Mark you calendars for a webinar on May 9th from 2pm to 3pm EST discussing the recently released Advance Illinois report, Illinois Progress Report 2011-12, Improving our Lowest-Performing Schools, which examines the early reforms unfolding in 10 Illinois high schools that received the first round of School Improvement Grant awards in 2010.
The event is free of charge and will cover the following topics:
- Mass Insight’s Justin Cohen will describe the national landscape for school improvement efforts and detail their turnaround strategy as one approach schools might take on the path to improvement.
- Monique Chism from the Illinois State Board of Education will briefly describe the application process for the third and final round of School Improvement Grant awards. ISBE targeted the grant funds to 10 schools in 2010-11 and 13 additional schools in 2011-12. By 2012-13, the agency expects to fund improvement efforts in another 15 schools statewide.
- Senior staff from Chicago Public Schools’ Office of School Improvement, Gavin Doughty and Randel Josserand, will describe the strategic approach they have developed during the past decade to improve the lowest-performing schools. Four Chicago high schools received SIG awards in 2010. At the most basic level, the approach includes supporting students’ social and emotional needs, selecting and cultivating effective teachers, relentlessly tracking data and learning every step of the way.
- Advance Illinois staff, Tara Malone and Jim O’Connor, will share the findings of its recent analysis that suggest the learning climate improved across all of the schools after the reforms took root, paving the way for academic improvements in some schools.
Sign up for the webinar by clicking here.