The main focus of Bremen High School District 228 is academic achievement, which is achieved through quality teaching and learning.  Our teaching practices are grounded in research-based strategies and standards-based curriculum. These practices are delivered through curriculum that has been developed using the Understanding by Design model.  This model allows for the alignment of the learning objectives with assessments, and these assessments allow teachers to determine students' level of understanding rather than simple recall of knowledge and application of skills.

Student learning is monitored and instruction adjusted through the use of frequent assessments provided by common assessments within a department and the SAT Suite of Assessments adopted by the District.  Core common assessments link classroom content and skills to the Illinois Learning Standards.  Individual student growth against these standards is tracked utilizing the Mastery Manager system.  The ACT Suite of Assessments consists of a battery of the 9th and 10th grade preACT, and 11th-grade preACT and ACT.  Students are administered these tests twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring.  The assessments not only prepare students for the SAT in the spring of their junior year, but they also provide an opportunity to measure the academic growth of a cohort of students over three years.

As we continue to develop these practices, we strive to be more responsive to students' needs by utilizing differentiated instructional strategies, which allow teachers to vary instruction based upon student readiness, interests and learning profile.  In addition, the teachers incorporate a variety of instructional strategies, such as the use of reading strategies and cooperative learning that have a high probability of increasing student achievement.

The development of our best practices is on-going, and we provide our staff opportunities through professional development to stay current with educational research so that they can best assist our students' needs because we believe that all students can learn.