Nov. 10, 2023
Shine Bright with Supt. Rebecca A. Jenkins
Dear District 70 Families and Community:
I want to say thank you to all of those in our community who are currently serving or have served in our military. And to our families who have active or retired members of the military; thank you for your role in loving and supporting our men and women in uniform!
On Oct. 30th, the Illinois State Report Cards were released. I would like to share some highlights from the District 70 report. I would be remiss not to acknowledge that these results are extraordinary and are due to the dedication of our staff here in District 70.
It also is important to share that while we are proud of what the report card does and does not show, it is valuable data in helping districts identify what is working and what needs improvement. It is not, however, a complete picture of what students experience or have available to them in our buildings and classrooms.
Our ultimate goal is to measure the progress of our students on an individual basis. Each child grows at their own pace. If we measure progress against ourselves, we will never settle for “good enough” and will always be looking to see how we can improve locally to prepare our students for success in and out of the classroom.
Here are five State Report Card highlights for District 70:
Exemplary and Commendable. Four schools (Adler, Copeland, Highland, and Rockland) were named Commendable and Butterfield was named Exemplary.
Student Achievement is up AGAIN! Students are achieving well above state averages in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. Our Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) scores increased in Math and ELA from the 2022 school year.
More Student Time and Attention. Class sizes are below the state average and the district maintains an average 15:1 student-to-teacher ratio, which is two fewer students per teacher than the state average.
Libertyville School District 70 is performing in the 99th percentile in the state for ELA and in the 95th percentile in the state for Math
For now, we will continue to focus on what we can learn from this data and we will celebrate all that our staff does to support our students to new levels of success and growth each year.
Rebecca
Rebecca A. Jenkins
Superintendent of Schools
Libertyville School District 70
Rebecca's Twitter
Rebecca's Instagram
Dedicated School Board Member Awarded Distinguished Honor
Congratulations to School Board Member Wendy Schilling on her Distinguished Annual Merit recognition from the Illinois Association of School Boards!
The Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) commends Mrs. Schilling for her efforts toward continuous learning and professional development through IASB’s Board Leader Recognition Program. Thank you, Mrs. Schilling, for your service to your board and your commitment to continued learning.
Members who have achieved Distinguished or Legacy receive the Annual Merit Recognition by earning 40 additional points each year.
Again, congratulations Mrs. Schilling, and thank you for your dedication and support of the Association, the children of your school district, and education in Illinois.
What an amazing performance from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Rockland students this week at the Fall Sing!
The Copeland students did an amazing job this week at the Fall Sing! The songs were very catchy!
Butterfield students extended their deepest respect, honor, and gratitude to Veterans this week and enjoyed patriotic music by the Navy's Great Lakes Fair Winds Woodwind Quintet!
Emergency School Closing Test Will Be Held Nov. 17
As we prepare for the winter months, we want to remind you of District 70’s inclement weather protocol. In the event of inclement weather, Supt. Rebecca Jenkins will implement one of the following scenarios:
School Canceled (Snow Day)
All school buildings and the administration office will be closed. Students and staff will make up the inclement weather day at the end of the school year.
Emergency makeup days for the 2023-24 school year are June 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12.
All school buildings will be closed while students and staff complete the school day from home. This scenario eliminates the need to use emergency makeup days at the end of the school year.
Teachers will be in electronic communication during specific times throughout the day during regular school hours, to support students. Students will have five (5) school days to complete their assigned work for the day and receive additional assistance from their teacher as needed.
Inclement Weather Communication
Emergency Notification Test
District 70 will send out a TEST emergency mass notification (including an email, phone call, and text message) at 6 p.m. on Nov. 17. If you do not receive a test message Friday night, please contact your school office to review your contact information.
School closings due to inclement weather or other unusual circumstances (power outage, flooding, etc.) will be announced via an email, phone call, and text (if you signed up to receive texts) to the information provided on your child’s PowerSchool account. The information also will be posted on the district website (d70schools.org), Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Instagram social media pages.
Information also will be shared with the Emergency Closing Center so that the closings will be listed with the local TV and radio stations.
Visit our School Protocol page for information about closing schools.
To receive a text message, you must opt-in by texting 67587 with either a Y or a YES as the message you send. (This may not be activated for 48 hours from when you opt in.) This text (SMS) service only will be used in the event of school closings or a school emergency.
Second-graders throughout D70 are leaning about Ancient Greece and wore togas during a section of the study session.
Adler Park students celebrated and thanked Veterans this week.
Congrats to the Highland Middle School Boys Cross Country who went to state! We're proud of you!
More Assistance for Student Well-Being
Dear District 70 Families:
We strive to create a culture of well-being for students, parents, staff, and the community. To further support this endeavor, the district has invested in an additional support service through ReferralGPS.
ReferralGPS is a service assisting our community in finding local mental health and substance use-related treatment resources. The service compliments the district's existing systems of support as a tool for student service teams and families to connect with treatment. Along with a searchable database of treatment options, ReferralGPS provides Care Navigation to assist families in triage and appointment settings.
School district staff and families may access ReferralGPS in two ways:
Contact Student Services (social workers, psychologists, counselors) to seek out treatment options;
Visit this link at https://referralgps.com/find-help/D70Libertyville to search for treatment resources or connect with a Care Navigator anonymously
The platform can filter by mental health concern, clinician gender/specialty, location, and insurance acceptance. The service is available for all types of private and public insurance options including PPO, HMO, Medicaid, and families that are uninsured or underinsured.
ReferralGPS is available for use by district students, staff, and families at no cost. All information entered on the ReferralGPS tool is completely confidential and securely stored.
Please note, that this service is an optional resource available by choice and is not mandatory in any way. If you are interested in seeking counseling-related services at this time, please consider reaching out to the Student Services team or visiting the link on the button below.
In Partnership,
Dr. Chris Otto, director of student services
Learn More About K-5 Report Cards
Report cards in District 70 are issued three times a year and are available online. The purpose of report cards is to communicate student progress toward achieving grade-level learning objectives adopted by D70 that are based on the Illinois Learning Standards.
A standards-based report card:
provides a clear message to parents about which skills and concepts students know and can demonstrate with established state and national standards;
helps teachers and students focus on identified end-of-year expectations from the very beginning of the year, giving students a direction for their learning;
aligns instruction, assessment, and grading with standards;
creates a higher level of consistency and continuity in assessing among teachers and across grade levels.
Standards-based assessment is based on the belief that every child can learn given quality instruction and ample opportunity for practice. Standards-based assessment is used to help every student understand where they are with meeting standards so they can improve and to help teachers accurately communicate progress toward learning targets or benchmarks to students and parents.
This is different from traditional assessment and reporting, which gives a single letter or number grade for broad subject categories. It also uses averaging of student work over time and other student characteristics such as work habits and effort.
A standards-based report card emphasizes student learning. Standards-based assessment focuses solely on a student’s academic achievement and continued mounting evidence that indicates a true measure of the student’s attainment of learning targets (such as the ability to write a paragraph or add and subtract whole numbers). Extraneous factors like work habits, attendance, and effort are assessed and reported separately, within “Characteristics of Successful Learners."
Additionally, on a standards-based report card, subjects are divided into a list of skills and knowledge that students are responsible for learning. Students receive a separate mark for each standard.
Performance descriptors on the report card do not correlate with letter grades. The following performance descriptors are used to indicate a student’s progress in meeting academic learning standards:
Extends - The student consistently demonstrates an understanding and application of skills and concepts beyond what was taught in class.
Meets - The student demonstrates consistent understanding and application of skills and concepts taught in class. The student is consistently on target for meeting established end-of-year, grade-level learning objectives. It is not anticipated that students will receive “Meets” in all areas of the report card as many skills and concepts are revisited over a year to support consistent understanding and application.
Approaching - The student demonstrates partial understanding and application of skills and concepts taught in class. The student may require more exposure or practice to fully demonstrate consistent understanding and application. A mark of “Approaching” is expected and often occurs when a new concept or skill is introduced.
Below - The student consistently requires assistance to demonstrate understanding and/or application of skills and concepts taught in class. The student may benefit from work that is adapted or from differentiated instruction to demonstrate a better understanding or application of skills and concepts.
NA (Not Assessed) - The student was not formally assessed this trimester. However this does not mean the student did not receive instruction on this standard or topic.
Standards-based report cards improve teaching and learning. Knowing where the students are in their progress toward meeting standards-based learning objectives is crucial for planning and carrying out classroom instruction. Teachers teach to the needs of each student. Standards-based assessment and report cards give teachers and families information about each student’s progress in meeting the level of proficiency required by each standard.
Congrats to Highland Middle School Girls Cross County who went to state! We are proud of you!
Another Fall, another great HMS Outdoor Ed adventure!
D70’s Little Sprouts Preschool received a special delivery of school supplies from Libertyville police officers and Elwood, the comfort dog. Thank you for your generous donation to our district and for brightening our day!
Website: d70schools.org
Location: 1381 Lake Street, Libertyville, IL, USA
Phone: (847) 362-9695