Principal credits staff as Plano Middle School recognized as a national ‘Schools to Watch’ award winner

Plano Middle School has been nationally recognized this year as a Schools to Watch award winner for best practices in middle level education.

The recognition came from the Association of Illinois Middle-Grade Schools’ (AIMS) Illinois Horizon School to Watch program, a subset of The National Forum Advancing Excellence in the Middle Grades’ Schools to Watch program.

Schools to Watch is a school improvement tool for middle schools. According to AIMS’ website, Schools to Watch demonstrate academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity, and organizational structures and processes designed to support a trajectory toward excellence.

Plano Middle School was one of 30 Illinois middle schools recognized in the National Forum Schools to Watch program.

Plano Middle School Principal Mark Heller said the recognition reflects the school’s practices and the hard work of his teaching staff. He said they strive to provide a program that supports students’ academic, social emotional and developmental growth.

“I have a staff of teachers that is just outstanding,” Heller said. “They really want what’s best for the kids.”

The school first adopted the National Forum’s rubric in 2018, and throughout the improvement process, teams of Plano Middle School teachers would visit other Schools to Watch and observe their systems.

After using the rubric and program to better their teaching practices for years, Heller applied for Plano Middle School to be evaluated by AIMS in October 2021.

AIMS sent a team of evaluators to the school in February 2022 to spend the day observing and talking with students, teachers and parents. By spring 2022, they received recognition as a national School to Watch.

Heller said his staff has had a 100% retention rate for the past two school years and their average student daily attendance rate is 97% so far this year. He said most years it falls between 95% and 96%.

Plano Middle school uses smaller learning groups, about one educator to every 15 students, to create a more personalized learning experience and allow teachers to get to know their students better.

Heller said recognitions like this one can tell much more about the school than the results of standardized testing can.

“These are the things that don’t show up on the Illinois School Board’s school report cards,” Heller said. “Those just show the results of one test.”

Since receiving the recognition, Heller said his school has had several visits from teams of teachers from other schools, sent by AIMS to observe their practices.

Heller said in a press release announcing the recognition, “Our staff recognizes the role they play in helping our children reach their full potential, and they do not take the responsibility lightly. We truly believe all students can be successful, and this belief drives the work they do on a daily basis.”