Dear D124 Parents & Guardians,

The Illinois State Board of Education recently released School Report Cards for all schools in Illinois. The report is filled with a variety of important information; I wanted to specifically highlight a few areas for our families in this note.

I’m excited to share that we are successfully narrowing the achievement gap in District 124. The achievement gap is calculated by comparing average ELA and Math scores for our highest-performing groups of students with other student groups. As you will see in the data below, the report card shows that the gap has decreased in all four major demographic comparisons for both Reading and Math over the past four years.

These data points provides evidence of the significant steps forward we have already taken -- and must continue to take -- in becoming a school district that works for ALL of our students, not just some or most of them. The changes we have made district-wide to our math and language arts curriculums are having a positive impact. Not only what we teach, now connected to Common Core and 21st Century Science Standards, but also how we are teaching it. The work of our instructional coaches, the work of our principals and district directors and coordinators and, most importantly, the hard work of our certified teachers and paraprofessional staff really is transforming teaching and learning in District 124.

Below you will find several other noteworthy accomplishments and data points contained within this year’s report card:

All five of our schools once again received a rating of Commendable, which is the second-highest possible rating awarded by the Illinois State Board of Education
Our percentages of Students Meeting or Exceeding Expectations on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) are At or Above the State Average in both categories tested – English Language Arts and Math
Our Average Class Size of 18.1 remains well Below the State Average of 21.9
Our Teacher Retention Rate (86%) and percentage of Teachers With Master’s Degrees (63%) are both above the state average, Ensuring High-Quality Instruction for our students

If you would like to view more information about the District, please click the following link to View D124’s Report Card.

Thank you for your continued support of all of our students and academic programs; our parents and guardians play a vital role in our students' success!

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert Machak
Superintendent of Schools