Our second Town Hall of our Listening Tour, in Decatur, was a window into how a community that comes together around its children can bring strong improvement to its schools. Test scores in Grades 3 through 8 are up in Decatur. Here are links to media coverage and videos.

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Our co-chairs have written an Op-Ed for the Chicago Tribune, after the Tribune wrote an editorial around Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s strong words during his last visit home. Duncan said Illinois had to think “very, very differently” about education reform or risk additional stimulus funding. The Advance Illinois Op-Ed agrees and argues that more is at stake for Illinois than just stimulus funding: our children’s future is at risk. You can also read other coverage of Duncan’s visit.   And, two governors joined in the discussion with their own Op-Ed in the Sunday Tribune.

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New test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show troubling durability over time in the gap between white and minority students. The silver lining in the clouds, though, is strong improvement overall.  Each of the following accounts take a different angle:

New York Times
EdWeek (article access courtesy of edweek.org)
Education Trust

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