Strategic Plan Home

Student Achievement - All students will grow and excel to reach their full potential, achieving success in college, career, life, and beyond.

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic school year, at least 64.9% of students will meet or exceed on the Illinois Assessment for Readiness (IAR) in English Language Arts (ELA)/Spanish Language Arts (SLA).

Progress: Percentage of students proficient/above proficient on the IAR in ELA for the 2025-2026 school year

• All: 27%
• Black Students: 14.2%
• Hispanic Students: 19.9%
• Students with IEP’s: 9.4%
• ELL Students: 16.4%

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic school year, at least 55.6% of all students will be proficient/above proficient on the IAR Math

Progress:  Percentage of students meeting or exceeding on IAR Math for the 2025-2026 school year:

• All students: 21.3%
• Black students: 9.5%
• Hispanic students: 15.1%
• Students with IEPs: 8.1%
• English Learners: 14.3%

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic school year, Black students will increase their reading median achievement percentile, reaching the 41st achievement median percentile by 2030 (increasing by 8 percentage points each year for five year).

• By the end of May 2026, Black students will have foundational skills in reading, will read fluently, and will comprehend grade-level text. The 3rd, 6th, and 9th grade Black students will increase their reading median achievement percentile by 8 percentile points each year for five years

Progress: Black students increased proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA) measured by MAP from fall to spring.

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic school year, Black students will increase their Math median achievement percentile, reaching the 41st achievement median percentile by 2030.

• By the end of May 2026, Black students will improve their understanding of key math concepts. The 3rd, 6th, and 9th grade Black students will increase their Math median achievement percentile by 8 percentile points each year for five years

Progress: Black students increased proficiency in Math from Fall Benchmark to Winter

Culture and Climate: Create supports for all students with a focus on positive behaviors to decrease exclusionary practices.

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, Urbana School District will have a 50% reduction in disciplinary disproportionality for students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs )and Black students.

• By June 2026, each school will implement interventions for students experiencing behavioral challenges, thereby decreasing discipline referrals for Black students and students with IEPs by 15% compared to 2024–2025 data.

Progress: Panorama Incident Referrals: Black Students

• 2024-2025: 6,333
• 2025-2026 - 6,250
• Decreased by 1.3%

Panorama Incident Referrals: Students with IEPs

• 2024-2025: 2,949
• 2025-2026 - 2,737
• Decreased by 7.2%

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, Urbana School District #116 will have a 25% increase in favorable culture and climate perception scores from students and staff. 

• By June 2026, the percentage of students in grades 6–12 who report a positive sense of belonging will increase by 12% on the Panorama survey. Additionally, schools will increase their staff’s sense of belonging from Fall to Spring using the Panorama Survey.

Progress: Panorama Survey: Staff sense of belonging iincreased by 15% and student sense of belonging increased by 2%.

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, Urbana School District 116 will have a 20% decrease in Tier 3 behavioral incidents that result in exclusionary practices monitored through Panorama.

• By June 2026, 60% of students identified as needing tier 3 supports per Panorama and through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) will have an individual intervention plan.

Progress:  In 2026, 49% of students needing tier 3 services had an intervention plan.

Student Services: Ensure the growth and development of students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, we will increase the percentage of students with IEPs who meet or exceed their projected Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) growth targets in ELA and Math by 30%.

• By the end of the 2026 academic year, we will increase the percentage of students with IEPs who meet or exceed their projected MAP growth targets in ELA and math by 6%.

Progress: Spring 2026 data showed 41% of students with IEPS met growth projections in reading/ELA and 47% of students met growth projections in the Fall of 2026. 40% met growth projectiosn in math, which was the same as Fall 2025.

Goal: By the end of the 2026 academic year, we will reduce the use of exclusionary disciplinary practices (suspensions/expulsions) for students with IEPs by 10%.

Progress: The end of the year data for 2026 showed a reduction of 14 percent

Multilingual Learners: Ensure the growth and individual achievement of Multilingual Learners (MLL).

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, the percentage of MLL students meeting or exceeding growth targets on MAP benchmark tests will increase by 20% in English literacy and by 15% in math. For MLLs in the Spanish Dual Language (SDL) program, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding growth targets in Spanish and English literacy will increase by 20%.

• We will progress monitor (via MAP) that a 4% increase in MLL students meeting or exceeding growth targets occurs yearly for the next five years to reach the 20% overall increase by 2030 in English/Spanish literacy and by a 3% increase yearly for the next five years to reach the 15% overall increase by 2030 in math.

Progress: Spring data showed the following:

• 30.2% of MLL students met or exceeded their growth target in math
• 21.10% of MLL students met or exceeded their growth target in Spanish literarcy 
• 48.40% of MLL students met or exceeded their gwoth target in English literacy 

College and Career Readiness: Increase the number of students who graduate in four years.

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, Urbana School District 116 will increase the graduation rate to 88.5% for all students and increase by 10% for our Black, Hispanic, Students with IEPs, and English Learners groups.

• By the end of the 2026 academic year, Urbana School District 116 will increase the graduation rate by one percent for all students and increase by two percent for our Black, Hispanic, Students with IEP, and English Learners groups.

Progress: 85 percent of our 9^th grade students were on track to graduate by the end of school year 2025-26 and 97% of 9^th and 10^th grade students were enrolled in rigorous classes in 2025-26.

Retention of Staff: Retain highly effective staff

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, USD 116 will retain 87% of staff in all positions by increasing the staff retention rate by 1% annually for the next five years.

• By the end of 2026, 83% of all staff will be retained from 2024-2025.

By the end of the 2030 academic year, we will retain 91% of licensed teachers by increasing the licensed teacher retention rate by 4% over the next five years.

• By the end of 2026, 88% of all licensed teachers will be retained from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026.

Progress: Retention rate for licensed staff from school year 2024-25 to school year 2025-26 was 88.2% and the retention rate for all staff was 82.1%

Recruitment of Staff: By the end of 2026, teachers of color will represent 31% of the licensed teachers in the district

Progress: During school year 2025-26, teachers of color represented 32.1% of our licensed teachers

Supporting Family Engagement: Support and develop our families to engage in the learning for ALL students.

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, Urbana School District 116 will increase overall family engagement in required district activities by an average of 50%, measured through annual attendance records.

• By the end of 2026, 100% of schools will consistently track attendance at district-required family engagement activities and events.
• By the end of 2026, district chronic absenteeism will decrease from 39% to 34%.

Progress: Attendance data was tracked consistently across all schools, the district held its first Family Neighborhood Night on April 22, 2026

• District-Wide Chronic Absenteeism Rates by Month:
  • August: 19%
  • September: 26%
  • October: 31%
  • November: 32%
  • December: 35%
  • January 37%
  • February 39%
  • March 39%
  • April 39%
  • May 39%

Communication with Families: Increase family engagement by improving communication tools and participation.

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, Urbana School District 116 families will receive communication through the district's communication platform, with a 50% annual improvement for each priority group. 

• By the end of 2026, a single communication platform will be adopted.

Progress: ParentSquare was selected and implemented as the new district communication tool. The number of non-contactable families has decreased. A new website is launching in Summer 2026.

4A Improving Facilities: Adopt a Master Facilities Plan and improve facilities to meet the needs of all students

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, we will strategically enhance all existing facilities to provide an energy-efficient, equitable, safe, functional, and welcoming learning environment for all students, families, and staff based on targets from the Master Facility Plan and the ten-year Health, Life, and Safety Plan.

• By the end of the 2025-26 academic year, we will establish a comprehensive, prioritized master plan for facility improvements across all schools, and complete at least one high-priority, impactful upgrade in each school building, focusing on safety, functionality, energy management, or aesthetics, as identified through a district-wide facilities assessment.

Progress: 

• Met with the Board Facilities Committee
• Info-gathering meetings with the district staff regarding needs
• Established priorities and rank (High, Medium, and Low)

4B: Direct district resources based on all students needs.

Goal: By the end of the 2030 academic year, we will incrementally implement a priority-based resource allocation addressing the priority groups by 25% each year to ensure that 100% of schools have resources aligned to their specific needs.

• By the end of the 2026 academic year, we will implement a priority-based resource allocation process that acknowledges more priority groups beyond the current socioeconomic status (SES) metric, and we will work with administrators to incrementally implement this process between FY26 and FY30.

Progress: Established a finance committee and established a rollout of student indicators:

• Low-income FY25-FY26
• English Language Learner FY26-27
• IEP/504 FY27-28
• Homeless FY28-29