Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High school (BBCHS) is a four-year, public high school located in Bradley, Illinois. The Director of Curriculum and Instruction is Tiff Kohl, and the Assistant Director of Curriculum is Paige Derbas. Since 2022, Kohl and Derbas have worked with Academic Approach to champion student success and teacher efficacy at BBCHS.
“[Academic Approach] makes us feel like they are part of our team. I have a lot of vendors that I work with, but I really feel like there is a partnership here.”
Why Academic Approach
In 2022, with a new superintendent whose focus was continuous improvement, Kohl and Derbas decided as curriculum administrators to focus on a goal of student success—using SAT as a measure. Recognizing that BBCHS teachers did not all have the capacity to develop SAT-level assessments, they initially connected with Academic Approach to provide teachers with the Formative Assessment Builder (Academic Approach’s skills-based, standards-aligned assessment platform). Kohl and Derbas say the Formative Assessment Builder “gives teachers who do not feel confident with the SAT an anchor from which to jump.”
As BBCHS and Academic Approach moved deeper into their collaboration, Kohl and Derbas realized there were a variety of ways in which they could use Academic Approach to support both their students and their teachers. “It’s a comprehensive system we have been really happy with,” reflects Kohl.
SY 2023-2024 Partnership
In the first two years of their partnership, Academic Approach and BBCHS worked together to support BBCHS students and teachers with numerous SAT services:
"Our teachers that have worked with [Academic Approach] have really appreciated that time and have said they really are good at giving them what they need and are super responsive.”
Integrating SAT Skill Development: BBCHS’s Comprehensive Approach to Junior Year Prep
In SY23-24, BBCHS juniors received SAT skills practice in their classrooms, as BBCHS teachers attended Academic Approach instructional strategies and data workshops and worked closely with Kohl and Derbas to weave these skills into the curriculum. “Academic Approach came out to show [us] teaching resources and really helped teachers walk through what data looks like—how to analyze reports to identify skills for students.”
Additionally, 50 juniors participated in an optional SAT preparation course. The course took place after school on Wednesdays (and on two Saturday mornings) between December and April. Students in the course received 23.5 hours of instruction time, split between Reading/Writing and Math.
As mid-year measures of skills growth, all BBCHS juniors took three full-length Academic Approach SAT practice tests. As an overall measure of growth, BBCHS juniors took the October 2023 PSAT and the April 2024 SAT.
Student Outcomes: SAT Growth
With a goal of student success, BBCHS aimed for juniors to raise their composite scores by 30 points between the October PSAT and the April SAT.
BBCHS juniors surpassed this goal by more than double-growing an average of 74 points.
70% of juniors met or exceeded the 30-point growth goal from PSAT to SAT, and 30% of juniors grew by at least 100 points.
Number of Students
Among students in the optional SAT class, there was an average 81 points growth, and 45% of these students grew by at least 100 points.
For Kohl and Derbas, moving the needle on SAT scores is an important piece of the student success puzzle, as 80% of BBCHS students report wanting to attend a 2- or 4- year college. “It is incumbent upon us to make sure they are ready…If they have a qualifying SAT score, they are more likely to sustain through their second year. Don’t we all want what they want for themselves?”
Teacher Outcomes: Data Literacy & Capacity
Kohl and Derbas emphasize that having Academic Approach as a partner to assist with data literacy—for both students and teachers—has been valuable.
For students, the goal is to understand their score and the skills they need to build it. Derbas notes that BBCHS students have benefited from consistent Math and English practice via regular Academic Approach practice assessments. Especially in their second year working with Academic Approach, BBCHS has noticed more student investment and engagement around the SAT. “All of our department chairs would agree,” Kohl highlights.
For teachers, Kohl and Derbas say Academic Approach is an essential part of their data cadence and accountability structure. As a curriculum team, they require Academic Approach to be part of teachers’ PLC work, and assessment data allows for student interventions. As a result, BBCHS has seen tremendous growth in teacher capacity building, which Kohl says is “one of the greatest gifts” to come out of their partnership with Academic Approach. “Next year, our hope is to go even deeper into the data analysis. I don’t anticipate us skipping a beat.”
“It’s provided our teachers with a level of resources to help build their capacity, and I think that’s really important. Teacher efficacy, we all know, is the primary thing that drives student learning, and my job is to make sure they feel that. This is a really good partnership to do that.”
