Minooka Community High School District #111 will join the Illinois State Board of Education in the fourteenth statewide survey of school climate and learning conditions. From February 3 to March 13, students and teachers will be asked to take a 30-minute research-based survey to help identify strengths and weaknesses in their school’s learning environment. Teachers, students, and parents may complete the Illinois 5Essentials Survey online. For more information, visit: www.5-essentials.org/illinois
The survey provides a chance for students, teachers, and parents to have a voice in improving their schools. The parent survey supplement will also be administered during the same survey window. These surveys will serve as an opportunity for schools to reflect on progress since the last statewide implementation.
The Illinois 5Essentials Survey provides a comprehensive picture of a school’s organizational culture in an individualized report measuring five “essentials” critical for school success:
• Effective Leaders
• Collaborative Teachers
• Involved Families
• Supportive Environment
• Ambitious Instruction
Over thirty years of research at the University of Chicago in more than 400 schools has shown that schools that were strong on at least three of the 5Essentials were 10 times more likely to make substantial gains in improving student reading and math than schools that were weak on three or more of the Essentials. Those differences remained true even after controlling for student and school characteristics, including poverty, race, gender, and neighborhood characteristics.
5Essentials Reports demonstrate that what students and teachers say about their schools can serve as important indicators for school success. All district schools, including alternative schools within the district’s domain, are required to participate in the school learning conditions survey each year.
“We participate in the Illinois 5Essentials survey each year, and it’s helpful for us to understand our strengths and opportunities as reported by our students, staff, and parents, so we, as a district, can make informed decisions,” Superintendent Dr. Robert Schiffbauer said in a new release. “Participation matters. We encourage everyone to take the survey and have their voices heard.”
Principals and superintendents will receive their 5Essentials Reports in May. Survey results will also be reported publicly on the UChicago Impact Reporting Website in June and on the State School Report Card website: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/, in the fall. An optional parent survey supplement is available to all schools as a supplement to the 5Essentials Survey for teachers and students—results from the parent survey supplement will be included only in the individual school 5Essential Reports. Details on survey alternatives can be found on the State Board’s website: