Dear Families and Staff,

Last week our District publicly presented information related to beginning of the year student assessment data. As a school District we feel it is very important that our stakeholders understand where our students stand academically, and I am writing today to bring attention to the data, and the challenges that lie ahead.
Staff have created a presentation which contains information about three separate assessments:

• The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), taken in the spring of 2021 by 11th and 12th graders
• The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), taken in the spring of 2021 by students in grades 3-8
• Our local NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment taken this fall by students in grades K-8.
  You can view a 55-minute video presentation narrated by Dr. Jonathon Brown, our Director of Assessment and Data by clicking here. YouTube will feature subtitles in your preferred language to follow along with the narration. If you prefer to view the presentation at your own pace, it can be accessed in a PDF format in Englishor Spanish.
  The results substantiate the research related to the COVID slide and unfinished learning that our students have experienced during the pandemic. We have seen a decrease in our students’ performance throughout the district in math and reading compared to the progress we were making prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, studies show that students in Illinois Districts similar to ours require more than four months of recovery in reading and nearly five months of recovery in math. We’re seeing similar trends in our District. Looking at the assessment data that we have so far, the number of Waukegan students meeting or exceeding standards in both math and English has decreased by half in most grade levels. If you want to see what this looks like within the various assessments please refer to the summary slides provided within the linked presentation.
  Reviewing the data reinforces our need to provide additional academic and mental health support to schools and students as they reacclimate to in-person instruction amidst the continued distractions of the pandemic. Our District has recently invested in several tutoring programs to supplement our tool box of interventions used to improve student performance. In addition, we have an exhaustive list of internal/external resources that are being used to support social emotional learning and mental health of students and families.
  We are going to continue to evaluate student learning and equip our schools with the necessary resources to recover the disruption to learning that so many of our students experienced over the last 18 months. As a District we are committed to ensuring our students are reaching their potential both academically and socially. COVID has created a new set of challenges in both areas. These challenges are not going to be solved overnight, but if we all continue to collaboratively support our children, I know we can take leaps in the positive direction.

Thank you.

Theresa Plascencia
Superintendent