EffectiveLeadersCollaborativeTeachersInvolvedFamiliesSupportiveEnvironmentAmbitiousInstruction

Barbara Vick Early Childhood & Family Center Dashboard Summary

Overall in 2025, Vick Early Childhood has results for 16 measures.

In a typical year, the overall performance score is comprised of each of the 5Essentials scores. Schools that are at or above benchmark on 3 or more Essentials are 10 times more likely to improve than schools that are below the benchmark. For 2025, CPS schools will not receive an overall rating due to missing Measure data in two Essentials due to a UChicago administrative error: Ambitious Instruction (all schools) and Supportive Environment (elementary, middle and primary schools). However, schools who met the reporting thresholds for the student survey are encouraged to review the available Measure scores within these Essentials, as well as Supplemental Measures. Click the link below to download the data use guidance.

2025 CPS 5Essentials Survey Report Guidance

Where is Barbara Vick Early Childhood & Family Center performing the highest?
Teacher Influence86
Parent Influence on Decision Making in Schools72
School Commitment72
Parent Involvement in School71
Teacher-Parent Trust69
What has improved most for Barbara Vick Early Childhood & Family Center?
Instructional Leadership59 + 7
Program Coherence68 + 4
Collective Responsibility57 + 3
Where is Barbara Vick Early Childhood & Family Center performing the lowest?
Collaborative Practices38
Teacher-Teacher Trust45
Collective Responsibility57
Instructional Leadership59
Quality Professional Development59
What has decreased most for Barbara Vick Early Childhood & Family Center?
Collaborative Practices38 - 14
Quality Professional Development59 - 6
School Commitment72 - 4
Teacher-Teacher Trust45 - 3
5Essentials

About the Survey

The 5Essentials School Reports for Chicago Public Schools are derived from more than 20 years of research on improving urban schools. The raw data for these reports are based on a comprehensive core of over 80 student and 150 teacher questions compiled into 22 Measures of school climate and practice and formed into five Essentials. As measured by the 5Essentials Surveys, those five Essentials are leading indicators of school improvement. The power of 5Essentials comes from their prediction of school success, the intuitiveness of the overall framework components (Ambitious Instruction, Supportive Environment, Effective Leaders, Collaborative Teachers, and Involved Families), and the reliability of the survey measures.

As originally detailed in the seminal book, Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago, UEI researchers conducted a longitudinal validation study using 15 years of districtwide elementary school data (collected between 1991 and 2005) examining the relationship between 5Essentials Survey results with elementary school test scores and attendance. This research provided evidence that these five essential supports of a school organization were the foundation of a school’s ability to increase students’ learning gains over time. A key finding was that students in schools that were strong in at least three of the essential supports were up to 10 times more likely to experience substantial gains on both reading and math scores than students in schools that were weak in three or more of the supports.1

More recent validation studies, using districtwide data from 2011-2018, examined the predictive validity of all measures with expanded outcomes in both elementary and high school and also tested this validity in high poverty school contexts. These studies concluded that the 5Essentials Survey Measures continue to be predictive of school improvement at both the elementary and high school level. Of the 22 survey Measures, all were in some way positively and significantly associated with schools’ improvement. Our expanded student outcomes included attendance, standardized test scores and GPA, for elementary school. At the high school level, these outcomes as well as Freshman OnTrack were significantly, positively related to survey measures. College enrollment was somewhat less well predicted by survey measures.

Furthermore, we found that improving on Measures throughout the year predicted improved student outcomes in schools even if schools were not at the defined “strong” level. This means that schools that are working to improve in areas but have not yet reached a point of strength can still see improvements in their students’ outcomes such as grades, tests, and attendance while they are growing their five essential supports. Relatedly, in looking at schools compared to themselves over time, in stronger vs. weaker years for the 5Essentials, schools improved student outcomes more. This suggests that the 5Essentials do not just relate to differences between schools but also to the variable organizational state of schools over time.

By examining these same relationships in schools with the highest and lowest levels of poverty among their students, we found that the 5Essentials Measures predicted school improvement in both high- and low-poverty schools at both the elementary and high school level. Among elementary schools with strong 5Essentials, high-poverty schools improved more than low-poverty schools on more than one-half of measures. This means that improvements in school climate and organizational features in high-poverty schools had a greater benefit for student learning than in low-poverty schools.




1Schools were categorized as “strong” on an essential support if their survey score on that indicator fell in the top quartile of Chicago elementary schools. Schools ranked in the bottom quartile for an essential indicator were classified as “weak” on that essential support.

Effective Leaders

In schools with Effective Leaders, principals and teachers work together to implement a shared vision. In such schools, people, programs, and resources are focused on a vision for sustained improvement. Leaders:

  • practice shared leadership,
  • set high goals for quality instruction,
  • maintain mutually trusting and respectful relationships,
  • support professional advancement for faculty and staff, and
  • manage resources for sustained program improvement (not measured).

Collaborative Teachers

In schools with strong Collaborative Teachers, all teachers collaborate to promote professional growth. In such schools, teachers are:

  • active partners in school improvement,
  • committed to the school, and
  • focused on professional development.

Involved Families

In schools with Involved Families, the entire staff builds strong external relationships. Such schools:

  • see parents as partners in helping students learn,
  • value parents' input and participation in advancing the school's mission, and
  • support efforts to strengthen its students' community resources.

Supportive Environment

In schools with a Supportive Environment, the school is safe, demanding, and supportive. In such schools:

  • students feel safe in and around the school,
  • they find teachers trust-worthy and responsive to their academic needs,
  • all students value hard work, and
  • teachers push all students toward high academic performance.
Note: Due to a programming error, questions associated with the Academic Personalism and Peer Support for Academic Work Measures in all elementary, middle and primary schools' Supportive Environment Essential were not included in the 2025 CPS 5Essentials Survey. (These Measures are not included in high schools' Supportive Environment Essential; high schools have complete and fully reported data.)

Ambitious Instruction

In schools with strong Ambitious Instruction, classes are challenging and engaging. The instruction is clear, well-structured, and encourages students to build and apply knowledge. When combined with a supportive environment, Ambitious Instruction has the most direct effect on student learning. It is:

  • well-defined with clear expectations for student success,
  • interactive and encourages students to build and apply knowledge,
  • well-paced (not measured), and
  • aligned across grades (not measured).
Note: Due to a programming error, questions associated with the Academic Press Measure were not included in the 2025 CPS 5Essentials Survey. This error affects all CPS schools.
  • Essentials Overall
  • Performance Detail
2024Very WeakWeakNeutralStrongVery Strong2025020406080100
  • Involved Families71 + 1
  • Effective Leaders69 + 3
  • Collaborative Teachers54 - 5
  • Ambitious InstructionN/A N/A
  • Supportive EnvironmentN/A N/A