Curriculum Overview

Burbank School District 111 strives to provide students with learning opportunities to grow the whole student – academically, socially, emotionally, and creatively.   Every classroom is designed to support and challenge students to progress in every facet of learning.   We meet students at their instructional level and promote growth and achievement. 

Areas of Study

All students in Kindergarten through 8th grade participate in core content area learning.  Core Instructional Content consists of Reading and Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, and Social Emotional Learning.  In addition to core content classes, students in our seven elementary schools participate in four specials classes:  Art, Literacy, Music, and Physical Education.  At Liberty Junior High School, students have additional elective options including:  Band, Career Exploration, Computers, Creative Writing, Digital Art, Family and Consumer Sciences, Guitar, Health, Journalism, Music Production, Physical Education, Spanish, Speech, Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM I and II), Visual Arts, and World Cultures and Geography.  Additional information about each of these programs can be found on the Curriculum Scope and Sequence page. 

Instructional Strategies

Burbank School District 111 encourages teachers to use a variety of methods to engage students in learning.   Just as each student has a unique fingerprint, each student also has an individual learning style.  Teachers are encouraged to differentiate instruction to support each individual student.  Teachers build relationships with their students to understand the type of support each student requires in order to be successful in the classroom.  Teachers use strategies like whole group instruction, small group/flexible grouping, center-based learning, and team teaching with interventionists and emergent bilingual staff members to meet the needs of all students. 

Methods of Assessment

Burbank 111 uses a variety of assessments.   Our District Assessment Schedule can be found on the Curriculum and Assessment webpage.  Formative assessments are used to monitor student learning.  The goal of formative assessments is to guide learning.  Formative assessments provide the student with timely feedback about their learning and provide the teacher with target areas where students may need additional support or enrichment. 

Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit or against Illinois State Standards.  Summative assessments assist students and teachers in identifying student mastery of a concept and provide guidance on student grading.

Benchmark assessments like the Northwest Evaluation Associati0n (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment or the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) are nationally normed tests, taken three times per year.  These assessments measure a student’s growth academically (MAP) or social emotionally (DESSA) during the school year. 

Report Cards

The purpose for report cards is to periodically provide parents and students with information regarding a student’s present level of achievement.  Report cards are provided quarterly.  Students in Kindergarten through Grade 2 receive report cards that identify the students demonstrated progress toward age appropriate goals.  In Grades 3-8, student report card grades are indicative of in-class participation, successful completion of homework/assignments, as well as unit tests and other summative assessments.