Congratulations, Chicago Cubs!
District 58 celebrates the Cubs' World Series victory
Fairmount students "Fly the W" in celebration of the Cubs' incredible World Series victory on Nov. 2. Yeah, Cubbies! What an exciting series!
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Festive fall highlights in District 58
District 58 students enjoyed a variety of fun and educational fall activities this October! Click the links to view photo galleries and more information.
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District grade levels achieve highest median MAP assessment scores
 During the Oct. 24 Board of Education Curriculum Workshop, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Matt Rich shared
fall assessment data. He noted that students displayed strong achievement and growth on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment.
This fall,
eight of nine grade levels achieved their
highest median MAP scores ever in both the Reading and Math assessments. In addition, MAP scores continue to demonstrate
strong growth for District 58 students, with students gaining an average of 12 percent more than national growth goals in Reading and 10 percent more in Math.
"Not only are District 58 students achieving very high scores on MAP, they are also exceeding their growth expectations," Dr. Rich said. "It is challenging for a high-achieving district to also experience high-growth, but this is exactly what we've accomplished."
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State releases School Report Cards
The Illinois State Board of Education recently published its 2016 Report Cards online at
www.illinoisreportcard.com. The Report Card offers helpful school and district data regarding student and teacher demographics, enrollment, district-level financial information and the PARCC assessment.
District 58 cautions parents from viewing PARCC assessment scores as a strong indicator of academic success. The state has changed its testing structure and benchmark scores several times in the past five years,
and the PARCC's future as a state test is uncertain. In addition, a larger than average percentage of District 58 students opted to not take the assessment, which may have skewed results.
Like last year, District 58 will not use PARCC assessment scores to identify or place children in any instructional program or service. District 58 instead uses a combination of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment scores and teacher/parent recommendations to measure student achievement and growth.
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District's curriculum committees continue to make strong progress
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Kindergarten teachers practice new techniques learned during their math professional development time.
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District 58's curriculum committees comprise large groups (30-40 people) of teachers and administrators who meet regularly.
They create
curriculum and identify strong resources that align with the Common Core Standards.
The committees have already made significant progress this fall.
"Committees feel different this year. The work that's coming out of them also feels different this year. I can feel a different level of excitement among teachers for the resources that are coming to us," said Craig Young, DGEEA president and Kingsley fifth grade teacher, during the Board's Curriculum Workshop.
"I feel very good about the direction we are going in, and I think teachers at that (ELA Committee) meeting in September felt that way as well," said Sue Anderson, a Hillcrest third grade teacher and an ELA Committee member at the Board's Curriculum Workshop.
Most recently, t
he
English-Language Arts (ELA) Committee
used staff input and other research to decide on future ELA curriculum organization. Elementary ELA curriculum will be organized by topic, while middle school ELA curriculum will be sorted by standard.
The ELA Committee also began drafting the ELA blueprint template. They plan to model their future blueprint after District 58's Math blueprint, which launched this fall and has received very positive feedback thus far. When complete, the blueprint will clearly organize ELA skills and lesson plans with aligned resources and a flexible timeline so teachers can adjust as needed.
The Math Committee welcomed the Metro Chicago Math Initiative to District 58. The group provided enhanced math professional development to District teachers. The teachers met in grade-level clusters. In the morning, they learned new math instructional strategies and skills, and in the afternoon, teachers and administrators worked together to develop plans to use these new skills in the classroom. This experience has received very positive feedback from District 58 staff. View photos.
The Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Committee has developed in-house elementary-level professional development opportunities to help teachers explore the new Common Core-aligned Next Generation Science Standards during the upcoming Nov. 10 Teacher Inservice Day. They hope this will provide teachers with extra supports as they begin incorporating these new standards into the classroom.
Learn more information about the ELA and STEM committees. Learn more about recent Math Committee progress at the upcoming Nov. 14 Board of Education meeting.
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GLANCE AT OUR GRANTS VIDEO SERIES:
Fairmount uses PebbleGo to enhance reading and research skills
Last school year, three District 58 schools - Fairmount, Belle Aire and Pierce Downer - received Education Foundation grants for the PebbleGo database. PebbleGo is an interactive online resource that helps young students develop their reading and research skills while learning about a variety of academic topics.
In episode 8 of A Glance at our Grants, we visited Fairmount School to learn more about how students use PebbleGo! View this short video.
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Herrick girls' volleyball wins championship, finishes undefeated
O'Neill seventh grade girls' volleyball places second
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Herrick seventh graders pose with their volleyball championship trophy.
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Congratulations to He
rrick's seventh AND eighth grade girls' volleyball teams! Both teams won their conference championship and preserved an undefeated record for the entire season. More impressive, this is the second consecutive year they achieved this feat!
Herrick's seventh grade girls played O'Neill in an exciting championship game. O'Neill's seventh grade girls took an impressive second place in the tournament and finished their season 8-4.
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Whittier sixth graders investigate water quality at Barth Pond
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Whittier sixth grade scientists are hard at work exploring!
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Whittier sixth graders had fun and learned a lot at Camp Edward! They continued their outdoor educational experience recently by conducting water quality tests at Barth Pond.
T
he students tested the water's temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, coliform bacteria presence, nitrate concentrations, phosphate concentrations and turbidity.
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 New community e-flyers were posted
Monday, Oct. 31
on the District 58 e-flyer page.
Click here to visit the page
or view the e-flyers below.
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The mission of District 58, in partnership with parents and community, is to challenge and engage each child by providing quality educational programs and support services in a safe, nurturing, and child-centered environment in order to prepare all students to be lifelong learners and contributing members of a global society.
Communicate 58 shares timely, relevant information about District 58 with parents, community members and others who are interested in how we are living out our mission. If you have any questions/comments regarding Communicate 58, or have an article/photo idea for the publication, please contact Community Relations Coordinator Megan Hewitt at mhewitt@dg58.org or 630-719-5805.
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Board News
The Board held their annual fall Curriculum Workshop on Monday, Oct. 24. Teachers and administrators presented reports on the District's curriculum development, fall assessment scores, school improvement plans and more.
Read this article to learn more about the Curriculum Workshop.
Upcoming Board meetings:
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Legislative Committee Meeting
Tuesday, Nov. 8
3:45 p.m.
Admin Service Center
- Regular November Business Meeting
Monday, Nov. 14
7 p.m.
Longfellow Center
- Policy Committee Meeting
Tuesday, Nov. 22
7 a.m.
Admin Service Center
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F
inancial Workshop
Monday, Nov. 28
7 p.m.
Longfellow Center
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Register for a parent-teacher conference
Prefer to sign up by phone? That's fine too! Call your child's school to set it up.
Parent-teacher conferences will take place Nov. 16-17
from 5-8 p.m.
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Herrick performs The Lion King Jr. on Nov. 3, 4 & 6
Herrick invites the community to attend its production of The Lion King, Jr. The show takes place at Herrick Middle School on the following days and times:
Thursday, Nov. 3
7:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 4
7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 6
2 p.m.
Buy tickets at Herrick's front office during school hours or at the door.
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Happy Veterans Day!
There are many veterans who live in our community. District 58 thanks each of you for your service and wishes you a Happy Veterans Day!
Reminder: District 58 students will have no school on Thursday, Nov. 10 due to a Teacher Inservice Day and no school on Friday, Nov. 11 for Veterans Day.
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Recycle your pumpkin on Saturday
Are your Halloween pumpkins looking less than stellar? Rather than toss them, please consider recycling your pumpkins at a special
SCARCE Pumpkin Recycling event on
Saturday, Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. to noon! It will take place at the parking lots of Downers Grove North and Downers Grove South high schools. Thank you!
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Board receives donation for Little Sprouts program
Ken Lerner of Pierce Downer's Heritage Alliance presented the Board of Education with a check for $1,000 in support of the Little Sprouts program at Lyman Woods. Each year, District 58 first graders participate in Little Sprouts as part of their science curriculum.
"Pierce Downer's Heritage Alliance is proud to support this environmental education program, incorporating this valuable natural resource, as part of our mission to preserve and promote appreciation of our community's natural heritage," Lerner said.
Thank you, Mr. Lerner and Pierce Downer's Heritage Alliance, for your generous support!
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Knights donate coats to students in need
District 58 sincerely thanks Kenneth Kosowski and the Knights of Columbus for donating about 70 coats to help students in need this winter.
We appreciate the Knights' continued support!
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District 58 on social media
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