About those late Wednesdays in Dist. 204

The word on the playground is that many parents don’t really get why their students in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 schools have a late start on Wednesdays.

“There are some groups of people who just don’t quite understand,” board member Lori Price said. “They just think it is a late start day. You hear that out at the soccer fields and baseball fields and bus stops. There are some questions about why this is being done.”

The district plans to get the word out soon not only about the reason for late-start Wednesdays, but also about the success of it. The idea was implemented during the 2009-2010 school year with elementary schools starting 10 minutes later, and middle and high schools starting 20 minutes later on Wednesday mornings. That extra time gives elementary teachers a 75-minute block, and middle and high school teachers a 50-minute block of weekly time to focus on professional development.

“We really see the value in it. The single biggest predictor for student success is that instructor in the classroom so you want the instructor to be as strong as possible,” Superintendent Kathy Birkett said.

Teachers and staff have used the time for training and collaboration. In addition, the time is used to work on implementing 35 school improvement plans, 350 to 400 SMART goals that target specific areas of improvement and 2,500 professional development plans.

District officials believe the efforts have in part led to higher student test scores. For instance, a SMART goal in an honors chemistry class was for students to score better on an atomic structure unit. The goal included group work by students on lab projects that reflect material from college entrance exams and a measure of success by expecting 85 percent of students to show an understanding of the material when tested.

A survey of about half of the district’s teachers showed most are using the Wednesdays to make changes in how they teach. The survey also revealed that many teachers feel they don’t have enough time to implement changes and that many aren’t analyzing student work on a monthly basis in their teams.

School leaders say teachers are getting smarter about not taking on too much when they set goals and that it takes time for teachers to feel comfortable collaborating on how they teach. The hope is that teachers will look at students’ work, talk about successes and then take away ideas to implement in their classrooms. The difficult part is getting to a point where a teacher can recognize that another is getting better results from students and then seek out the information to improve, said Martha Baumann, assistant superintendent for elementary leadership services.

“It takes a lot of trust and courage that develops over time,” she said. “You have to put yourself out there.”