School Environment Matters:
Parents, teachers, and students across Illinois will have an opportunity to participate in the annual statewide Illinois 5Essentials Survey. This survey is designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of your child’s school. As a parent, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in a survey about your child’s school.
On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois 5Essentials Survey will be administered online by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago. 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
Additionally, District 161 will provide the optional Parent Supplement survey. If at least 20 percent of parents complete this survey for each school, a parent supplemental report will also be generated. The parent data will not be reported 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.
The Illinois 5Essentials Survey parent survey is open until March 31, 2025. To take the survey, please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey to begin. Please complete a survey for each of your children in SD 161 schools.
If you have any questions about accessing the parent survey, please feel free to contact your building principal.