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rayslake’s young people are privileged to be educated by Community Consolidated School District 46 with its eight schools serving early childhood, elementary and middle school students, and then by Grayslake Community High School District 127, which serves students from eight different villages at both Grayslake North and Grayslake Central High Schools. Both high schools were included on the Washington Post’s High School Challenge list of top schools in the nation. Grayslake Central ranked 26th and Grayslake North ranked 33rd on the list among recognized Illinois public high schools. Both schools were also included on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best High Schools, said Tracey Landry, director of curriculum and instruction. The district overall was ranked 60th in the state by Niche, an online resource which ranks schools based on published report cards, as well as surveys completed by students and parents. It also bears noting that Grayslake North’s principal, Dr. James Roscoe, was named Principal of the Year by the Illinois Principal Association’s Lake County Division. “Approximately 85 percent of our students go to college immediately after graduation and that number climbs to over 90 percent one year after graduation,” Landry said. “We are also well known for our advanced placement courses. We offer 23 different AP courses, across all available subjects, and our students perform very well nationally. Our repeatedly high rankings in the Washington Post are indicative of how well our students do.” During the 2016-17 academic year, District 127 will move to a onefor-one model with Chromebooks. Every freshman and sophomore will be issued a Chromebook for classwork. This has been gradually phased in over the past several years so both faculty and students are already

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comfortable with the technology, Landry said. Several new courses will also be offered at both high schools starting in the fall. German language will be offered in additional to Spanish and French. Two new advanced placement courses – AP Computer Science and AP World History – will also be offered for the first time. Finally, an innovative math course called Advanced Math Decision-making will be taught. Students in this class will be taught how to solve real-life action problems, using the math principles they have learned over their academic career. Much of the work will be done in groups. An established course that is unique to District 127 is the Exploring World Cultures class. Second semester seniors from both high schools meet in person and online on Sundays to learn about a particular country in depth and then they travel to that country at the end of the semester. It is team-taught by foods, science, social studies and other faculty members. This summer 35 students traveled to Japan, Landry noted. In previous years, groups have visited China, Australia, New Zealand and the Galapagos Islands, to name a few. The school district also has a robust special education program. The Instructional Reading class gives intensive support, for instance, to students who are reading well below their grade level. Last school year they piqued the students’ interest by having them write and illustrate books geared to kindergarteners. They then visited a local school where they read their books to the students and gained both confidence and leadership skills. In addition, a comfort dog visits their classrooms monthly to listen to them read aloud. The highlight of the year for many of the special education students, however, was the second annual life-skills basketball game that featured students with intellectual and/or physical disabilities from Grayslake Central and North playing a friendly game against students from neighboring Warren Township High School. Players ran through the arch like the varsity players do, enjoyed the cheers of a large crowd of fellow students and parents and even had a disc jockey playing music and cheerleaders leading cheers. It was an incredible experience for everyone involved, and Landry expects it to become an annual event.

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Huntington Learning Center 1832 E Belvidere Rd. Grayslake, IL 60030

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2016 COMMUNITY GUIDE & BUSINESS DIRECTORY

8/1/2016 10:06:05 AM