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Real Learning for Real Life
Have you been to www.CommonCoreIL.org yet? Check out the resources for families and educators, including videos and downloads. Don't forget to sign-up for the bi-monthly Core Connection newsletter.
The Real Learning for Real Life web site is now available in Spanish. Read the press release here.
Advance Illinois is a member of the Common Core Coalition, a group of 45 organizations committed to keeping communities informed about the new learning standards and assessments and their impact on our education system in Illinois.
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Making Assessments Work
Illinois set new, rigorous standards for students – the Common Core State Standards – that are the bedrock of Illinois public education. The next step is putting in place a new generation of assessments that will measure whether students have the knowledge, skills and understanding to succeed in an ever-changing world.
With input from educators, Illinois leaders will consider whether to adopt Common Core assessments, invest in the technology required to deliver them and fund diagnostic assessments that provide an early window into teaching and learning.
The Common Core represents a fundamental shift in teaching and learning. As a state, we must be vigilant to ensure students, educators and schools have the resources needed – time, training, technology and otherwise – to achieve these higher expectations. This is a new starting point for Illinois.
- Learn more about Illinois’ shift to new standards and assessments in a new report called Making Assessments Work.
- Watch the Making Assessments Work Video Series
- A Teaching Perspective
- Lessons from Two Illinois School Districts
- A New Starting Point for Illinois Public Education with Illinois State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch
Student Pathways to College and Career Readiness
Through the Illinois Pathways Initiative, public school leaders and private industry partners are creating and organizing resources to help give students meaningful career exploration, work-based learning opportunities, and rigorous academics that will prepare graduates for life in the real world.
On January 16th and 17th 2014, Advance Illinois, in partnership with the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and Northern Illinois University's Office of Education Systems Innovation brought together 130 community leaders from across the state to discuss how to increase the number of Illinoisans with high-quality college degrees, certificates or other credentials to 60% by 2025.
These are Challenging Times for Illinois Public Schools
Illinois advanced landmark reforms in recent years to improve instruction for the 2 million students in public schools. Yet the drain of state resources threatens to derail progress, hamstring academic opportunities and unravel the basic education needed to prepare Illinois students for today’s world. Illinois confronts a financial crisis that threatens its very solvency.
How Illinoisans – whether policymakers or parents, teachers or taxpayers – respond will shape the next generation of students.
Learn more about the funding of education in Illinois and alternatives to proration in Funding Expectations.
Op-Ed: Equity Is the Key to Better School Funding
The relationship between government spending on K-12 public education and student outcomes has been an endless source of debate among those involved in education policy...Some argue that there is no correlation between spending and outcomes. But new research from our management-consulting firm, the Boston Consulting Group, adds another dimension to the discussion.
Marin Gjaja is a senior partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group, and is on the board of Advance Illinois. J. Puckett is a senior partner and managing director at BCG. Matt Ryder is a consultant at BCG.
Education Week - February 18
State Senator Pushes Education Reform for All Counties
The Senate Education Funding Advisory Committee submitted a report late last month with recommendations on how to streamline funding to districts across the state. Co-chair Sen. Andy Manar and committee members argue that money is not being equitably distributed to schools that need it most. Sen. Manar detail the report, and what he's looking to do next to reform education funding in the state.
WBEZ Chicago Public Radio - February 27
Minority Male Students Face Challenge to Achieve at Community Colleges
Although black and Latino male students enter community colleges with higher aspirations than those of their white peers, white men are six times as likely to graduate in three years with a certificate or degree, according to a report by the Center for Community College Student Engagement at the University of Texas.
The Chronicle of Higher Education - February 26
