What it takes to be a high-performance district

This year, EAB is proud to introduce the High-Performance District Award, a new recognition honoring districts across the EAB partnership that have built the organizational capacity to deliver sustained improvement amid increasing complexity and change. The inaugural recipient of EAB’s High-Performance District Award is Huntley Community School District 158, a district that has translated research-backed best practices into a coherent, community-owned improvement system.

The award is grounded in EAB’s research on district leadership and organizational performance, which examines why some districts consistently make progress on persistent challenges—such as early literacy, student well-being, and educator retention—while others struggle to sustain momentum. Across this work, one insight emerges again and again: beneath every success story is an organization that is intentionally designed to lead and manage change.

High-performing districts are not defined by a single initiative or program. They distinguish themselves by building clear, durable systems that align priorities, clarify ownership, and translate strategy into everyday practice.

The eight pillars of a high-performing district

EAB’s research identifies eight pillars that consistently differentiate high-performing districts from their peers. Together, these pillars describe how districts organize their leadership, decision-making, and improvement efforts to achieve lasting results.

Taken together, these eight pillars reflect a systems-level approach to improvement—one that allows districts to maintain focus, adapt to new challenges, and sustain progress over time. The High-Performance District Award recognizes districts that have embedded these pillars into the fabric of their organization.

A high-performance district in practice: Huntley Community School District 158

At the center of Huntley’s work is Huntley 2030: Building Tomorrow Together, a strategic plan developed through deep engagement with educators, families, students, and community members. Rather than treating the plan as a static document, district leaders use it as the primary driver of decision-making across the system.

The plan is anchored by five priority goals and framed by three unifying constructs: a Portrait of a Learner, a Portrait of a Learning Environment, and a Portrait of a Work Environment. These portraits serve as concrete role descriptions that clarify what success looks like for students, educators, and leaders at every level.

Turning vision into daily practice

Huntley’s leadership team has used these portraits to create shared language and alignment across the district. Student leaders, staff, community members, and parent advisory groups helped define what competencies like problem solving and informed citizenship look like in practice, then the district adapted those expectations across grade levels so they are tangible and developmentally appropriate.

This clarity extends beyond classrooms. The portraits inform professional learning, teaching practices, student expectations, and even board-level discussions, ensuring that decisions around student conduct, school climate, and instructional priorities consistently reflect the district’s stated vision.

Hardwiring accountability and focus

To reinforce accountability and transparency, Huntley developed a public-facing continuous improvement dashboard that brings together key indicators across academic performance, student well-being, staffing, finances, and community engagement. Seven district KPIs map directly to the strategic priorities, giving leaders and the community a shared view of progress.

The dashboard actively shapes decision-making. District and building leaders reference it to set agendas, guide principal and PLC conversations, and evaluate tradeoffs related to curriculum, budget, and initiatives. By consistently working back to the same priorities and measures, the district has reduced ad hoc decision-making and strengthened coherence across schools and departments.

Building ownership and momentum

Huntley has invested intentionally in sustaining ownership beyond the planning phase. Voice-and-vision sessions, along with student-led listening tours, bring staff and students together around the portraits to generate concrete examples of success and ensure feedback remains aligned to shared goals. Communications efforts highlight classroom experiences tied to district priorities, helping families and community members see progress in practice.

This alignment across strategy, data, culture, and communication has helped break down silos, strengthen trust, and keep improvement efforts focused and durable.

Why Huntley 158 sets the standard

Huntley Community School District 158 was selected as the first-ever recipient of the High-Performance District Award because it exemplifies what EAB’s research shows matters most: a disciplined, transparent system built around shared vision, clear ownership, and continuous accountability.

By embedding the eight pillars of a high-performing district into everyday work, Huntley has created the conditions for sustained improvement—positioning the district to adapt, grow, and thrive well into the future.

Congratulations to Superintendent Jessica Lombard and the entire Huntley 158 leadership team and community on this well-earned recognition. Their work offers a powerful example of what it truly means to be a high-performance district.