CHAMPAIGN – A business incubator focused on disadvantaged neighborhoods in Champaign is expanding its chess program. The classes started with a handful of teenagers about six weeks ago. Since then, adults have become so interested that the nonprofit, Business Elevator, is planning to start a separate, adult class. The chess coach, Eduardo Carrillo, Jr, uses…
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration has proposed new policies for the state’s schools regarding how they treat transgender students, including restricting which bathrooms they can use and which pronouns they may go by. The Virginia Department of Education released its 2022 Model Policies online Friday, effectively rolling back the work of Youngkin’s predecessor, Democrat Ralph…
Yeshiva University says it’s pausing all student clubs on campus just days after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a lower court ruling that ordered the school to recognize an LGBTQ group. In an unsigned email to students, the New York City school said that, considering upcoming Jewish holidays, “the university will hold off…
CHAMPAIGN – A total of eight Illinois community colleges will soon be certified to do competency-based learning, thanks to $5 million from the U.S. Department of Labor. This means students only need to take classes on new material — instead of sitting through lessons they already know. Nancy Sutton is the vice president for academic…
NORMAL — Unit 5 has invoked a rarely used state statute that allows school districts to reject teacher resignations in certain circumstances. McLean County’s largest district denied four resignations, submitted by special education teachers weeks before the first day of school. Two of the teachers agreed to stay for the 2022-2023 school year. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s402/audio/2022/09/unit5resign-segment.mp3 Listen…
CHAMPAIGN – Ri’Chard Frazier took his role as a big brother seriously from a young age. By middle school, being the “tough” one started to get him in trouble. He bounced between public and alternative schools. The first time he felt cared for was at FirstFollowers, a nonprofit Champaign recently entrusted with half a million…
Student debt has soared in the 21st Century. It went from $520 billion in 2006 to now over $1.7 trillion. The Biden administration recently announced a student loan forgiveness program. Some borrowers could have as much as $20,000 forgiven. The White House estimates that around 43 million borrowers could be eligible for some debt forgiveness. Of those, close to half could…
URBANA – The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is recommending that everyone wear high-quality face coverings in classrooms starting Monday, August 29. The advisory was sent to all students, faculty and staff in an email from Chancellor Robert J. Jones on Sunday night. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked Champaign County as “high”…
ROCKFORD — With the new school year starting, reports of a “national teacher shortage” are at an all-time high. But is staffing a school actually way harder this year than previous years? Is there a teacher shortage? A superintendent at a small school district in rural Illinois might tell you about how elementary teacher positions…
WASHINGTON — President Biden’s announcement of a sweeping effort to forgive federal student loan debt – up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, and up to $10,000 for others who qualify – leaves millions of borrowers with unanswered questions, and some of the details won’t be clear for weeks or months. Here are three big…
ROCKFORD — Advanced Placement — or AP — classes were created over 70 years ago to give high school students a jump-start on the path to college. Students can earn early college credit by scoring high on AP tests. But, even in 2022, that opportunity often isn’t available to every student. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s528/audio/2022/08/0822apf.mp3 Listen to this…
URBANA — Fall classes began Monday at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It was also the beginning of the university’s new Illinois Neurodiversity Initiative. The program aims to smooth the experience of college for students with autism. INI Director Jeanne Kramer created the program after leading an internship pipeline program specifically for University of Illinois…
CHAMPAIGN — Thursday was the first day of school for most Champaign Unit 4 students. Students at International Prep Academy welcomed the second year of fully in-person classes after the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was very, very cool, because we got to do tons of new activities,” says fifth grader Annayaretze Martinez. “At…
DECATUR — Illinois now requires every elementary and high school teach a unit on Black History, ranging from African civilizations to U.S. slavery to the Civil Rights movement. This week, Illinois Family Action (IFA), a conservative, Christian group, based in suburban Chicago, held a meeting with about 35 attendees, discussing those changes and attacking the…
WORCESTER, Mass. — Millions of students are heading back to college for their third full academic year since the COVID pandemic hit. But as students move into their dorms and sign up for classes this year, things are different. On many campuses, the masking restrictions are gone. Classes are being held in-person, testing requirements are…