In the midst of calls for more tutoring and targeted instructional supports for struggling students at Oak Park and River Forest High School no major changes in instruction will take place at OPRF next year. Implementation of a new instructional coaching program and beefed up tutoring will have to wait until the 2027-28 school year. That was one takeaway from a report presented by top OPRF academic administrators at the May 28 meeting of the OPRF District 200 Board of Education.
OPRF got rid of its previous instructional coaching program at the end of the 2024-25 school year after an evaluation determined that it provided no measurable improvements in student learning. Jen Hester, assistant superintendent of student learning, who is just completing her first year at OPRF, told the school board that division heads have been exploring instructional coaching models and administrators will do more of that next year and then bring a proposal to the school board.
“We will be spending time learning about student centered coaching with our leaders next school year, presenting instructional coaching to the board in the winter/spring of ‘27 and then hopefully hiring and training coaches in the summer of ‘27 and then beginning the implementation of that model in the 2027-28 school year,” Hester said.
Significant changes to tutoring at OPRF will also not take place next year. Hester defended the tutoring programs OPRF already has in place.
“We have a lot of supports now, for literacy, for math, for executive functioning and for social and emotional learning,” Hester said.
Instead of specific plans and detailed benchmarks Hester, Principal Lynda Parker and Career and Technical Education Division Head Matt Prebble presented a report full of general aspirational goals to be achieved over a three-to-five year timeline.
“This is going to take up quite some time to implement,” Hester said.
Multiple school board members expressed some frustration with the pace of change in student supports.
The main academic goal was to “improve student learning at scale for all demographic groups.” Indicators of success would be increasing the number of students demonstrating grade level proficiency and increasing the number of students taking college prep and honors classes. There was no specific percentage increase specified as a goal. Hester conceded that the goals outlined are not so called SMART goals. SMART is an acronym standing for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. Hester said SMART goals also have downsides. Hester said she is focused on getting teacher buy in.
“This goal is really written for the teacher, the collaborative team and the division and we are much more likely to have the motivation and the interest when teachers feel that they can directly impact the work and so if we were to write a SMART goal it would probably have a percentage of increase, as they typically do, and those types of goals very often steal the creativity and the innovation and they actually can drive a narrow focus on standardized tests,” Hester said.
Some school board members seemed disappointed with the lack of specific plans to be implemented in the upcoming school year.
“I thought we were going to see targeted strategies,” said Josh Gertz, a school board member.
In a telephone interview after the meeting Gertz amplified his concerns about the presentation.
“I was very underwhelmed and disappointed,” Gertz said.
Gertz said he understood not rushing into new programs but had hoped that Hester would have had more specific plans in mind by this point.
“I appreciate that things that are rushed are often less than successful but if we’re still having this same conversation in two years it will be an abject failure on our part,” Gertz said. “This needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.”
School board member Graham Brisben, an advocate of more tutoring, was more diplomatic but pointed out the downside of delay.
“We only have a child here for a four year period,” Brisben said at the school board meeting. “A child who misses out on receiving that benefit next year and graduates doesn’t get to have that same kind of attention that a child in the following class will.”
Brisben described the report as a guide to the future.
“I sort of see this as almost as a table of contents or a road map that’s going to play out over the next three to five years,” Brisben said.
Brisben also noted that change in an institution as large as OPRF takes time.
“We’re steering a battleship here,” Brisben said.
But board member Tim Brandhorst told the administrators the school board wants to see action on targeted tutoring sooner rather than later.
“I sure would like for us to do that tomorrow,” Brandhorst said noting that he wants implementation and not just study.
Hester said the administration needs to examine the tutoring that the school already provides and figure out how to move forward and build on what is now provided. Hester mentioned the possibility of putting specialists into a classroom to focus on students who might need additional support. She suggested perhaps putting a reading specialist into a history classroom or putting a multilingual specialist into a core subject matter class. Hester said she would like to explore putting specialists in college prep and even honors classes at OPRF.
A recent report presented to the school board by two members of the OPRF Community Finance Committee recommended that OPRF increase targeted supports, interventions and high dosage tutoring. The Committee for Equity and Excellence in Education (CEEE) has also advocated for more targeted supports and high impact tutoring for struggling students.
Parker said the key to improving student learning, especially for students who are just not that into school, is to increase student engagement and for teachers to develop strong bonds with those students.
“I don’t necessarily see deficits in the building in the curriculum,” Parker said. “It is the ability to engage all kids in that curriculum which I don’t think is just taught to them. I think there has to be some type of engaging on a level that sees them in a different way.”