Pritzker doesn’t tell whole story on test scores
Counter to the governor’s claims, Illinois students’ scores on a national assessment have dropped despite more education spending.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently touted Illinois eighth-graders’ reading and math scores as proof of increased public school funding’s effect on student success.
Here’s the reality: Illinois students’ scores have dropped despite that increased spending. And there’s more to the data than Pritzker let on about Illinois students outperforming those in other states.
If the governor wants to help students, he should join the majority of states that are opting into a federal program that provides donor money for students’ targeted needs.
Illinois student scores drop despite increased education spending
In his budget address last month, Pritzker said “historic investments” in public education have boosted student success. But Illinois student performance in both reading and math fell over the most recent 10 years of the National Assessment for Educational Progress.
Those declines weren’t just because of COVID-era shutdowns. Both eighth- and fourth-grade scores were dropping in both reading and math even before schools were closed.
During that same period from 2013 to 2024, the state’s spending on K-12 education rose by nearly $10 billion. That’s a 44% increase over a period when enrollment declined 10%.
Counter to Pritzker’s claims, the increased spending on Illinois schools has not improved student achievement.
Illinois students don’t outperform other states like Pritzker let on
Pritzker celebrated “second-highest in the nation” reading scores for Illinois’ eighth-graders in 2024 and “fifth-highest in the nation” math scores on the national assessment.
The truth: Illinois eighth-graders rank seventh overall in reading and 16th in math when analyzing actual average 2024 scores.
How did the governor get his numbers? He was apparently grouping states whose differences in scores were not statistically significant. By that metric, only one state — Massachusetts — significantly outperformed Illinois in reading. The rest were close to Illinois.
Pritzker’s comments painted a rosier picture of education in Illinois by failing to mention the five other states that could claim “second” in eighth-grade reading or “fifth” in math.
Pritzker also ignored the national assessment’s fourth-grade reading and math scores, cherry-picking the better eighth-grade numbers. In fourth grade, Illinois students ranked 29th in reading and 33rd in math when comparing actual average 2024 NAEP scores.
Clearly, Illinois’ increased spending on the public school system hasn’t improved student achievement on the national assessment.
Pritzker should opt in to donated money for students
Among other flawed educational claims in his budget address, Pritzker failed to mention the opportunity for the state to join a new federal program that would allow students to benefit from targeted scholarship money. That money would help them get specialized academic assistance, whether it be a tutor, special lessons or additional educational classes, among other things.
That will happen in Illinois only if Pritzker opts the state into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program.
More than half the states have decided they want to let private donors help students find extra academic help.
A recent poll for the Illinois Policy Institute showed that almost 55% of Illinoisans support opting into the program, and only about 22% oppose or strongly oppose doing so. Opting in gained more support than opposition across ages, regions, race and political ideology.
The question is whether Pritzker will let Illinois students benefit from donor money or risk them falling further behind students in other states.