Community Consolidated 

School District 15

Community Consolidated School District 15 (D15) is a

kindergarten through eighth-grade public school system

serving 12,390 students in all or part of seven municipalities

in Palatine, Ill., a northwestern Chicago suburb. Its student

population includes 37.5 percent minority students and 32.5

percent at the low-income level. Approximately 32 percent 

of D15’s students come from non-English-speaking

backgrounds; 72 different languages are spoken in the homes

of its students. The school district has 14 kindergarten

through sixth-grade schools, three junior high schools, and

one alternative school. D15 operates the schools and its own

transportation, maintenance, technology, and food services

departments on a budget of $146.9 million, with a workforce

of 1,898 faculty and staff led by Superintendent Robert A.

McKanna.

World-Class Learning

For D15, “good enough” is not good enough. The

district’s mission is to produce world-class learners who

achieve exemplary levels of understanding in academics and

who can compete with any student around the globe. D15

has laid out six key goals that must be accomplished to

achieve its mission: providing their students with 

21st-century skills, including accessing and understanding

information, communication, comprehensive reading and

understanding, problem-solving, and human relations skills;

promoting world-class achievement; developing a connected

learning community; ensuring a caring, safe, and orderly

learning environment; maintaining a high-performing staff;

and implementing an aligned and integrated management

system. 

To most effectively help all students in its diverse

population achieve success, D15 has implemented a wide

array of programs, including intensive reading intervention

programs in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade; the

Soar to Success program to accelerate reading growth for

children in grades three through six; and Read 180, which

combines technology with high-interest, age-appropriate

print materials for children in junior high and targeted

elementary schools. Programs for English Language

Learners include bilingual or English-as-a-Second-Language

classes and one-on-one or small group sessions.

As a result of these programs, many students are now

meeting goals and improving at an increased rate. In the

2002-03 school year, results from a nationally normed test,

the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, showed that 84 percent of D15’s

second-grade students were reading at or above grade level.

This is an improvement of approximately 10 percentage

points since 2000-01, and is nearly 35 percentage points

above the national average.

2003

Award Winner

Highlights

• In the 2002-03 school year, 84 percent of D15’s secondgrade students were reading at or above grade level,

nearly 35 percentage points above the national average.

• From 2001-02 to 2002-03, eighth-grade students’

“enthusiasm for learning,” a key performance target,

increased from 42 percent to 82 percent for reading,

from 50 percent to 80 percent for math, and from 

42 percent to 82 percent for science.

• Turnover rate for certified staff was 11.7 percent for

2002-03, compared to a national average of 20 percent.

• At a cost per percentage point of student performance 

on state learning standards tests of $111.93, the district

outperformed its three comparison districts, which

ranged from $118.57 to $122.36.

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Reaching for the Stars

D15 uses some unusual means to inspire its earthbound

students to learn about science and technology, including a

school bus converted into a “space shuttle”; mission control

simulations; a Discovery Learning Center for earth science

and geology; and involvement in actual space shuttle

missions. Since 1996, junior high students with learning

disabilities have participated in a week-long competition at

the NASA Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., against nondisabled and gifted students from throughout the nation.

During these seven years, the D15 students have finished first

in at least one of four competition areas.

In fact, the overall rate at which D15 special education

students are meeting goals and exiting the special education

program has shown steady improvement since 1998-99,

reaching approximately 14 percent in 2002-03—significantly

higher than both national and state comparisons of about 5

percent. For English Language Learners, the exit rate has

increased from 8 percent in 1998-99 to approximately 15

percent in 2002-03 exceeding state and local comparisons. In

one group of kindergarten students, 18 percent required

intervention services when entering school in 2001, but this

number was reduced to 1 percent by the 2003-04 school year. 

Special education students are showing improved

performance, a trend seen throughout the district. D15

students have met or exceeded state standards of learning as

assessed through the Illinois Standards Achievement Test,

given in grades three, five, and eight for reading and math,

and in grades four and seven for science and social studies.

The district equaled or outperformed its comparison district

at all levels and in all subjects from 1998-99 through 2001-

02. In addition, in 2002-03, performance in third-grade math

exceeded the 90 percent target and approached the state’s top

3 percent benchmark. In addition, grade five math, grade

seven science, and grade three reading neared the 90 percent

target.

D15 third- and eighth-grade gifted students participating

in the 2001-02 World-Class Tests for math and problem

solving had a higher pass percentage rate than those from the

other countries participating: the United Kingdom,

Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.

Changing Their World

Critical to producing world-class learners is a dedicated,

high-performing team of professionals, including teachers,

administrators, and support staff. Highly qualified teachers,

as defined in the Illinois criteria for meeting the federal “No

Child Left Behind” legislation, teach 100 percent of the

district’s classes, and the number of its teachers who have

achieved National Board Certification has increased from

two in 1994-95 to 48 in 2002-03, the second-highest number

in the state.

Compared to a national average of 20 percent, turnover

rate in the district for certified staff is low, 11.7 percent for

2002-03, and attrition for first-year teachers decreased

significantly, from 19.5 percent in 1996-97 to 6.3 percent in

2002-03, well below the 20 percent level of a comparative

local school district. Ninety-seven percent of staff say the

environment in which they work is safe and secure. In

addition, D15 motivates faculty and staff to develop and use

their full potential by involving them in significant decisions

about their work environment, including curriculum,

instruction, and assessment issues.

Stakeholder-Driven Quality

Strategy development for D15 is led by the District

Advisory Committee for Educational Excellence. This

group, broadly configured from all key stakeholder segments

and chaired by a community member, brings together the

interests of employees, students, parents, suppliers, partners,

and the community. The committee uses a nine-phase

strategic planning process to translate stakeholder

expectations, environmental scanning information, and

organizational performance requirements into key goals and

performance expectations. Through its Strategic Vision

2005, D15 converts strategies into action plans. From this

guiding document containing the district’s mission, core

values, key goals, and student performance targets, a OnePage Plan Scorecard is developed for each department.

Objectives from the scorecards are communicated to

building leaders who use this information to align their own

plans using a Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle. The

strategy is further cascaded through the organization to

teams and classrooms using the same PDSA process,

ensuring comprehensiveness and continuity.

To facilitate fact-based management, D15 has constructed

a system of leading and lagging success measures aligned to

its six key goals. Data are analyzed, and the results are

distributed to faculty and staff to enable them to make

informed decisions and develop innovations in education and

support services. 

The district has developed innovative means of assessing

performance important to key stakeholders. For example, the

district’s “market performance” is determined by calculating

the dollar cost per percentage point of performance on state

learning standards tests. This allows a value creation

comparison with other districts in the state. At $111.93, D15

outperformed three comparison districts, which ranged from

$118.57 to $122.36. In addition, D15 maintained a per pupil

expenditure rate that is at or above the level of both

comparison districts and the state average from 1995-96 to

2001-02. Over the same period, no tax referendum has been

sought to increase this primary source of funding. 

For more information, contact:

Robert Tenczar

580 North First Bank Drive 

Palatine, IL 60067

Telephone: (847) 963-3000

Fax: (847) 963-3200

E-mail: tenczarr@ccsd15.k12.il.us

Website: www.ccsd15.net 

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Date: 2-26-04

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