The Flossmoor School District 161 Board of Education has its sights set on ambitious goals focused on improving academic achievement and reducing chronic absenteeism.

The board voted to approve key targets, including 90% of students meeting or exceeding state standards on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness. The district will also increase efforts to ensure students are in classrooms consistently. 

A focus of the plan, outlined in board documents, is using data to drive improvements to raise academic achievement in English language arts, mathematics, and science for all students, with a commitment to eliminating existing achievement gaps. The districtwide move to standards-based grading is an example of the strategies that administrators and board members have cited in recent meetings. 

In a related effort, the board also approved a goal to reduce chronic absenteeism to 10% or less within the next five years. The board and district administrators have repeatedly stressed their recognition of a direct link between attendance and academic success. Attendance has slowly begun to improve, trending towards pre-pandemic levels, but the district hopes to accelerate this success.

Months of discussions by board members and administrators guided the plan approved on Aug. 4. According to board documents, a survey indicated that the plan had a consensus of support from responding community members and also returned helpful comments and suggestions that the board will review and consider.

With the goals now finalized, the board is set to approve specific metrics for progress measurement. Following this, board committees will recommend the detailed strategies to be implemented at both district and school levels to achieve the goals.