Our Northbrook vision is to cultivate high performing students in a nurturing environment. We know that students learn best when they feel supported, challenged, and engaged. We want our students to feel that they belong and see meaning in their work. Student survey data shows that Northbrook students are engaged, but there is room for improvement to meet our goal of “each and every” student performing at their fullest potential. The “Supportive Learning Environment” EES survey theme poses questions to help our staff ensure students feel supported so they can perform at their very best.

1. Northbrook staff will use Pride Time to support advisement and PBIS lessons on Mondays and Fridays. These 40-minute lessons allow for teachers to work with students on a variety of topics, including student behaviors, student leadership, student goal-setting, social-emotional wellbeing, academic support, and belonging and engagement. Lessons will emphasize teaching and reteaching students how to set goals for success in their classes, how to problem solve, and how to get involved in school and community activities.

2. Northbrook staff use PBIS and classroom management strategies to support student belonging, engagement, and behaviors.  

3. Northbrook teachers will use class time and Pride Time to champion our students through enrichment and remediation, providing specific feedback to students about their levels of learning, and connecting their content to real-life applications.
   
   
4. The school will use existing and new communication platforms for communicating effectively with families and the community about school programs and initiatives. We will also leverage our Title I Parent Instructional Coordinator to support parents and families from different cultural backgrounds.        

Northbrook Middle will promote a positive school climate by improving by 5 percentage points from the previous year for positive student responses in the “Supportive Learning Environment” category of the EES Survey.

2024 Baseline: 62%

2025 Target: 67%

• All students are held to the same behavior expectations (2024: 66%)
  
• I enjoy coming to this school  (2024: 49%)
  
• I feel safe at this school (2024: 74%)
  
• There is at least one adult who knows & cares about me (2024: 77%)
  
• Most students are respectful of others at this school  (2024: 35%)
  
• Student success is celebrated in this school (2024: 75%)
  
• The rules against bullying are enforced by all adults (2024: 74%)
  
• Work I do in this school is useful and interesting to me (2024: 45%)

Northbrook Middle will provide high-quality Tier 1 instruction for all students that includes targeted small groups, grade-level curriculum, ongoing formative assessments, and progress monitoring, resulting in 75% of students with improved scores in literacy and math from Fall to Winter screeners.

1. Northbrook Middle will provide universal screeners in literacy and math to identify the needs of each and every student.

2. Northbrook staff will use Pride Time to provide literacy and math support for all students. During 40-minute Pride Time sessions, students at Tier 1 will engage in literacy lessons on Tuesdays and math lessons on Thursdays. Lessons for each are designed using a three-part lesson design in which classes will participate in a whole-group "engage" activity on a literacy or math skill. Students will then participate in skills-based lessons based on individual student needs and screener data. Students will work independently and/or in collaborative groups to work through these lessons.

3. Students with Tier 2 supports will receive literacy or math support twice per week during Pride Time (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and will work in smaller class sizes with a certified math or language arts teacher to target skill deficits. Progress monitoring will determine levels of student growth and will determine next steps to support the child's learning.

4. Students at Tier 3 will receive support during Connections for 90 minutes every other school day. Language Arts Remediation and Math Remediation classes are available to support students, provide skill-based interventions, and progress monitor growth.

5. The MTSS Team will develop checkpoints to ensure that appropriate interventions are in place and that progress monitoring is occurring. 

Northbrook Middle will provide high-quality Tier 1 instruction for all students that includes targeted small groups, grade-level curriculum, ongoing formative assessments, and progress monitoring, resulting in 75% of students with improved scores in literacy and math from Fall to Winter screeners.

At Northbrook, our goal is to provide a learning environment that is conducive to teaching and learning for each and every student and to provide consistent, fair, and equitable application of behavior standards in order to promote, teach, and reteach appropriate expectations for positive behavior. Our purpose is for each and every student to:

1. experience a culture of belonging, where they are cared for, respected, and affirmed;
2. be taught expectations about how to conduct themselves at school;
3. be provided with interventions as part of a multi-tiered system of supports; 
4. use disciplinary incidents as teachable moments with responses designed to teach appropriate behavior and self-control;
5. receive behavioral interventions that are restorative and corrective; and
6. receive exclusionary discipline as a consequence when behavior disrupts the learning environment and/or threatens the safety and security of the school.

1. Northbrook uses a positive-behavior framework to support students. Northbrook staff teach, reteach, and reinforce behavior expectations.

2. Teachers administer PBIS and the discipline in a fair and equitable manner, review student behavioral data, and participate in professional learning. Teachers employ the STEP Plan as a means of teaching and reteaching student behavioral expectations.

3. Students participate in PBIS lessons and are taught  schoolwide expectations and the STEP Plan.

4. Administration provides professional learning to teachers on student behavioral expectations. The instruction is rooted in the following vision: “We strongly believe that students have the right to a safe and nurturing learning environment. To support their learning, Northbrook staff will teach and reteach school-wide expectations, rules, and procedures to our students. Our staff will observe and identify problem behaviors and will provide consistent and fair support to students.”

5. Counselors support Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 students based on behaviors.

6. The PBIS Team designs teacher professional learning, student advisement lessons, student and staff celebrations / acknowledgements, and reviews student data.

Northbrook Middle will have zero student groups (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Students with Disabilities, Economically Disadvantaged) that are overrepresented in exclusionary discipline (OSS and ISS) as measured by a student group with a Discipline Disproportionality Index score above 1.2.

At Northbrook, our goal is to ensure that each and every student demonstrates mastery of the district and state standards. Mastery learning is measured in a variety of ways. Northbrook staff use daily formative assessments to measure student learning and to provide enrichment or remediation to support learning outcomes. Our teachers use other assessments, including teacher- created tests and district created assessments, to measure learning outcomes. Teachers analyze these data to improve instructional decisions and to provide interventions to those students who need additional support. 

1. Northbrook teachers use Achievement Level Descriptors and Analyzing the Standards tools to ensure that instruction and assessment align to the proficient and distinguished levels of the targeted standards. Teachers work collaboratively to develop standards-based learning targets for daily lessons.

2. Gradual release is the primary instructional framework for Northbrook teachers. This scaffolding approach moves classroom instruction from teacher-centered, whole group delivery to student-centered collaboration and independent practice. Teachers design lessons that include teacher-led mini lessons, collaborative opportunities for students to practice, and independent work time for students to demonstrate their understanding of the targeted skill and/or content. Teachers will utilize Quality Plus Teaching Strategies and eCLASS comm centers for lesson designs in daily instruction.

3. Teachers create quality formative and summative assessments to measure levels of student learning. Curriculum teams develop assessments collaboratively by analyzing the Achievement Level Descriptors of the targeted AKS. Common assessments include appropriate depth of knowledge and rigor to assess student learning at the proficient and distinguished levels of the standards.

4. Teachers analyze student achievement data to identify learning gaps and to responsively refine instruction to support student learning. Teachers use data analysis to differentiate instruction, provide small-group instruction, and/or enrich advanced learners.

5. Administrators attend weekly curriculum meetings to support teachers and ensure alignment to the implementation plan and school-wide non-negotiable expectations. Administrators conduct weekly walkthroughs of classrooms to ensure that instruction and assessment align to the implementation plan and to determine the quality of student engagement and teacher use of formative assessment data.

Northbrook students will increase by 3% in the combined Proficient and Distinguished categories on End-of-Course and End-of-Grade Milestones Assessments from the previous school year.

Northbrook Middle is committed to being the first choice of students and families for excellent schools. We know families play an integral role in the education of their child, and we want to encourage and support families to be actively involved at Northbrook. We believe communication is key to building positive relationships that benefit students and their academic and social-emotional growth. Our goal is to establish effective two-way communication, partnering to support student learning, and providing opportunities for families to share ideas about Northbrook school improvement plans.

1. Enhance opportunities for stakeholders to be active in the school improvement process through Student Council, School Council, and Parent Teacher Association (PTA).
2. Increase the number of clubs and extracurricular activities offered to students.
3. Offer family engagement activities and parent workshops to build parent capacity.
4. Engage parents through social media and ParentSquare communication. 
5. Utilize the Family Engagement Center as a support for families, volunteers, business partners, and community stakeholders.

Northbrook Middle will promote a positive school climate by improving by 3% from the previous year for positive family responses of the EES Family Survey (calculated by averaging the seven EES family survey categories).

2024 Baseline:  83.4%

2025 Target:  85.9%  

• Collaboration & Communication (2024: 86%)
• Supportive Learning Environment (2024: 84%)
• Effective Leadership (2024: 85%)
• High Standards & Expectations (2024: 82%)
• Monitoring of Teaching & Learning (2024: 88%)
• Parent & Community Involvement (2024: 80%)
• Clear & Shared Focus (2024: 79%)