Covid Grades Responses

We know that in-person learning is the best way for our students to learn, and we've prioritized in-person learning while following all safety guidelines since March 2020. Although some students did struggle as we modified instruction to respond to the pandemic, we have identified each student who was not successful last year and have offered individual plans and/or additional support to help them progress forward.

We also created extra support to keep all students moving forward academically and to stay on track with their learning. For example, during the pandemic last year we:

• Expanded teacher office hours; every teacher was available daily as well as for three hours each week outside of class time to meet with students individually
• Offered students access to professionally trained tutors, who were available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; since the start of this program, our students have accessed tutors over 5,000 times. This year, we are continuing to offer these and other support for those who are struggling academically or with other stress. Teachers are available during school hours, and we've also:
• Hired interventionists and student support coordinators;
• Created academic resource centers;
• Expanded tutoring opportunities;
• Established a program designed to reduce suspensions, increase instructional time and engage students in restorative practices.
• Increased focus on social-emotional learning throughout the curriculum using the Collaborative for Academic and Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework
• Established a SEL/CASEL Program, whereby we are providing supports for the whole child
• Connected our students to "Safe2Help" resources, to ensure we support the emotional wellness of our students. District 99 is committed to caring for our students, and ensuring they have all the resources they need to succeed.

District 113 focused on unfinished learning this past summer offering opportunities to students to retake classes or make up parts of classes. We continue to work with students this year through additional supports to address unfinished academic learning as well as social-emotional learning. I think it's fair to say the pandemic has been hard on everyone but at the same time we also know the severity of its impact is experienced on an individual level. One student might have had difficulty dealing with the social restrictions during lockdown but overall did well academically and social life picked up as COVID numbers went down and weather improved. Another student might have had a parent lose a job, suffered food insecurity, and had other difficulties at home that made learning whether remote or in person really challenging.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have seen students continue to reach out for support when needed. Our students have always exhibited considerable drive in their academic and co-curricular pursuits, that certainly hasn't changed. Throughout the pandemic, especially during remote learning, our staff went above and beyond when it came to finding ways to keep students engaged and growing academically and in their co-curriculars. Teachers and staff will provide as much support to a student until he or she feels comfortable with the material being taught.

One of the goals at the Glenbrooks has always been to provide support to our students. Besides assistance from the classroom teacher, there are other forms of support available from the schools at District 225. Examples of this include additional support to students such as the Math Enrichment Center, Academic Resource Center, The Learning Center, etc. These have been available prior to the pandemic, during the pandemic and now.

The D225 staff worked strenuously to support our students throughout the pandemic. Aside from our early return to in-person instruction, we made sure that our students who were learning from home had ample online support and access to our resource centers. Our counseling staff and academic leaders interacted extensively with students who were struggling academically to prevent as much negative impact to our students long-term academic wellbeing as possible. While District 225 did not have a policy directed to not fail students during the 2020-2021 school year, we went to tremendous lengths to make sure that our students learning during the pandemic would not impact their academic futures. Our educators continue to spend numerous hours towards individuals who may require extra assistance.

As you noted, historically, the number of failing grades given at our school has remained low due to the hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff. Over the years, we have built robust systems of academic interventions and supports for students when they are struggling academically. In addition to the extra time and attention our teachers spent to keep our students engaged academically in the remote learning environment, we also doubled down on our efforts to provide social-emotional and learning supports, which included coordinated student outreach through our student support teams comprised of counselors, social workers, deans and psychologists.