CHICAGO — Illinois students continue to perform far below pre-pandemic levels on state reading and math exams for a second year, test results released Thursday show, offering another sign of the ongoing toll of COVID-19 and remote learning. Students performed at roughly the same level as last year, which is well below the last round
MATTOON — Black and Hispanic students are learning more quickly in the Mattoon school district than in any other school district in east central Illinois. The Illinois State Board of Education published information on student growth Thursday alongside its 2022 Illinois Report Card. The state calculated growth for local schools and districts by measuring student
CHAMPAIGN — Learning did slow last year during pandemic school – especially for the state’s most vulnerable students. The Illinois State Board of Education dropped this information on Friday morning in its annual report card. “We need to recognize that for our Black and Hispanic children, remote learning was not very effective, particularly for English
SPRINGFIELD – Citing an “improved” economic outlook, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday his support to increase evidence-based education funding in the state by $350 million in fiscal year 2022 which begins July 1. In his February budget proposal, Pritzker originally proposed flat spending for education, citing “financial uncertainty” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have
DANVILLE – Brennon Hightower says Black history is lacking in the education her two sons receive at their public school in Danville, a city in east-central Illinois. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hightower decided to homeschool her sons — aged 10 and 15 — using curricula she found and liked. But even that material included very
URBANA – At least 1,300 students plan to return to Urbana classrooms later this month, according to data shared during an Urbana District 116 Board of Education study session Tuesday night. School officials say their safety plans will be bolstered by access to a rapid COVID antigen test — known as the BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) published its annual school report card data Friday, but state officials urged caution when interpreting that data due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on data collection for the 2019-20 school year. State Superintendent Carmen Ayala said during a call with reporters this week that
Twenty-one Champaign Unit 4 students were arrested during the 2013-14 school year — 19 of them were Black — according to documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. During the 2015-16 school year, 17 students were arrested — of which 15 were Black. But the federal government thinks there were no arrests. That’s
CHAMPAIGN – The Champaign Unit 4 School District is changing their reopening plans for this fall. At a meeting this week, the district’s Board of Education asked school administrators to target special education, emergent bilingual learners and other vulnerable students for in-person instruction — with everyone else beginning the school year virtually. The district released
A list of health and safety guidelines for getting students back in classrooms is scheduled to be released before the end of the month. It will provide…
Illinois school districts will receive more than half a billion dollars in federal stimulus funds as a result of the CARES Act. School districts across the state are now applying for about $512 million dollars that the Illinois State Board of Education will distribute based on how many low-income students districts serve. The money is
Amber McKeag says her son Darrin received little braille instruction before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Illinois. Now, she says, he doesn’t receive any. McKeag and her family live in a rural part of Mercer County, on the Iowa-Illinois border. Her son, Darrin, who is about to turn 10, suffers from Bardet-Biedl syndrome. As a result,
Champaign Unit 4 Schools Superintendent Susan Zola says the district is on track to meet the digital needs of its families as e-learning continues through the end of the school year. In general, she has a positive outlook on the remainder of the school year, as well as what might be in store for the
Betsy Crosswhite says it felt like a punch in the gut when her son’s school closed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. That’s when she realized she would need to become her son Shane’s teacher and therapist. Crosswhite and her family live in Wilmette. She and her husband have three kids, including Shane, 15,
About half of Gladys Marquez’s students can’t access the internet at home. Marquez teaches English language learners at Dwight Eisenhower High School in Blue Island on Chicago’s south side. The school serves predominantly students of color from low-income backgrounds. Marquez says her students are fortunate to attend a school district that provides an iPad to