Oct. 27, 2023
Shine Bright with Supt. Rebecca A. Jenkins
Dear District 70 Families and Community:
Thank you to everyone who took part in our summer survey. We were thrilled to see such an overwhelming response! Many of you expressed a desire for enrichment courses; we are listening and excited to develop them! Our team immediately got to work. We plan to roll out a new course catalog this winter. Stay tuned for more details!
I also want to give a special shout-out to all the families who have been attending our Families Learning Together events and parent conferences. Your involvement is truly important to us. When families and schools work together, our students thrive.
Family engagement isn't just a buzzword in D70; it's a core value. Your active participation whether through surveys, attending events, or supporting your school organizations, helps us create a learning environment where every student can succeed. Together, we're building strong partnerships that make a real difference in our students’ lives and you’re helping us make our schools a better place for everyone.
We're so happy to work together with you. Your support helps us do our best for every student.
Rebecca
Rebecca A. Jenkins
Superintendent of Schools
Libertyville School District 70
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For Parents/Guardians on Nov. 7 - What to Do in a School Emergency
What: General Safety Tips for Families and Threat Assessment Information
When: 7 p.m. on Nov. 7
Where: Highland Middle School North Gym
Who: Randy Braverman, security expert who works with D70
Randy Braverman, a security expert who works with D70 on keeping the schools safe for children, will focus on overall security awareness including what a parent/guardian needs to know in a school emergency if you are inside or outside of the school, and when picking up a child at the reunification site. He also will review what is involved in a threat assessment process in schools and explore some of the social media/digital tools youth use today.
This event is part of the new Families Learning Together sessions. Families Learning Together is a District 70 initiative to provide learning opportunities for our parents, caregivers, and sometimes our students. These informative sessions will be presented throughout the school year. Unless otherwise stated, these events are adult-only.
Going Old School. Writing letters to other students and staff.
Outdoor Ed. Just the very best of times in nature's classroom.
Technology rocks. Using Boomcards to practice contractions.
K-5 Standards-Based 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.
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 our Fire Prevention Week poster winners from Adler Park School Nicholas “Nicky” W. and Violeta V., and Alice K from Copeland Manor School. The three students won in their grade level across the village.
Tracing and measuring arm lengths to compare them to the wingspans of a Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, and a Bald Eagle.
Lakeside Conference Champions! Great season finale for HMS 8th grade girls volleyball!
Kindergarten Families - AIMSweb Student Information
Attention kindergarten parents/guardians: The kindergarten assessment data collected earlier this fall is now online.
D70 kindergartners were screened using the AIMSwebPlus assessment tool and will be screened again in January and May to assess the growth of students throughout the school year.
Before viewing the scores, please read this informative letter explaining AIMSwebPlus and how it is used.
To view your child’s scores:
- Log into the PowerSchool Parent Portal. The Parent Portal can be found on the website at d70schools.org or D70 PowerSchool Parent Portal or https://d70schools.powerschool.com/public/home.html
- After logging into the Parent Portal, click on the PLS Vault Documents under the Navigation menu.
- Then choose “Assessment” next to the folder drop-down menu to find your child’s AIMSweb reports. There will be a report for Early Literacy and Early Numeracy. Questions can be directed to the classroom teacher, principal or Kerri Bongle, director of growth and talent.
School Safety Reminder
When visiting any of our D70 buildings, please remember that when entering a building, we ask that you not let other visitors in behind or with you. For safety reasons, holding the door or allowing another visitor to enter with you, compromises our building security. All visitors must check in at the office and should not be allowed into the building without following the visitor management process in each school vestibule. Thank you for your help in keeping our staff and students safe.
Great teamwork. Students work in groups as they unscramble spelling words as they practice before a test.
Learning was brought to life when students celebrated their dilligent work and learning about ancient Asia and some of its traditions like Chinese New Year.
Create a robot using primary colors and shapes. Amazing.
Boost Reading for Families
Along with the adoption of Amplify CKLA for all ELA instruction for kindergarten through fifth grade students, District 70 also purchased Amplify's Boost Reading. Boost Reading is an online, personalized platform for literacy instruction that will provide instruction in the skills necessary to be a proficient reader. The program immerses students in an engaging game world while providing students with personalized feedback and providing teachers with meaningful data to track growth. This program will meet students where they’re at, by providing reinforcement and remediation, as well as enrichment. This means that you do not need to assist students with their learning. Once your child can log in, they’re ready to start using the program.
Your child can learn with Boost Reading during school hours and independently at home. Please see the information below on how to log into the program.
Log in via the d70 student page at d70schools.org/students;
Click on Amplify icon;
Click log in with Google (may be prompted to enter a district-assigned email and password).
Tips and Tricks
Practice logging in with your child consistently until they can log in independently.
Keep your child’s login information in a single place so they know where to go if they need it.
Provide your child with headphones or a quiet place to play.
Website: d70schools.org
Location: 1381 Lake Street, Libertyville, IL, USA
Phone: (847) 362-9695