) Certified Teachers (assuming no additional benefits taken) - $18,114
o Expense Decrease
▪ Half-day Kindergarten Midday Transportation Costs (FY24) - TBD
• Financial Considerations Recap (*All financial considerations are estimates)
o Net Revenue Reduction - $1,257,500
o Net Expense Increase - $407,985
o Net Program Change - $1,665,485
o Additional Revenue Consideration – Registration Fees - $940,302
o Net Program Change after Additional Revenue Consideration - $725,183
• Key Dates
o Parent Interest and Registration – Late Fall/Winter
o Updated Five-Year Financial Projections – January COW Meeting
o Kindergarten Round-Up Parent Meetings – February
o Notification to ISBE – March 1
o Student Fee Schedule – March BOE Meeting
There was additional information/comments on the following:
• There have been significant increases in All-Day Kindergarten (ADK) in the district, and we are now at an 80/20 split (full-day/half-day program).
• The District is running more ADK programs than we ever have (31 this year).
• Two of the Elementary buildings (Johnson and Madison) do not have half-day programs at their buildings. Due to low interest (only 5-6 students), the District worked with the families to either weave into the full-day program and leave halfway through the day or permissive transfer to another building for a more robust experience.
• Class sizes – a reference to the viability or sustainability of the half-day program. Average around 12-13 students across the board in our half-day sections. Want the social experience and the robust play experience to be present for younger students.
• Learning Acceleration – much more of a high demand for instructional minutes to be delivered in the half-day program due to time constraints.
• Kids Assessment – the readiness of kids coming in at the Kindergarten level. Have seen significantly lower scores and typically recommend full-day programming for those with higher needs.
• In addition to P.E., students in the All-Day Kindergarten program receive art and music once a week, while those in the half-day program only receive P.E.
• Do not believe we are completely maxed out space-wise at the elementary level – some classrooms are currently for services, but do believe if we went to universal ADK, space would not be an issue. Will continue to monitor this. There may be specific buildings that have different space constraints/issues as opposed to others.
• If the Board approves a resolution and notifies ISBE before March 1st in a calendar year of the adoption of universal All-Day Kindergarten, EBF (evidence-based funding) would be updated for the district. Currently, full-day Kindergartners in the district are counted as a .5 FTE (because there is a tuition-based program). That would change and those students would be counted as a 1.0 FTE and that would be updated for the next fiscal year EBF. This would likely mean a low-end six-figure increase on an annual basis (since we are currently at the top end of tier 3 in terms of adequacy funding).
• The benefit of doing this earlier – instead of waiting for the state underneath the old model of how the state allocated funds per student, as long as we have a resolution passed and submitted to ISBE as of March 1st, they will update the next fiscal year EBF distribution so that we don’t have to wait for those funds.
There were questions and/or additional discussion on the following:
• If we were to go to Universal ADK, what would be the avenue for us to continue to offer the half-day program to those who would want that option? There would be options to consider including attending a full-day program and leaving half-day, or holding half-day sections at certain locations. Current language holds that if you go to universal ADK, and you have more than twenty parents interested in half-day, you have to offer a half-day section at some location. It is undetermined if that language in the statute will remain in 2027-28.
• Historically, did run both an A.M. and a P.M. section when we had more than one half-day section of Kindergarten.
• Have not heard any discussion on whether there will be a shift in the compulsory attendance age when universal ADK is required to be offered in 2027-28?
• Have not heard of any change on the state funding side in 2027.
• Student headcounts (in the EBF model) – looks at three years of data. Noted we are required to report headcounts in October and March.
• Might the state push it out beyond 2027 because of funding? Noted school districts that do not have the space/classrooms for universal ADK. Dr. Silagi is sitting on a state task force through LUDA to work through some of those considerations. How to hold a district accountable to the timeline if they are not in control of the variables?
• Capturing the expense in our budget.
• Half-day vs. full-day employees (a teacher with a half-day section can be in another role for the other half of the day; some half-day teachers want to work half-days only.
• Bookworms in Kindergarten – will the standards remain the same if we are in a universal ADK program? D200 utilizes the IL learning standards which apply to both half-day and full-day programs.
• Financial considerations - $725,000 and where that would come from in the budget; will have to be a conversation we have to consider for the future. There are lots of levers that move up and down in the budget and will have a better sense when the five-year projections are reviewed in January.
• Clarity in the law – in 2027, can charge fees for ADK, but it cannot be a tuition-based program.
• Any sense if the increase in ADK enrollment is in part related to the reduction in ADK tuition? The trend has seen this number increase.
• Comparable districts (203 and 204) – the sense that they have very few, if any, students in the half-day program. There is no tuition, only registration fees for ADK in those districts. (From a funding perspective, D203 is a Tier 4 District and IPSD 204 is a Tier 2 District).
• Registration fees and the potential to return to the 2020-21 approved fee schedule – when we reduced the fees in 2021, the year following the pandemic, some services were not being provided in the schools, and costs were not being incurred. Since then, the Board has had discussions but has not made the decision to return to those fees.
• The fee discussion can be independent of the decision and timing regarding universal ADK; there are options to consider. There could be multiple paths – could phase into the ADK by reducing the tuition each year in chunks, easier to absorb in the budget. Again, an option to consider.
• Are ADK kids vs. those that attend half-day more prepared for first grade? Noted that students who come to us with various risk factors, the full-day program can have more of an impact. From a programming consideration, ADK students are getting a more robust instructional experience.
• Are the expectations going to be too much that we could be causing stress on some students (toddlers of Covid)? It was noted the full-day program does give you the space in the day to build in breaks (can be some unstructured playtime). The majority of students that come to us with identified risk factors are in the full–day program.
• Two decisions: Do we want to reduce/eliminate tuition before 2027? And, do we want to recapture some of the revenue by increasing fees?
• There is some work to do on the options and on how to get there.
• The Kindergarten readiness program – do we have any data on that for this year? The KIDS assessment is administered within the first 45 days of the school year, so not yet. It was noted the testing session just wrapped up for Kindergartners on early ready and early math.
• The number of families that did not choose ADK because of the tuition - 57 students.
• Additional staff required – noted 6.5 FTEs – is there no additional support staff required? Aides/teaching assistants are allocated based on the Individualized Education Plans (IEP) that students have. Also noted, a minimal increase in art/music staff.
• If districts defer implementation to universal ADK until required by law, is there a potential labor market issue? Do not think that will be the case in our market for classroom teachers.
• Teacher shortages and the long-range concern. Noted there are specified areas of concern more significantly than others. Classroom elementary teachers are not one of those concerns.
• The disgruntlement in the community due to the District charging tuition for ADK.
• Based on our understanding of the law, the District would still be providing some midday transportation, not likely the routes we are currently running.
• All current half-day sections are in the A.M.
• Planning for those half-day sections at the beginning of the year is becoming increasingly complicated as some of the numbers are low. It would be preferred to have a proactive plan moving forward.
• The complexity of where this sits around the state.
If there is an interest in exploring and understanding the options now, the need to accelerate on putting those options together for the Board. The Board was polled and noted there is interest in wanting to explore it further, with the caveat being if the district staff has the bandwidth/time to do it.
Academic Excellence Work Plan for K-8
The Vision 2026 Strategic Plan has six strategies for Academic Excellence. The Educational Services Department has placed a priority on the following three strategies: Preparing Students for a Range of Post-Secondary Opportunities, Learning Acceleration, and Balanced Assessment. The strategies for the Portrait of a Graduate and Professional Learning are connected to each of the three priority strategies.
On Wednesday evening, Ms. Melissa Murphy, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services updated the Board of Education on the work plan for Learning Acceleration and Balanced
Assessment for literacy and mathematics for grades K-8. The 2023-24 Academic Excellence Work Plan for K-8 was attached to the Board report, and included information on the following:
• Vision 2026 Strategic Plan
o Includes six strategies for Academic Excellence
o Ed Services Dept. continues to focus on three strategies as main anchors for work:
▪ Expanding Post-Secondary Opportunities
▪ Learning Acceleration
▪ Balanced Assessment
o Strategies for Portrait of a Graduate (POG) and Professional Learning are connected to the three anchors
o Update focus – 2023-24 work plan for Learning Acceleration and Balanced Assessment
• Two Guiding Questions
o How is D200 continuing the learning acceleration and balanced assessment work for K-8 literacy?
o How is D200 continuing the learning acceleration and balanced assessment work for K-8 mathematics?
• Core Actions to Accelerate Learning
o Adopt high-quality instructional materials
o Provide teachers with ongoing professional learning needed to provide Tier 1 instruction to all students
o Use assessments to prioritize learning
o Focus interventions on students most in need and create instructional coherence
• Core Action 1: Adopt High-Quality Instructional Materials
o EAB – 2019 Narrowing the Third-Grade Reading Gap
• Foundational Skills
o Print Concepts (K-1)
o Phonological Awareness (K-1)
o Phonics and Word Recognition (K-5)
o Fluency (1-5)
• EAB – Narrowing the Third-Grade Reading Gap
o Redesign Small Group Instruction to Target Student Skill Deficits
o Aid Teachers in Implementing Science-Based Instruction
• Core Action 1: Adopt High-Quality Instructional Materials - Bookworms Reading and Writing
o A strong driver for the selection and adoption of Bookworms is the alignment to the Science of Reading research for teaching Foundational Skills
• Foundational Skills Instruction in Bookworms
o Daily Whole Group Instruction (systemic explicit daily grade-level foundational skills instruction)
o Daily Small Group Instruction (based on student’s specific instructional needs; teachers assess students and provide targeted instruction based on student needs) • Core Action 2: Provide Teachers with Ongoing Professional Learning to Support Tier 1 Instruction
o Three Pillars of Teacher Support
▪ Train – staff meetings, trainings (full days and Institute day); future training determined by coaches as needed
▪ Plan – collaboration planning meetings
▪ Coach – each building has a 1.0 coach
o What Does a Reading Coach Do?
▪ Provides coaching to enable teachers to reflect on student learning in the classroom
▪ Facilitates ongoing PD in implementing the Bookworms curriculum
▪ Models lessons
▪ Provides feedback and identifies next steps to improve instruction using Bookworms
▪ Analyzes data, identifies trends, and supports teachers to adjust instruction based on data
▪ Provides instruction for students in small groups
▪ Meets weekly with district administration to ensure continuity of implementation and address needs
• Core Action 3: Use Assessment to Prioritize Learning / Core Action 4: Focus Interventions on Students Most in Need and Create Instructional Coherence
o Bookworms has daily Differentiated Instruction (DI) Blocks
o Being implemented at the K-2 level this year
o Authors of books created a resource for foundational skills instruction that can be used in an intervention
• Skills Progression in Differentiation by Assessed Needs
o The Stairway to Proficiency – Phonological Awareness and Word Recognition (intended for Kindergarten), Word Recognition and Fluency (First Grade), Fluency and Comprehension (Second Grade), Vocabulary and Comprehension
• Core Actions 3 and 4
o All students screened at the beginning of the year resulting in students being placed in specific groups for targeted instruction (for example: using letter sounds group)
o Monitoring progress assessments administered every 3-6 weeks to: place students in small groups, plan instruction that targets the needs group members share, and gauge the impact of the instruction on student progress.
• Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
o Tier I (essential grade level learning for students – 80% of students), Tier II (targeted supports to master essential grade-level standards – 10-15% of students), Tier III (intensive support in universal skills – 5-10% of students).
• 2022-23 FastBridge Results Using New Materials
o Three schools used the Bookworms DI materials all last year with integrity.
o To monitor the effectiveness of this intervention one data source is FastBridge.
o FastBridge data is analyzed in two ways: 1) the percentage at or above the 50th percentile (considers this percentile goal for long-term academic success and is reported on the dashboard); 2) the percentage of students in each tier of instruction for MTSS planning.
o For the DI block, looking at the health of Tier 1 is critical for MTSS planning.
• 2022-23 FastBridge Results Using New Materials – Results by Cohort o Data for three schools and two grade levels comparing Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 MTSS data (% of students in Tier I) – noted increase in all cohorts.
• Preparing for Full Implementation in Grades 3-5
o All grades 3-5 teachers implementing the shared reading block this year. o Next year, all 3-5 teachers will implement the DI block and ELA block. o Pilot teachers in grades 3-5 did not recommend the adoption of Bookworms instructional resources for the DI block for intermediate grades. Instead, the group recommended a supplemental resource piloted by American Reading Co. called Toolkits. This is a work project for coaches this year.
o Three PACE specialists participated in the ELA pilot and recommended PACE specialists continue to meet this year to consider future programming with the full implementation of Bookworms.
o This work began on September Institute Day with PACE receiving training on the American Reading Co. Toolkit that is being piloted this year.
• Curriculum Implementation Framework
o Grades K-5 ELA are in phase IV (Teach and Learn)
o Grades 6-8 ELA are in phase I (Research)
• Middle School ELA
o 2022-23 Work Plan > Engaged in professional learning about the ELA shifts (high quality text, evidence-based reading, writing, and discussion & knowledge building); Established an Instructional Vision.
o 2023-24 Work Plan > Review materials, Select materials to pilot.
• Guiding Question 2: How is D200 continuing the learning acceleration and balanced assessment work for K-8 mathematics?
• Core Actions to Accelerate Learning
o Adopt high-quality instructional materials
o Provide teachers with ongoing professional learning needed to provide Tier 1 instruction to all students
o Use assessments to prioritize learning
o Focus interventions on students most in need and create instructional coherence
• Action 1: Adopt High-Quality Instructional Materials
o This year, Illustrative Math (IM) is used at the elementary and middle school level.
o Algebra and Geometry in grades 7 and 8 use the high school textbook.
o IM is a high-quality instructional material:
▪ It is well aligned to grade-level standards.
▪ Problem types vary in complexity.
▪ Common assessments allow staff to collaboratively review results and plan instruction.
▪ The assessments mirror the IAR.
▪ It is aligned with our Portrait of a Graduate (POG) skills.
▪ Designed with guidance to support Multilingual Learners (ML) and students with disabilities.
• Year Two Successes Already
o Students are making connections between last year and this year.
o Students are more engaged and willing to answer questions.
o Lessons are taking less time because students understand the instructional routines.
o Staff report having much more success with lessons that were challenging last year.
o Staff are more confident and feel more organized.
• CUSD 200 5 Essentials Results
o 5 Essentials survey – administered annually to students in fourth grade and up.
o Math instruction was rated #1 by students (in student experience) and went up 18 points in one year.
• Action 2: Provide Teachers with Ongoing Professional Learning to Support Tier 1 Instruction
o Train – IM training sessions for middle school
o Plan – a culture of collaboration
o Coach – each middle school has a 1.0 coach; Title I Elem buildings have 1.0 coach + .5 interventionist; Non-title I Elem buildings have .5 coach + .5 interventionist.
• Coaching Focus: Collaboration and Communication
o Illustrative Math (IM) lessons require students to be strong communicators and collaborators.
o John Hattie’s Visible Learning Research supports focus on collaboration and communication.
o National Council of Teachers of Math (NCTM) effective teaching practice – facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse.
• Action 3: Use Assessment to Prioritize Learning
o IM has strong assessment tools including daily cooldowns (exit tickets to check progress on learning for the day’s lesson), section checkpoints (grades K-5), unit assessments.
o School Improvement Plans (SIP) are focused on maximizing the use of these assessments to address specific student needs and for collaborative plan purposes.
• Action 4: Focus Interventions on Students Most in Need and Create Instructional Coherence o Middle school coaches redesigned Math Lab to focus on fluency development and addressing unfinished learning.
o Direct math special education staff worked collaboratively to tailor the implementation of IM for their students.
o Elementary math coaches will be engaging in a review of Tier 2 intervention programming this year to provide additional guidance.
There was additional information/comments on the following:
• The role of foundational skills instruction and the critical role it plays.
• The three blocks of learning students participate in Bookworms – each is 45 minutes in length (Shared Reading, ELA, Differentiated Instruction).
• Snapshots of what it looks like in the classroom by grade level – teacher lesson/materials and the student workbooks.
• The concepts increase as the grade level increases.
• It is important for kids to understand the routine every day – even from one year to another. This makes learning the concept a lot easier. That is what the research shows with Bookworms schools.
• Core Actions 3 and 4 go hand-in-hand.
• Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) – a framework to know what kinds of instruction students need. We use our FastBridge data to determine what our students need.
• Middle School ELA – Phase I research (included in both the 2022-23 and the 2023-24 work plans) is the longest part of the work.
• The District has instructional coherence from Kindergarten through eighth grade with the same set of materials (IM).
• 5 Essentials survey noting math instruction as being #1 falls into the ambitious instruction category. The questions kids are asked are a match to the learning they are having concerning math instruction.
There were questions and/or additional discussion on the following:
• Differentiated Instruction (DI) – every student gets it, but it works on exactly what a student needs (call it an intervention as well because it closes the gap bringing students up to grade level).
• Description of what a “cooldown” is and how that works – almost like an end-of-the-period quiz or exit tickets to understand if a student “gets it” or “does not get it”.
• The second round of FastBridge will take place just before winter break. Noted the data on the dashboard for FastBridge will become less sparse as new data is added.
• Staff training – does the staff have the resources they need for Professional Development (PD)? Believe there are some great resources in place – the coaches, board-approved funds for professional learning and substitutes, and permanent subs for the buildings as well.
• The phases of implementation and training; foundational understandings that everyone has to have to implement; teachers needing differentiated levels of support and move at different paces. The importance of the on-demand differentiated model of support (coaches) in the buildings. Will have this conversation at the middle school ELA level – coaching in the future.
• For grades 3-5 and the shared reading block – some of the classrooms have decided to jump ahead. What are they doing for the DI block? They are utilizing materials we already have. Noted the shared reading block is also taking longer. The same aligned learning standards are followed.
• Weekly meetings with coaches and Ms. Murphy – this is for 2.5 hours for both math and reading coaches per week during the school day.
• Bookworms and raising the complexity of the text level for all students.
• Reading coaches – full-time teachers in our buildings; how they became a coach.
• Foundationally have pivoted from the old philosophy of what ELA instruction is to a new more research-based instruction; balanced literacy shifting to the science of reading.
• What daily small group instruction may look like within a classroom for the DI block, independent reading, and workbook assignments. This could involve the movement of students outside of their classroom.
• Maximizing instructional blocks of time through adjustments in the contract with the collective bargaining agreement and aligning the specials.
PUBLIC COMMENTS – Agenda Items & Non-Agenda Items
In accordance with Board Policy 2.230, members of the public wishing to offer public comment had the opportunity to do so. A public comment sign-up sheet was made available until 7:00 p.m. at the meeting site. The Board Meeting was available for viewing via live stream on the District’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/communityunitschooldistrict200.
Per Board Policy, the Board may shorten the time allocation for each person to less than three minutes to allow the maximum number of people the opportunity to speak. The Board did not shorten the time allocation for each person to speak due to the number of speakers.
Speaker Topic
Connie Schmidt Electric Buses
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION
There being no further business to come before the Board in Open Session, Member Hjerpe moved, Member Rutledge seconded to adjourn the meeting. Upon a voice call being taken, all were in favor. The motion carried 7-0.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55 PM.
https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/3696/CUSD200/3628166/Minutes_9.27.23__COW.pdf
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