Dupage Policy Journal

At the Nov. 16 meeting of the Bensenville School District Board of Education, the board heard from Anne Paonessa, the interim director of teaching and learning, who reviewed the district's performance on the lllinois schools state report card.

"We're committed to increasing our student engagement through our authentic communication work," she told the school board. "We're continuing our practice of student-centered instructional coaching to really have an impact across all grade levels. We've added those ACE and STEAM programs to reach more students with extension opportunities. We have that targeted professional learning with math and literacy, and then we're utilizing our MAP data to inform responsive instruction to help kids across all levels. That includes extending kids that already have the standards. And that was another area that stood out in our strategic plan work."

She also commented on school designations within the district. The designations are 75% based on academic growth and performance and 25% based on school quality. All three schools earned a designation of commendable for the 2021-22 school year, meaning they had no underperforming groups in the school, she said.

Paonessa also examined the attendance data for the district, explaining that chronically absent means a student who misses 10% of school days regardless of if the absence are excused or unexcused. The district’s numbers in this category have been higher than the state average since 2020, and reached 34% in the 21-22 school year. It is a high priority for the district. 

The board then looked at the results from the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) which is broken down into English and Math sections. The results are based on the percentage of students who are meeting or exceeding expectations of their grade levels. In all overall categories, the district falls below the state average, however there are subcategories within each section where the district outperforms the state.