Understanding What Your 5Essentials Data Tells You

In partnership with Chicago Public Schools, we invited CPS principals and school leaders for a one-hour webinar designed to help make sense of a school’s 5Essentials data and use it to strengthen school improvement planning.

This recorded discussion took place on November 19, 2025.

5Essentials Overview (starts at 3:53)
-Students and teachers take the 5Essentials Survey in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) each spring. All schools in Illinois, and many schools across the country, take the 5Essentials Survey. The 5Essentials captures students' and teachers' reports about the overall school culture and climate; helps schools identify strengths and areas for improvement; and impacts students’ academic outcomes and teacher workplace.

-Strong scores and strong growth in measure scores on the 5Essentials Survey are predictive of many student success measures, including GPA, attendance, test scores, and college enrollment. Read the research ( https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publi... )

-Students in CPS also take the Cultivate survey, which captures students’ experiences of the classroom learning conditions that impact their learning and well-being. Data from the survey supports educators in making shifts in practice.

-Together, these surveys help principals understand both students’ school and classroom experiences, and identify different opportunities to improve students’ educational experiences.

How to read the 2025-26 school report (starts at 14:28)
-Accessing your school’s 5Essentials report is simple and secure. Use your email address and password to start exploring your school’s data: www.5-essentials.org

-5Essentials quick guide resource provides guidance for families and LSC members who want to better understand their school’s 5Essentials data. ( https://consortium.uchicago.edu/resou... )

-Approaching the data with curiosity about understanding what is happening in your school, and context about what is happening in CPS, Illinois, and across the country can help LSCs and school communities use survey reports.

-It is helpful to compare your own school’s trends over time to celebrate improvements made and identify other improvements to make. Survey developers do not recommend emphasizing comparisons to other schools.

School principal spotlight with veteran principal Jeremy Feiwell (starts at 29:18)
-It is important to share 5Essentials data with your CWIP team, staff, LSC, and parents with the goal of being transparent, and helping to educate them on what the 5Essentials capture and what we can learn from the data.

-For staff: One helpful strategy is to share the dashboard summary from the school report at the beginning of the year; for example, the first PD day of the year. It shows change in measures from the previous year and provides an opportunity to reflect and discuss what is happening in school that is being reflected in the measure scores.

-For parents: It can be helpful to show historical data trends so parents can see the change that happens year-over-year. Principals can explain the successes and challenges that may be reflected in responses to measures and sub-measures to help parents become well-versed in what the survey data is helping to share about students’ and teachers’ experiences.

Chicago Public Schools Guidance and Resources with Diana Reed from the Office of Network Support (starts at 37:50)
-Role in CIWP: Survey data elevates teacher and student voice, and is useful both during Reflection on Foundations and in future planning.

-Consider aiming for trends rather than fixed numeric targets: e.g. ‘Improvement in Ambitious Instruction’ rather than ‘Reach 85 in Supportive Environment.’

-To progress-monitor, you might: 1) Run focus groups or consultancies to get qualitative data from your students and teachers. 2) Use related questions from other surveys to get quick reads on progress.

-Context and Support: Over 100 schools set Performance Goals around 5Essentials in their SY24-SY26 cycles.

-Principals can reach out to their network for additional support, and, for data questions, their Network Data Strategist.

Q&A (starts at 41:18)
-How do schools keep track of progress throughout the year—not just when the 5Essentials results come out?

-Why do parents take a different survey, and how compatible is it with the 5Essentials Survey?

-What are your tips—your “do’s and “don’t’s”—for using the survey with your school community?