Latest news with #SterlingPublicSchools
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Possible federal funding freeze casts uncertain future for Sauk Valley schools
Feb. 8—STERLING — Sauk Valley schools are facing an uncertain future after a chain of events involving a Trump administration memo freezing the dispersal of federal funding later briefly was paused by the courts. Here is a snapshot of how those events could affect schools in the Sauk Valley area: Sterling Public Schools SPS Director of Finance Matt Birdsley said it currently is unclear which federal programs the freeze could affect. "If it were to impact every federal program with no exclusions, it would impact our Title program, national breakfast and lunch program, and IDEA funding to support special education," Birdsley said. Birdsley said SPS has been allocated $1.2 million in Title I funding. Schools where at least 40% of students are classified as low-income qualify to receive Title I money, which can be used to fund additional teachers, tutors and after-school programs. He said SPS also receives $178,543 in Title II funds, which it uses to provide additional reading and math instructional support to at-risk students in grades K-5. If that funding was eliminated, Birdsley said SPS would have to adjust its budget and reallocate funds to maintain those programs. Rock Falls Rock Falls Township High School District 301 Superintendent Ron McCord said that on average, Title funds supplement 3% to 5% of the school's total operating fund revenue. He said that for fiscal 2025, Title I basic program improvements cost $304,747 and include: * Summer school stipends * Supplemental tech and instructional aides * Supplemental classroom supplies and materials for English language arts and math * Stipends for and social-emotional supports provided by the Student Assistance Program counselor, school counselors and social worker * General school improvement initiatives and professional development for staff * Homeless aid assistance * Dual-credit assistance RFHS plans to use $25,449 in fiscal 2025 Title II funds for teacher training and recruitment, including: * English language arts salary assistance to reduce class size * A new teacher mentoring program McCord said RFHS also plans to use $20,589 in Title IV funds on student support and academic enrichment, including providing hot spots for low-income students, Advanced Placement exam fees and a school safety stipend for its school resource officer. "If these federal funds were not available, programs would be dropped or need to be paid for with local and/or state funding," McCord said. Rock Falls Elementary School District 13 Superintendent Dan Arickx said federal funding for education, including Title I and Title II grants, is not currently affected and remains exempt. However, if that funding were to disappear, several significant changes could occur, such as increased school meal prices, larger classroom sizes and potential staff cuts. "We're talking about a couple million dollars being cut out of a $12 million budget," Arickx said. "You can't cut one-sixth of the budget without reducing the number of staff. The other problem would be that because of school law, to remove those people you have to notify them by April 15. If you do it after that date, then you have to keep them the next year, and you're going to have to spend a ton of money out of your reserves." Arickx said that despite the district having built up its reserve funding over the past 15 years, such a move would be "drastic." Despite the day-to-day confusion many schools are facing across the nation, Arickx said District 13 is not panicking. "There's no real indicators that we are going to be losing any Title or IDEA grant money because those aren't approved by the president, they're approved by Congress," Arickx said. "It would take a lot of work to get rid of those programs."
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Sterling schools upgrade language arts curriculum, ACT testing support
Jan. 31—STERLING — Sterling Public Schools has been working to upgrade its English Language Arts curriculum and ACT preparation services for its high school students. myPerspectives Sterling High School's new pilot program is a comprehensive ELA curriculum designed to help develop reading, writing, speaking and listening skills for middle and high school students. It emphasizes active learning and critical thinking, and aligns with state and national literacy standards. SPS Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amy Downs said that before she became director, teachers relied on self-written curricula. However, the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan now requires high-quality, evidence-based literacy instruction. The Illinois State Board of Education adopted the ICLP in early 2024 as a response to low literacy rates in Illinois' public schools. To meet this mandate, Downs said that district leaders used the third-party curriculum rating system EdReports to select myPerspectives, which was recommended based on its effectiveness and ability to align with state standards. "When we talk about aligning our curriculum vertically, as well as horizontally, that's difficult to do when you have a teacher-written curriculum that has been changed over multiple high school English teachers," Downs said. "So, we looked at the different curriculum programs that had been rated on EdReports with an evidence-based, research-based curriculum that had been highly effective in other school districts." Downs said that teachers spent the fall 2024 school semester ensuring their assessments aligned with the new curriculum. They then looked at the ISBE's Literacy Curriculum Evaluation Rubric midway through the quarter and again at the end of the semester to evaluate its performance before finally recommending it as the core ELA curriculum for SHS. The new curriculum's success will be evaluated by monitoring how students are doing using common assessments within the curriculum. Downs said the new changes will not impact advanced placement courses that are managed by the College Board. "We also will be monitoring what used to be the SAT and is now the ACT," Downs said. "Illinois changed contracts this year and we will no longer be required to give the SAT. However, all Illinois high schools are now required to give the ACT. We will measure it as we see changes and hopefully see your students become more successful on the state assessment." Downs said SPS is focusing on improving those state testing scores with a new support program. Horizon Education Downs said that every fall, winter and spring, SPS students take assessments to benchmark and predict how students will perform on the state assessment. "The previous program that we used was not meeting the same needs that we have now that we've transitioned to the ACT," Downs said. "STAR is a 30-minute assessment that analyzes basic skills and lets us know which students might need extra support in some state standards, whereas Horizon mimics the actual test. It then gives specific reports pinpointing areas that students need targeted instruction in, that align with the sub-reports of the ACT." Downs said students took their first benchmark assessment using Horizon last winter, with their next one set for this spring, followed by the actual ACT in April. "This spring we're going to compare how we did in April with how Horizon says our students should have done when they took it in the winter and then for the spring," Downs said. "At the end of the school year we'll be able to compare and see if this is giving us a good prediction, and is it letting us know how our students are doing and what areas we can focus on for improvement."
