Thursday, March 21, 2013
District 181 Superintendent Renée Schuster submitted the following letter to the editor regarding professional development that goes with the implementation of the district's new Advanced Learning Plan.
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Thursday, March 21
Editor's note: The following letter from District 181 Superintendent Renée Schuster regards the professional development element of the new Advanced Learning Plan and the eight late starts that have been proposed for next year to accomodate it. Dear District 181 Community, In February, our Board of Education unanimously approved the Advanced Learning Plan. We will move forward, together, in providing the best possible educational experience for all District 181 students. The Advanced Learning Plan has impact beyond those students we have traditionally called our advanced learners. Students in all schools, at all grade levels, and of all abilities will benefit from the phased-in changes that will be made over a number of years. This plan is…
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Patch looks back at five of the most read stories from the week of Feb. 25 to March 1.
1. Elderly Woman Rescued from Burning House in Hinsdale: The woman was revived on the scene by Hinsdale firefighters and was transported to Adventist Hinsdale Hospital with one other victim. 2. D181 Board Approves Long-term Curriculum Overhaul:All six board members in attendance Monday night voted to approve the District 181 advanced learning plan, though two presented plenty of criticism. 3. Garfield Street Burglary Reported, Jewelry Missing: A home in the 500 block of North Garfield Street was broken-into Sunday evening, Hinsdale Police say. 4. Teacher Raises Approved by D86 Board: Teachers will receive bumps in salary this year and next after negotiations were reopened in accordance with their current contract with the District 86 board…
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Implementing the new advanced learning plan and the Common Core standards will result in $493,500 worth of new costs over the next two school years, according to the administration's projections.
District 181’s newly approved advanced learning plan, paired with the federally mandated implementation of new Common Core curriculum, will add more than $520,000 in new costs to the district’s budget over the next four school years, according to financial projections provided by district administration. READ: D181 Board Approves Long-term Curriculum Overhaul The administration projects implementation of the advanced learning plan will cost $283,600 in 2013-14, but most of the expenses are not considered to be incrementally new. Common plan time and professional development for staff new to teaching Algebra, the resulting substitutes, and stipends for those performing the staff training—$217,100 total—are all costs that will be paid for …
Monday, February 25, 2013
All six board members in attendance Monday night voted to approve the District 181 advanced learning plan, though two presented plenty of criticism.
After more than a year of discussion, a long-term plan aiming to increase rigor and inclusivity across District 181 has been approved. The District 181 Board of Education approved by a 6-0 vote Monday night an advanced learning plan 13 months after gifted consultant Tonya Moon pointed out problems she saw with District 181’s approach to advanced learning and six months into a curriculum transition year during which an advanced learning task force has developed the long-term plan. While all six board members in attendance voted to approve the plan (Glenn Yaeger was absent), Brendan Heneghan and Yvonne Mayer delivered a prepared joint statement before the vote that pointed out what they see as problems with the plan and the process by which …
Friday, February 22, 2013
Superintendent Renée Schuster encouraged the community to review questions and answers about the administration's proposed plan on the District 181 website.
Editor's note: The following is a letter that was sent from District 181 Superintendent Renée Schuster to district families Thursday concerning the ongoing discussion of the recommendations by the district's advanced learning task force, which will continue Monday night at Elm School. Board members spent over three hours discussing the proposal at their Feb. 11 meeting. You can listen to that discussion via the District 181 podcast, which can be found here. We are committed to keeping you informed about the work we do each day to continually improve the educational experiences of students in District 181. This school year, you have had the opportunity to hear from our advanced learning task force. In the fall of 2011, the board of …
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Our Patch poll asks if there's a place in District 181 today for an exclusive program for advanced learners. What do you think?
District 181 board members are holding off on discussion of proposed changes to the district's elementary and middle school ACE programs until their Feb. 11 meeting, but Patch wants to get the community talking right now. The District 181 Advanced Learning Task Force recommended Monday the phasing out of an exclusive ACE program at all district schools beginning next school year. Patch provided details on the proposal in the articles below: Over the last year, there have been comments made on this site and at public meetings both by those community members who have supported a more inclusive approach to advanced learning, and those who prefer to keep ACE exclusive. What do you think? Is the task force's proposal to phase out an exclusive…
Increased standards in math and English language arts, paired with increased application of ACE principles district-wide would eliminate the need for an exclusive program, the district's Advanced Learning Task Force said Monday.
The need for a pullout elementary ACE program in District 181 would be eliminated with the implementation of higher-level curriculum in every general education classroom, according to a presentation by the district’s Advanced Learning Task Force Monday night. The task force’s proposal, presented during the board of education's meeting at Elm School, plotted out ways to increase math and English language arts standards for all grade levels while emphasizing ACE components such as higher-level thinking skills, hands-on activities, increased research and increased rigor in all elementary classrooms, as well as at the district's middle schools. READ: Exclusive Middle School ACE Program Phased Out Under D181 Proposal By doing so, the district …
Monday, January 28, 2013
The District 181 Advanced Learning Task Force presented a comprehensive multi-year proposal Monday night that included a possible future for the ACE program.
The current middle school ACE social studies curriculum will be the standard curriculum for all District 181 middle school students beginning in 2016 if the goals of the district’s Advanced Learning Task Force are realized. During the task force’s extensive presentation during Monday night's District 181 Board of Education meeting—a presentation that also covered a re-thinking of the district’s math and English language arts curricula—it was proposed that the district phase out the exclusive middle school ACE social studies class over the next two school years in favor of an inclusive program that is open to all interested students while ACE principles are incorporated into the wider general curriculum. "Raising the floor to raise the …
Monday's District 181 Board of Education meeting at Elm School in Burr Ridge will feature a presentation from the Advanced Learning Task Force.
The District 181 Board of Education is expected to be presented with the administration's long-range plan for addressing advanced learning needs Monday night at Elm School in Burr Ridge. "The district’s Advanced Learning Task Force has completed board recommendations for meeting the needs of advanced learners," the board report attached to the presentation reads. See the slides that go with Monday's presentation here on the District 181 website. District 181's curriculum changes have been a major topic since paid consultant Tonya Moon of the University of Virginia provided a harsh critique of the district's gifted program in January 2012. Read Patch's past reporting on the subject below, and check back after Monday's meeting for further …
Thursday, December 13, 2012
The assistant superintendent for learning has been with District 181 since 2008.
Another District 181 administrator is moving on to a new district as superintendent. Asssistant Superintendent for Learning Janet Stutz, who has worked as a District 181 administrator since 2008, was selected by the Orland School District 135 school board for the superintendent's role, according to announcements Thursday from the two districts. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with the best educators in the state," Stutz said in a District 181 press release. "I will take with me the wonderful memories and cherished relationships that I have developed with the District 181 staff and community over the years, and I look forward to the new journey that lies ahead.” Former Assistant Superintendent for Business Troy Whalen and…
Joe O'Donnell
9:21 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
Thanks for the comment. Just a couple of points of clarification: 1. The school board has not yet voted on the 2013-14 schedule; it's only tentative until a final vote, likely in May, so changes theoretically can still be made. 2. The late start days are not exactly "on top of," but part of the Advanced Learning Plan, as additional professional development is needed, the district says. Thanks. Joe more ›