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959 West Dundee Road
Wheeling, Illinois 60090

Phone: 847-537-8270

Hours: 7:30 AM – 4 PM

Superintendent: Dr. Michael Connolly

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CCSD21 is a school district comprised of 13 schools across 6 different communities in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

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School District 21 prides itself on its Professional Learning Community and its rich tradition of professional collaboration, high levels of professional development, and family-like atmosphere. If you see the opportunity to work with colleagues in making a difference in the lives of students and families in a truly diverse setting, School District 21 seeks your application.

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Posts with Tag: PowerSchool Archives - Modern Pen

2015-2016 Trimester III Report Card Timelines

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As typically takes place each year, the Board of Education approved the official last day of school at the April Board Meeting. The last day of classes will be on June 1, 2016. As a result, we can now communicate the end of trimester timeframe for academic grades, Learner Qualities, Power Standards, and comments. For […]

PowerTeacher Gradebook: The Learner Qualities

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How do we assess the Learner Qualities in contrast to Academic Grades? While student growth and performance in literacy, mathematics, science, and social science are of utmost important in School District 21, there is also an understanding that knowledge and skills in these areas alone will not allow an individual to be as likely to […]

PowerTeacher Gradebook: Weighting Rubrics–A Specific Example

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Using rubrics is one of the best ways to assess student performance on a high-level open-ended task. Often times, rubrics (like the one pictured above) will include multiple areas of assessment. For example, the “Math Knowledge” and “Strategic Knowledge” grades of the rubric will enter in to the “Mathematics” Gradebook. On the other hand, the […]

End of year assessment reporting tips

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At the end of each school year, School District 21 parents of students in grades 1-8 receive two reporting documents with information regarding the performance of their children: Trimester 3 Report Card Power Standards Summary Report   If teachers and teams have been collecting assessment data throughout the school year and entering it in the […]

PowerTeacher Gradebook: Suggested Learner Quality Categories

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Suggested categories for each Learner Quality are listed as the bulleted items within the category/Learner Quality. These were developed based on the work of the sixth grade teams at London during Fall 2008.   Self-Directed Learner Homework completion Projects Prepared for class Responsibility for Own Learning   Collaborative Worker Small group Large group   Quality […]

PowerTeacher Gradebook: Categories for Kindergarten

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Following visits to Kindergarten classrooms and discussions with Kindergarten teachers, it has become apparent that Kindergarten Gradebooks in PowerTeacher can likely benefit from three consistent Categories across Gradebooks: Daily Work, Observations, and One-on-One Assessment. As a reminder, across all grade levels, the Gradebook should be used as a tool that allows for the efficient collection […]

PowerTeacher Gradebook: Fill Down-Efficiency & Communication

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Over the years of PowerTeacher Gradebook use and training, teams and teachers in District 21 have become quite proficient with creating assessments, entering scores, and even analyzing student performance within the PowerTeacher Gradebook. One facet of being highly proficient with the Gradebook is to know and be able to use the time-saving tricks that can […]

PowerTeacher Gradebook: Entering Middle School comments

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Middle school teachers have entered comments in the Gradebook in the same manner since PowerSchool launched the Gradebook. Middle school teachers are able to provide up to two comments per area of assessment. Areas of assessment include both academic grades and the Learner Qualities for both core teams and exploratory classes.   Comment Bank Rather […]

PowerTeacher Gradebook: Entering elementary school Learner Quality marks

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In the elementary schools, rather than receive an overall grade for each Learner Quality, students in grades 1-5 receive a mark for the specific Learner Quality descriptors.   Learner Quality Marks scale Students who are performing according to expectations receive no mark, so most students should have a mostly blank sheet for the Learner Quality […]

PowerTeacher Gradebook: Entering elementary school comments

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Elementary school teachers in School District 21are able to “free-write” Report Card Comments for each of their students. (There are no comments on Power Standards Summary Reports.) Report Card Comments are one important element of our system of communication with families about student progress. Before entering any Report Card Comments in the Gradebook, it is […]



Each District 21 school is named after an American author, and learning and literacy is at the center of our Professional Learning Community. The Modern Pen provides a collaborative location in which District 21 teachers can come together to learn the skills that will enable their students to learn new skills and to understand concepts at an even different level than before.

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