Illinois State Board of Education
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Eligibility Requirements

Review the Survey Eligibility guidelines to support proper survey administration for your school or district.

Teacher and Staff Survey Footprint

Reminder invitations are sent weekly to staff members who have not yet completed the survey. Two additional reminder messages will be sent before the survey closes.

Roster Change Requests

The deadline to submit roster change requests is March 20. Requests submitted after this date will not be processed.

Please note that all roster changes are reviewed and approved or denied by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

To ensure timely and accurate processing, please work with your district to keep records in EPS, EIS, and SIS up to date.

Response Rate Requirements to Qualify for a Report

Schools must meet the following participation thresholds:

Students: 50% response rate and a minimum of 10 respondents
Parents: 20% response rate and a minimum of 8 respondents
Instructional Staff: 50% response rate and a minimum of 8 respondents
Essential 0–5 Parent: 25% response rate and a minimum of 15 respondents

What’s Coming Next

Report Delivery Timeline

  • May
    Secure Access: Superintendents and principals receive password-protected portal access coordinates.
  • June
    Public Release: School reports become fully searchable on the public tools directory website.
  • Fall
    State Report Card: Standardized findings are integrated directly into illinoisreportcard.com. (Note: Parent metrics are excluded).

Support Directories

5Essentials Client Services (Survey Administration)
impact-surveys@uchicago.edu|1-866-440-1874
ISBE Accountability Department (Participation & Rosters)
5Essentials@isbe.net|217-524-4614
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​What is the 5Essentials Survey?​​​

The 5Essentials Survey identifies five indicators that lead to improved outcomes for all students, including improved attendance and larger test score gains.

The five indicators that positively affect school success are:

  1. Effective Leaders
  2. Collaborative Teachers
  3. Involved Families
  4. Supportive Environments
  5. Ambitious Instruction

Research derived from the Five Essentials for School Success has proven that schools strong on at least three of the 5Essentials are 10 times more likely to improve student outcomes.

Schools across Illinois participated in the Tenth annual 5Essentials Survey of Learning Conditions: Organizing Schools for Improvement this past academic year.​​ This survey generates valuable data​ that districts can use to guide their ongoing efforts to improve schools and to offer students an excellent education. The survey is another improvement tool that allows districts and the state to share data as a means to inform parents and community members about the school’s learning environment. The Illinois 5Essentials Survey is administered online by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago on behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education. Data and indicators are a result from an anonymous administration of the survey instrument.​​

Next Steps:

5ESSENTIALS SURVEY ADMINISTRATION WINDOW OPENS JANUARY 25, 2027

The Illinois 5Essentials Survey will be open January 25–March 19, 2027​. Districts are required to administer the survey annually unless they have formally opted into an approved alternative through the Illinois Improvement Framework.

The 5Essentials is a key component of Illinois’ accountability system and contributes to the non-academic indicators used in the Summative Designation for accountability. Survey results provide valuable insights into school climate and organizational conditions that support student success.

About the Illinois 5Essentials Survey

The Illinois State Board of Education has partnered with UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago since the 2012-2013 school year to administer a school climate survey.

Resources and Support

To support districts and schools during this administration window, the following resources will be made available:

  • Communication Toolkit, Survey FAQs, and Survey Administration Manual
  • 5Essentials Orientation Webinars - Click the links below to register.

​Accessing Survey Results

Reports can be accessed by visiting the 5Essentials website and searching by school name or district name. Please note: Some schools opt to participate in an approved alternate survey; those reports cannot be accessed using the link included above.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What's New News and Updates

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The 5Essentials Survey

What are the 5Essentials and 5Essentials Survey?

5Essentials is an evidence-based system designed to drive improvement in schools nationwide—it reliably measures changes in a school organization through the 5Essentials Survey and provides individualized, actionable Reports for each school. The 5Essentials system is based on more than 20 years of research by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research on five components found to be critical for school success:

  • Effective Leaders: The principal works with teachers to implement a clear and strategic vision for school success.
  • Collaborative Teachers: Teachers collaborate to promote professional growth.
  • Involved Families: The entire school staff builds strong relationships with families and communities to support learning.
  • Supportive Environment: The school is safe and orderly. Teachers have high expectations for students and support students to realize their goals. Classmates also support one another.
  • Ambitious Instruction: Classes are academically demanding and engage students by emphasizing the application of knowledge.

The 5Essentials Survey is taken by all prekindergarten through 12th-grade teachers and all fourth- through 12th-grade students and usually requires no more than 30 minutes to complete. The information collected through the survey is rigorously reviewed and analyzed to generate a 5Essentials Report for each school. The 5Essentials Report includes a breakdown of teacher and student responses and, most importantly, provides a comprehensive picture of the school environment based on five essential areas critical for school improvement in a meaningful context of similar and successful schools.

Why is The Illinois State Board of Education implementing this survey?

The State Board has long recognized that test scores alone do not provide a full picture of teaching and learning in any one school. Under recent legislation (Public Act 100-1046​), the State Board is now mandated, on an annual basis, to implement a learning conditions survey that will finally help paint that fuller picture. While this survey may help inform state policy and improvement initiatives, it is primarily intended to help local administrators, such as teachers, principals, and superintendents, identify strengths and weaknesses at the district and school level and better target resources and interventions. Aggregated data from the survey will also be shared with parents and the general public on school report cards released in the fall.

Diving Deeper into the Survey Research and Scoring:

5Essentials Statewide Data:

5Essentials Statewide Data Files are ​available upon request. Please email 5Essentials@isbe.net for more information.​

Preparing for the 5Essentials Survey

Please take the following steps for prepare for the 5Essentials Survey to ensure that your district has accurate participation records.

  1. Update Key Data Systems - Please ensure all data in the following systems is accurate and up to date (click links for webinars on each data system):
  2. Maintain Accurate Contact Information in EPS – Accurate EPS contact information is essential for survey administration. Please take time to review the information currently in EPS for your key personnel (e.g., superintendents, principals). A few things to note:
    • Updates are typically handled by the superintendent’s administrative staff — verify with them, if needed.
    • Please access the EPS page and follow the provided instructions if any updates or changes are needed.
  3. Ensure Users Are Properly Added
    • Users will not be added to the survey platform until they update their EPS contact information.
    • Districts must communicate role assignments, as the system does not automatically distinguish job functions.
    • Individuals may need to list themselves in multiple roles if they have overlapping responsibilities (e.g., an assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction responsible for testing should also be listed as a test coordinator).
  4. Keep SIS Data Current for Student Roster Accuracy
    • Update SIS if a student is missing from the roster. ​

Approved Alternate Surveys

Important Updates for school year 2026-2027:

The survey window for school year 2026-2027 will be January 25 through March 19, 2027.

After administering the survey in the aforementioned survey window, school districts must report their survey data using the official template​Excel Document by May 31, 2027.

Any district that wishes to administer an approved alternate survey must complete and return a letter of intent​PDF Document by ​September 15, 2026.

​Below are the approved alternates and relevant details about each survey:

For questions regarding the survey, please call the Wellness Department at (217) 782-5270 or email 5Essentials@isbe.net.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Survey Usage for Continuous Improvement

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Contact Information