The number of administrators and teachers in Illinois public schools has increased while the number of students has declined. Illinois is adding administrators faster than teachers.
The Chicago Board of Education’s five-year plan includes redefining student success and ending school ranking based on performance. It also includes expanding sustainable community schools, which record among the lowest student outcomes.
More than a dozen candidates filled out an Illinois Policy questionnaire to give voters a better idea of who is running for office. Read their answers below.
Student literacy is in trouble nationally, which is why Illinois is one of 35 states where just 1 in 3 – or fewer – of its fourth graders met reading standards in 2022.
Chicago Public Schools students return to class Aug. 26. Here’s what parents should know about academics, building use, enrollment, absenteeism and finances.
Students in Illinois are steadily returning to class across Illinois’ 852 school districts, where improvement is needed on the 35% of elementary students who can read at grade level. What to know about how well the state’s public schools are preparing students for life.
The federal filings of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and its national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, reveal questionable spending, with little spent on representing teachers, millions spent on politics and deficit spending while the big boss got $500K.
Just 13% of IEA’s spending was on representing teachers in 2023. But the spending of its national affiliate – the National Education Association – was even worse, with less than 8% of its spending on representing teachers’ interests.
Hundreds of Chicago Public Schools buildings have a space-use problem – they’re too empty. Nearly 60% of schools are underutilized while 5% are overcrowded. Only 37% are at ideal capacity. The Chicago Teachers Union wants to add staff to the empty schools.
Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...