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.

Education in America Featuring Dr. Jerry Weast

This speaker seriese will continue with former superintendent of Montgomery County Schools, Dr. Jerrry Weast on Thursday, May 30. Please join us! Click here for details.  

National Expert Sandra Alberti Talks Common Core State Standards

In April 2013, Advance Illinois co-sponsored a series of presentations by Dr. Sandra Alberti of Student Achievement Partners on the Common Core State Standards now in Illinois classrooms. In three separate events, Ms. Alberti spoke to educators, parents and Illinois legislators, addressing how these learning standards were created, how they are different, and what they mean for our students in our state.

Almost 400 district leaders, educator program faculty, and staff gathered in Arlington Heights where Sandra provided insight into the key instructional shifts all educators should know about and discussed top actions educators can take right now to implement the standards. Click below to watch a video of the event, including a presentation by Dr. Susie Morrison, Deputy Superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education and a question and answer panel.

Click below to watch a video of the Arlington Heights presentation or click here for selected video segments and presentations.

In Oak Park, 180 parents and educators listened to Ms. Alberti talk about the Common Core State Standards and what they mean for Illinois children. Click below to watch a video of this presentation, along with the candid question and answer session that followed.  

Click below to watch a video of the Oak Park presentation or click here for selected video segments and presentations.

Learn more about the Common Core!

Visit www.CommonCoreIL.org for family and educator resources and a library of real stories from real people talking about the Common Core. 

Sign up for the Core Connection newsletter or follow the Common Core conversation on Facebook and Twitter. 

Advance Illinois Releases Report Card on Illinois Public Education

The State We’re In: 2012 is a biennial report card on Illinois public education that spans from preschool to postsecondary and looks beyond test scores to examine academic progress, achievement gaps and learning conditions within the state’s public schools. The report assesses Illinois’ performance in three main categories; early education, K-12 and postsecondary.  And as in 2010, the state of Illinois receives a grade in each category.

More than 2 million students attend Illinois public schools every day. To better understand how the state’s educational system serves them, The State We’re In: 2012:

• Defines what it means to be academically prepared at key steps in a student’s education;
• Spotlights learning condition and climate within schools that support student success;
• Identifies demographic and economic changes in the state during the past decade;
• Describes reforms put in place to strengthen Illinois’ education system that now must be implemented.

Read the Executive Summary in English and Spanish.

Read the full 2012 report.