Henry-Senachwine High School

The Illinois 5 Essentials Survey is now open. This opportunity allows you to share your views on important elements of school effectiveness. The results from the survey will provide a rich picture of the inner workings of your school from an organizational perspective.

On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, UChicago Impact will administer the 5Essentials Survey online. This survey is based on the Five Essentials for School Success, an evidence-based framework developed by the University of Chicago. This framework identifies how school performance on five factors or “essentials” can lead to important student outcomes, including improved attendance and larger test score gains.

Prior research has shown that schools strong on three or more of the 5Essentials were 10 times more likely to improve student learning gains than schools weak on three or more of the Essentials. Those 5Essentials are:

• Effective Leaders

• Collaborative Teachers

• Involved Families

• Supportive Environment

• Ambitious Instruction

School-level 5Essentials Reports will be generated from carefully analyzed survey data if at least 50 percent of teachers respond to the survey—these Reports will be sent to schools and districts in May and will be included in each State School Report Card, released by ISBE in the fall. 5Essentials Reports for your school will also then be publicly available via the Illinois 5Essentials website. The Reports will include the results of rigorous statistical analyses of raw data as well as detailed question response rates, such as the percent of teachers who find their schools’ professional development initiatives helpful. Student and teacher identities will be kept completely confidential, and responses will not be linked to individual students or teachers. Information on the confidentiality of the survey can be found on the 5Essentials website.

Survey administration began this week. All responses are completely confidential. Neither respondent names nor other unique identifiers will be connected with individual responses or used in any report. Your input is valuable and greatly appreciated. 

For more information about the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, or to view previous years’ Reports, please visit https://www.5-essentials.org/illinois and access the “Select a Public Survey” dropdown menu. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact UChicago Impact Survey Support at 1-866-440-1874 or impact-surveys@uchicago.edu.