Seven years ago, after analyzing student data and concluding that OPRF High School’s institutional practice of tracking perpetuated educational inequity, District 200 declared its commitment to a “transformative restructuring” of the freshman curriculum (OPRF Restructured Freshman Curriculum Analysis Report, September 2024).
Then, after extensive research, teachers created the Freshman All-Honors Curriculum which now benefits the majority of students in the school. In the past three elections, the Oak Park-River Forest community demonstrated that it believes in the freshman program that expands opportunity for all students to experience honors-level curriculum.
This semester the Freshman All-Honors Curriculum begins its fourth year. To ensure its sustainability and continued success, the D200 Board of Education must provide additional — and more effective — supports for the program and establish an independent Curriculum Equity Advisory Group to monitor and make timely recommendations for curriculum equity.
Our Call for More Supports
Since the launch of Freshman All-Honors, the need for more supports has been repeatedly documented. After the program’s first year, an evaluation recommended more assistance for students scoring at lower levels on standardized tests (OPRF Restructured Freshman Curriculum Analysis, Sept. 2023). In the year two evaluation, parents requested more student assistance as well (Isobar Restructured Curriculum Analysis, Sept. 2024).
Also, last year Black Oak Park researchers asserted that a lack of support for Black students’ success in honors and AP courses is a long-standing systemic harm that needs immediate correction (Historical Harms to the Black Community of Oak Park and Suggested Repairs, 2024). The district itself acknowledged that, post-pandemic, more academic and social supports were needed to achieve racial equity (OPRF MTSS Report, June 2023).
Finally, an initial evaluation of the tutoring program points to the need for considerable revision if it is to address the learning needs of all students (OPRF Tutoring and Testing Center Update, June 2023).
We, the undersigned, remind the D200 high school board of their commitments to racial and educational equity, and we call on the board to:
1. Require the district to provide more effective assistance to students in the Freshman All-Honors program, co-designed with impacted students and families.
2. Create an authentically independent Curriculum Equity Advisory Group that sets and monitors time-sensitive goals to ensure ongoing improvements to the Freshman All-Honors curriculum.
In doing so, the board will act on its stated commitment to increased academic support with the same vigor it has exhibited for the physical reconstruction of the school.
Henry Fulkerson, Paul Goyette, Hajjar Mohammed-Herbert, Caren Van Slyke, Chettha Saetia, Stephanie Rodriguez, John Duffy, Shobha Mahadev, Michelle Major, Lupe Reyes, Katie Diamond, Dot Lambshead Roche, Tiffany Verzani, Nathan Duffy, Robin Kalish, Jordan Burstein, Alexios Rosario-Moore, Alice Cottingham, Debbie Holliday, Divya Nagendran, Brittany Nelson, Wendy Greenhouse, Christina Waters, Sheron Shapiro, Nancy Alexander, Margaret Fulkerson, Michele Boutin, Z Bulut, Liz Lukehart, Kiera Pohl, Susan Alexander, Mona El-Shamaa, Dawn Haney, Marnelle Curtis, Laurie Casey, Susan Lucci, Jeremiah Williams, Jodi Walker, Kevin Barnhart, Rachel Weaver, Paul Sakol, Roberta Logwood, Jarvis Hart, Joy Benion, Shirley Halford, Beth Dougherty, David Schaafsma, Bri Pena, Juanta Griffin, Laura Derks, Teresa Powell, Tanya Fisher, Mary Bird, John Murphy, Andrew Kirschner, Rose Kirschner, George Bailey, Laura Navarro, Victorino Duran, Helen Thornton, Miles Jackson, Meghan Carter, Paul Engelhardt, Daniel Burke, Sydney Jackson, Melisa Alabsy, Cheryl Jackson, Sandra Shimon, Dez Murphy, Phillip Garland, Antwon Billups, Nkabila Mwakyoma, Claire Barliant, Kenneth Nelson, Estelle Slocum, James Schwartz, Kendale McCoy, Thomas Zaino, Will Gilmore, James Poznak, Jenna Leving Jacobson, Susan Messer, Sana Brand, Patricia Nix-Hodes, Norine Gutekanst, Robert Bartlett, Rima Lunin Schultz, Richard Schultz, Bob Giles, Simon Bade-Nguyen, Lauren Taylor, Linda Sandman, Marie Drake, Ann Bolan, Albert Timpo, Pauline Koch, Jennifer Wenschhof, Kathleen Ogundipe, Feighanne Hathaway, Kristeen McLain, John Chapman-Rienstra, Andre Drake, Caleb Drake, Mykel Selph, Katherine Weinstein, Olivia Carberry, Cynthia Breunlin, Ada Truett-Schriber, Karianna Mccants, Burcy I. Hines, Bear Carender, Mary E. Bak, Valerie Morrow, Maya Bird-Murphy, Debra Taylor, Amanda Ortiz, George Arceneaux, Rachel Benoit, Thea Judge, Clayton Judge, Tyrone Williams, Mary Carmen Moreno, Tonia Potentas, Rachel Hall, Dwayne Morgan, Margo Truett-Ouellette, Peyton Martinson, Jamie Connelly, Kadie Whitehouse, Dev Alwine, Aamy Schoeffel, Richard Flesher, Kwame Boateng, Bill Tarver, David Garza-Ramirez, Kate Walz, Maria Beury, Michelina Belmonte, Jason Barthel, Maysa Alkisswany, Victor Yipp, Ann Courter, Pat Anderson, Aman Sal, Patricia Arteaga, Alyssa King, Robert F. Long, Gael Munoz, Georgetta Davis, Majdi Aashkar, Abla Abu Zaitoon, Kristine Demara, Michelle Smith, Carrie Wu, Sophia Anacleto, Rani Morris, Molly Crabtree, Clint Bailey, Lauren Wynn, Susannah Hooton, Steven Kososki, Judith Roeder, Gracie Peters, Jennifer Frey, Deborah Levine, Alexandra Backis, Kathleen OKeefe, Jenny Stevens, Leslie Linares, Karen McMillin, Salimah Boufath, Alex Camacho, Jacqueline Stamm, Elizabeth Piatt, Lauren Platt, Patricia Bickhem, L Williams, Margaret Reynolds, Dima Khalidi, Khaled Mohamed, Jennifer Ash, Alex Weiner, Nathalie McCammon-Chase, Ralph Cataldo, Blair Simon, Julia Nash, Pauline Woodson, Doug Woodson, Shavonna Carey, Greg Friend, Jeannette Raggs, Jacinda Bauman, leila massouh, Juan Chavez, Maria Alferez, Kristin Davisson, Cedric Jordan, Dana Ballard, Amani Ghouleh, Lillian Boyd, Claudia Audino, Paul Gage, Fr. Larry Dowling, Christian Harris, Gail Gearhart, Jean Bacom, Terrence Keleher, Elizabeth Backes, Liz Ziehl, Thomas Edwards, Zara Biegel, Renay Hatten, Lexy Nance, Mon’Toshia Johnson, Chris Thomas, Julia Hyde, Elizabeth Brown, Patricia Duffy
