July 30, 2025 Update
Good afternoon,
School starts on Monday, August 25! Less than four weeks away!
The next few weeks will be busy ones in our district.
- Final work is being done on the Parkside Early Childhood Education Center.
- On the inside the painting and locker removal are almost complete.
- The new developmentally appropriate playground is almost ready.
- Parking lots at the Freshman Center and stadium are almost complete.
- The first phase of the interior renovation to the Freshman Center is on track.
- Students will notice changes to the cafeteria.
- The large group instruction room (LGI) has been sealed off and work will continue this school year to create a new STEAM Lab
- Work will finish at the Freshman Center next summer with updates to the media center
- Final interior updates to North Rockford Middle School are being completed
- Our building administrators return on August 4
- New staff orientation will be August 13, 14, and 15
- Our all staff welcome back in August 20
- School starts August 25!
For some of our students, the 2025-2026 school year has already begun. Our Rockford High School marching band had its band camp last week.
Our fall high school athletic program welcomes our athletes back for practice on August 11. Actual athletic events start during the month of August. Check out our district website and the athletics link for our athletic calendar.
Our elementary open house events will occur in August. Information will be shared on dates and times in August.
As we enjoy the last few weeks of summer our Rockford Public Schools’ staff will focus on ensuring that we are ready when the first bell rings on August 25!
Steve
Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools
Parkside Discussion:
Questions about Teacher Collaboration
This document is intended to answer questions that have arisen as we have begun a conversation about repurposing Parkside Elementary to an Early Childhood Center.
The importance of teacher collaboration:
When schools have only one teacher per grade level, students miss out on the advantages of a collaborative teaching team working together daily. This includes teamwork, shared expertise, and differentiated instruction. Having at least two grade level sections in each building where teachers are collaborating together ensures that every child receives a high-quality, well-rounded environment that supports their learning.
1. Stronger Teaching Through Collaboration and Consistency in Learning
- When teachers work together in a building, they easily share ideas, lesson plans, and strategies that help improve instruction for all students.
- Research shows that when teachers collaborate, student achievement improves significantly (Visible Learning, Hattie, 2009).
- With multiple teachers at the same grade level, all students at a grade level in the building receive a similar, high-quality education.
- Schools that follow the Professional Learning Community (PLC) model (DuFour, 2004) see higher student success rates because teachers meet regularly to discuss student progress and adjust instruction based on data.
- Research (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011) shows that when teachers work in teams, they are less stressed, more motivated, and stay in the profession longer.
2. Better Support for Different Learning Needs
- Every child learns differently, and when multiple teachers work together, they can group students flexibly to give them more personalized instruction.
- Struggling students get extra help, and advanced learners receive challenges that keep them engaged.
- Studies on differentiated instruction (Tomlinson, 2001) show that when teaching is tailored to a student’s level, learning improves dramatically.
- When teachers work as a grade level team, they can identify areas where students are struggling and quickly provide support to keep them on track.
- Common assessments across classrooms help ensure that every child is making progress and getting the support they need.
- In multi-section grades, students may have opportunities to interact with different teachers, which helps them adapt to different teaching styles and personalities.
- Flexible grouping across classrooms allows students to work with peers at similar academic levels, keeping them challenged and engaged.
