District 128 Strategic Plan

Portrait of a Learner

Preparing students for their tomorrow.

Competency Overview

WELLNESS

Developing healthy minds and bodies. Emphasizes the importance of physical and mental health, encouraging students to develop healthy habits for life.

COMMUNICATION

Sharing your ideas in a clear, concise and thoughtful manner; being open to perspectives of others, and learning to work collaboratively to accomplish a common goal.

INNOVATION

Having curiosity, thinking creatively, taking risks to solve problems in new and different ways, fostering a love of learning.

PERSEVERANCE

Grit. Learning to look at failure as an opportunity for growth and learning. Maintaining effort and finding ways to work through obstacles and challenges.

CITIZENSHIP

Preparing yourself for a responsible and successful future in a diversified world to become a productive member of your local and global communities.

Portrait of a Learner

PHTV4 Spotlight - Portrait of a Learner

Competency of the Month

Innovation: We believe fostering innovation in our students is crucial to their growth and development. Cultivating an innovative mindset can promote creativity, independence, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, which are essential for success in their future endeavors.

For the months of January and February, our district focused on Innovation as our Portrait of a Learner Competency of the Month. As parents and guardians, you, too, can support your child's development by encouraging an innovative mindset at home. By exploring new ideas, developing perseverance and collaboration, and pursuing their passions, children can develop a growth-oriented mindset that will serve them well in all areas of life.

We have created a short video to share different ideas and strategies on how you can promote innovation at home with your child(ren). We hope you find these tips helpful and encourage you to try them out with your family.

Wellness: For the months of November and December, we are going to focus on wellness in District 128. Our goal is that our classrooms and homes will work to promote wellness in all of our students. Please watch this video to learn some strategies for promoting wellness in your home. Thanks to the following District 128 wellness experts for providing these helpful strategies:

  • Tara Fitzgibbons - District Psychologist & BCBA

  • Kendra Nudd - Social Worker

  • Jennifer Startz - Social Worker

  • Ashley Battaglia - Social Worker

  • Sean Bartelt - Physical Education Teacher

Communication: For the month of October, we are going to focus on strengthening our communications skills within our classrooms and homes. We desire to develop effective communicators by sharing thoughts, ideas, and questions. Communication also involves students working at being active listeners, improving their writing skills, and incorporating technology to share their stories or message.

District 128 underwent a comprehensive strategic planning process during the 2021 - 2022 School Year. A design team of over 25 individuals, representing multiple stakeholder groups, worked together to establish a framework of competencies to serve as the foundation of our plan. 

Over the course of the 2022-2023 School Year, the district will work to establish a set of indicators for each of the five competencies that will serve as a mechanism for measuring success in the development of these competencies across our school community. 

Our intent is for competency development to go beyond just our students. We invite our staff, families and community members to embrace a growth mindset in further development of these competencies for all. We believe that in order for our students to develop them, the adults that support them also need to be consciously working on nurturing them.

DESIGN TEAM STAKEHOLDERS

  • School Staff (Administration, Teachers, Support Staff)

  • Students

  • Parents

  • Board of Education Member

    • Current & Former

  • Palos Heights Parks & Recreation

  • Palos Heights Public Library

  • District 218/Shepard High School

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Design Team Photos

D128 Strategic Plan Introduction Presentation

Please consider viewing our presentation from the different informational meetings we hosted to learn more about Portrait of a Graduate and our upcoming Strategic Plan.