From Feb. 3 until March 13, Illinois schools will participate in the 11th annual statewide Illinois 5Essentials Survey to guide school improvements.
MCHS is inviting students, teachers, and parents or guardians to help generate a picture of the inner workings of the schools. The online survey takes only a few minutes, and it is anonymous.
On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, the 5Essentials Survey will be administered online by the University of Chicago’s UChicago Impact. The survey gathers data related to five indicators that can predict important student outcomes, including improved attendance and larger test score gains. These five indicators that affect and predict school success are:
Effective Leaders
Collaborative Teachers
Involved Families
Supportive Environments
Ambitious Instruction
Prior research in more than 400 schools has shown that schools that were strong in at least three of these “5Essential” areas were 10 times more likely to improve student learning gains in math and reading than those that were weak on three or more Essentials.
All teachers and fourth-through-12th grade students are also invited to respond to this survey. 5Essentials Reports will be generated for schools if their teachers and/or students response rate meets the threshold of 50 percent. These reports will be sent to schools and districts in May and will also be included in the State School Report Card.
MCHS is also including the survey supplement for parents and guardians. If at least 20 percent of McHenry Community High School parents and guardians complete this survey, a parent report will also be generated. The parent data will not be included on the State Report Card.
Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide improvement. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.
To take the survey, please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey to begin.
For more information about the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, or to view previous years’ reports, please visit https://www.5-essentials.org/illinois. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact UChicago Impact Survey Support at 1-866-440-1874 or impact-surveys@uchicago.edu.