A majority of the school board at Oak Park and River Forest High School is not interested in creating a formal curriculum equity advisory group that was proposed by the Committee for Equity and Excellence in Education (CEEE). But the school board does want to explore ways to increase parental and community involvement and feedback.
School board president Audrey Williams-Lee said the school board will look at ways to increase parental involvement.
At its April 16 meeting the school board discussed a formal proposal by CEEE to create a curriculum equity advisory group to advise the school board and administration on how to advance equity in academics at the school. While school board members Jonathan Livingston and Fred Arkin supported creating the group and Kathleen Odell was sympathetic the other four members of the school board expressed doubts and concerns about creating another committee to advise the board.
“I’m a no on the curriculum committee,” said board vice-president Tim Brandhorst. “I do not support setting up a new committee.”
Brandhorst noted that curriculum is a core responsibility of the school and said that he didn’t feel that the school needed the help of an outside committee on the subject.
“We have an entire building filled with curriculum and instruction experts,” Brandhorst said.
Board member Graham Brisben said while he was fully on board with the motives behind the proposal, he wasn’t sure that a new committee is the solution.
“I’m more interested in more tutoring and instructional coaching,” Brisben said.
Odell said the need to continue to work on the disparities in academic performance at OPRF is apparent.
“I don’t really have clarity as to what to do, but I think the points raised in the ask are important,” Odell said.
Brandhorst suggested the school board do a “deep dive” on all its advisory committees at this summer’s board retreat and consider how best to increase parental involvement. Other board members seemed to think that was a good idea.
John Duffy, a leader of CEEE, said after the meeting that he was encouraged by the board’s desire to keep the discussion going and the progress that has been made since CEEE first formally proposed creating a curriculum equity advisory group last fall.
“We’re very impressed with the progress that’s been made,” Duffy said. “We’re pleased that the concept is alive.”
This year’s senior class at OPRF is the first class that went through the Honors for All freshmen curriculum in which approximately 85 percent of the freshman class has Honors classes in English, science and history in their freshman year. The goal of the Honors for All curriculum is to get more Black and Hispanic students to take Advanced Placement and Honors classes at OPRF, reduce the racial disparity in enrollment in such classes and to reduce the disparity in academic achievement between racial groups at the school.
Results have been mixed. Since Honors for All was implemented in 2022 the percent of sophomores enrolling in honors and AP classes has increased for all demographic groups. Some 35% of Black members of the OPRF Class of 2026 took an honors class as a sophomore compared to 28% of Black members of the Class of 2025 according to a report presented to the school board last fall. Some 40% of the Black members of this year’s sophomore class are taking an honors class. Black and Hispanic students are also taking more AP classes and the increase in AP enrollment has been higher for Black and Hispanic students than for white students.
But white students are still overrepresented in honors and AP classes at OPRF compared to their 52.3% of the overall enrollment at the school. Some 65% of the white members of the class of 2026 took an honors class as a sophomore and 63% of this year’s white sophomores at OPRF are taking an honors class.
The school’s report also shows that Black enrollment in AP classes has significantly increased since the implementation of the Honors for All curriculum. 29% of Black members of the Class of 2026 have taken an AP class during their junior or senior year compared to 21% of the Black members of the Class of 2025. And 42% of Hispanic members of the Class of 2026 have taken an AP class during their junior or senior year as have 56% of both the white and Asian members of the Class of 2026.
What has concerned the administration, school board and equity advocates is that some students are struggling in their freshman year in the Honors for All curriculum.
Although approximately 80% of all freshmen in the Honors for All curriculum receive A’s or B’s and the pass rate is approximately 98% the pass rate for Black students is between 93 and 94%.
In the second semester of the 2024-25 school year 2.7% of Black freshman at OPRF received an F compared to just 0.3% of white students. And 58.2% of white freshmen at OPRF last year earned an A in the second semester compared to 63.4% of Asian students, 35.6% of Hispanic students and 26.1% of Black students.
According to the 2025 Illinois School Report Card the achievement gap between white and Black students at OPRF remains vast. The gap between white and Black students in the percentage of students meeting state benchmarks was 43.7 points in English Language Arts and 57.5 points in math. The 2025 white-Black achievement was lower in ELA but greater in math than in 2024 when the white-Black achievement gap was 52 points in ELA and 51 points in math.
Williams-Lee said continued improvement and increased parental involvement is important.
“I want to make sure that we are moving forward with a sense of urgency toward the upcoming school year,” Williams-Lee said.