There is so much happening in public education here, and yet still so little evidence of the adults in charge will make students their priority.  A couple quick bits in this E3 newsletter.  Constructivist cudgel Barbara Oakley recently summarized research on the persistence of bad ideas in education – in this case constructivism ( The Teaching Method That Can't Fail ).  Run through the woke word mill, it becomes… student-centered learning.  It feels good doesn’t it? “The fact

River Forest will replace its retiring superintendent with the current superintendent from Carbondale district 95, a K-8 district where two of four schools rank in the bottom 5% statewide. On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, the District 90 board introduced Janice Pavelonis as successor to Ed Condon, approving her unanimously. All board members spoke confidently about her credentials, experience, and personality. She will start July 1, 2026. Pavelonis has several years of classroom

The percentage of Willard Elementary third graders not proficient in reading dropped 29% in one year, a change likely to help adults in charge much more than students and families.  It was 2016 when mostly new River Forest district 90 board members began voting to elevate social programs above curriculum and instruction. One change was adopting the debunked Lucy Calkins Units of Study curriculum.  The impact on learning was both sudden and sustained and dwarfed declines from

River Forest Teachers did not accept the latest terms of a negotiated contract in voting that started Monday December 1, 2025. Formal negotiations between District 90 and the River Forest Education Association (RFEA, local teachers union) began in April 2025. The previous contract expired on August 15 th , 2025. District 90 pointed to teachers as the barrier in a recent social media post saying: “This past week, members of the River Forest Education Association (RFEA) voted o

River Forest district 90 has eleven agents from three separate firms under contract as the district negotiates the next teachers’...

Teacher salary is the headline, but how much has mismanagement under diversity equity and inclusion ( DEI ) sullied staffing...

Amid continued enrollment declines in River Forest district 90, a new trend emerged suggesting students are exiting middle school more...

Teachers in River Forest, IL district 90 showed up to work again this week without a contract, and while teacher salary is one...

Illinois K-12 school districts are no longer required to incorporate student academic growth as a significant factor in the performance...

OPRF high school officials looked to under-performing Homewood-Flossmoor high school to refill the role of assistant superintendent of...

Oak Park and River Forest high school’s assistant superintendent for student learning has resigned, just months before district ACT test...

Records show OPRF high school was one location in a 2016 $29.4MM   award by the U.S. Dept. Education award to the American Institutes For...

It is only now that parents and families are beginning to realize how wrong it is for school officials to say “evidence-based practice”...

River Forest district 90 produced the largest achievement gap in district history in 2024, nearly doubling the state’s average gap in...

River Forest District 90 learning rates in poor, white, and male students ranked below the national average, lowest among eight other...

Learning rates in River Forest district 90 were lower than the national average during six of the last eight years, making this wealthy...

Records show $621,204 was sent to Heinemann from River Forest district 90 school officials between 2016 and 2024 as literacy rates took a...

Emily Hanford’s award-winning  investigation  into a flawed theory of teaching literacy didn’t just put a nail in the ‘reading...

It is happening again in Oak Park and River Forest; a candidate for OPRF district 200 high school board is in the race because he was...

In question is whether Oak Park District 97’s (D97) re-naming part of the math program is meant to hide systemic discrimination against...