The Illinois 5Essentials Survey for staff, parents and students in grades 4-8 will run from Feb. 16 to 26 this year.
The annual survey focuses on the five “essential” areas that research has shown are key components for school success: Effective Leaders, Collaborative Teachers, Involved Families, Supportive Environment, and Ambitious Instruction. The 5E survey is sponsored by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and was developed in collaboration with the University of Chicago.
Principals will be sending out more information to parents via email. The survey itself should take about 20 minutes or less to complete. Parents’ participation will help us understand the conditions at our schools and guide improvements. Individual survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to the parent or child.
Research shows that schools rated highly on three or more of the five essentials are 10 times more likely to make substantial gains in math and reading. Data from this report will be used by our district and our school to help inform our school improvement planning efforts and to provide a picture of our school’s performance beyond test scores. It will not be used as a component in administrative or staff evaluation. Aggregated data will be shared with parents and the general public on our school’s report card.