On January 9th, 2024 Mokena School District 159 was recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education for how the District spent its ESSER funds to support student learning in State Superintendent Tony Sanders' weekly message. The text of the article is below, and the original post may be found at this link: https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Wee...
FROM RELIEF TO RESILIENCE: MOKENA SCHOOL DISTRICT 159’S STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS IN EDUCATION POST-PANDEMIC
Mokena School District 159, a PreK-8 district in a southern suburb of Chicago, initiated a strategic planning process in April 2021 at a crucial time in the pandemic. The district engaged diverse stakeholders — school board members, parents, the community, and staff — to set a course for the district's advancement over the next five years.
The district strategically aligned its Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to support the implementation of the goals within the plan. The first goal concentrated on enhancing English language arts (ELA) education by procuring comprehensive instructional materials for kindergarten through fifth grade. This investment in foundational skills, reading and writing programs, classroom libraries, decodable readers, and more, significantly impacted student learning.
”We were able to utilize these funds to provide our students and teachers with high-quality instructional materials based on current research in the field of literacy. The impact of this will be felt for years to come in our community," said Mokena Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Dr. Kristin Johnson.
ESSER funds also enabled the introduction of a STEM course at the junior high school level, fulfilling the strategic goal of fostering exploration in technology and engineering. The investment facilitated engaging programs and materials, encouraging students' involvement in design, modeling, app creation, architecture, and computer science.
“The new programming has quickly become one of our middle school’s most popular electives. It is exciting to see our students engaged in learning technology and engineering skills,” said Mokena Superintendent Dr. Mark Cohen.
The federal pandemic relief funding also supported the district’s goal to provide interventions to students not yet meeting standards by hiring a reading interventionist, offering a summer school program, and providing after-school tutoring. Finally, funds were used to support the district's goals to improve technology infrastructure via a one-to-one initiative and to offer high-quality, intentional professional development. Professional development activities included an instructional coaching program and training for teachers in foundational skills, advanced word study, comprehension, and writing across content areas. These efforts led to smoother implementation of high-quality instructional materials.
The strategic use of ESSER funds directly influenced student learning outcomes, leading to growth far above average in the 60th percentile in ELA and 58th percentile in math. These efforts, together with the strategic plan, are propelling the district forward from the pandemic's aftermath and reinforcing its commitment to continuous improvement.