LM Mar 2025

Education Elevat g Anderson .. cont’d. Alvarez ... cont’d.

The mindset served as the foundation for Dr. Alvarez’s work at Chicago Public Schools. As the former Chief of Schools for Network Eight, which comprised 32 schools at the time, she led a comprehensive overhaul of bilingual education teaching practices and curriculum. Under her leadership, the percentage of students reading at grade level increased dramatically from 30 percent to 70 percent. Dr. Alvarez departed from CPS in 2021 to assume the role of superintendent at Forest Park SD #91. While leading this district of approximately 700 students, Dr. Alvarez has enhanced educational achievement through various accomplishments. Notably, the district has embraced the STEAM educational approach through renovating spaces and a partnership with Project Lead the Way. “The fact that it creates a unified system where children can see how science, technology, engineering, art and math are all aligned allows our teachers to start collaborating more effectively,” Dr. Alvarez said about STEAM. “The technology piece fits seamlessly into this framework, and then, at the end of the year when we have our art fair, much of what’s showcased is based on what’s happening in our STEAM program.” In addition, Forest Park SD #91 began offering Spanish in grades K-8 rather than just middle school. The move is intended to put students on a pathway to achieve the state Seal of Biliteracy when they graduate high school. Family and community engagement has also been a major focus area, including reorganizing the PTO structure to make it more equitable. “All of our PTO’s used to be separate for each building,” Dr. Alvarez said, also noting the district has begun offering a Parent University that covers a variety of topics, including budgeting and special education rights. “We hired a Director of Engagement and unified it where teachers and the PTO community can all be in the same meeting discussing needs and successes in their schools.” Under Dr. Alvarez’s leadership, the district has also brought in the Special Olympics as a way to change the conversation around students with IEP’s. “Students in special education often don’t receive the spotlight they deserve and are typically only discussed in terms of their IEPs,” Dr. Alvarez said. “With our 13 students now involved in this program, you can visibly see how it brightens their day and transforms our school culture. Teachers and peers now interact with these students in a completely different way—seeing their abilities rather than their disabilities.” Dr. Alvarez’s leadership extends beyond Forest Park SD #91, where she served as president of the Illinois Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents for three years. She has also contributed to higher education as an adjunct professor at Aurora University.

of about 560 students, Dr. Anderson helped build a strong culture where the staff and community pull together. When a fire broke out in 2022 at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, causing extensive smoke damage, Dr. Anderson turned to community churches for help to house students. “Coming out of the pandemic, we knew that we had to do everything in our power to ensure our students would not be going remote,” Dr. Anderson said. “I’m really proud of how we responded to that incident.” On the academic side, the district has emphasized small classroom sizes, Multi-Tiered-Systems of Support and added interventionist positions and social workers to help students who may be struggling. Wood River-Hartford ESD #15 has also expanded its resource pool by partnering with neighboring districts to offer teachers more professional learning opportunities. As a teacher at heart, Dr. Anderson has always had an open door policy and has tried to help teachers understand the challenges students from underprivileged homes face. “Helping teachers become more aware of how poverty can impact student’s lives is a passion of mine,” Dr. Anderson said. “I truly believe if we keep students fed, meet their social emotional needs, and give them the support that other kids have, we can eliminate the factors that cause students not to succeed in school.” In addition to being an author and educator, Dr. Anderson has dabbled in being a playwright. In 2019, he wrote School Secrets, which has also been used as a professional learning experience for administrators in Madison County. The play touches on the same themes as the book, but the live performance aspect can better illustrate emotions and feelings. “It’s powerful for administrators to actually see these scenes about race and poverty played out in front of them,” Dr. Anderson said. “You can share statistics all day, but when people watch it happening - even in a play - it hits differently. The discussions we have afterward are when I see the light bulbs really coming on and people starting to think about what needs to change in their schools.”

13 LM March 2025

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