We are thrilled to share with you our Equity Dashboard, a new data tool that shows Illinois’ progress toward equitable and adequate funding for all school districts. The Equity Dashboard, the latest release since we launched our Data Desk last year, takes our data visualizations to a new level, analyzing and using the new funding […]
Read MoreEditor’s note: This is the first in a series as Advance Illinois travels the state during its 10th anniversary year. By Bob Dolgan Communications Director Advance Illinois As part of a project for a high school STEM competition, Kaisha Johnson saw that cancer patients often felt isolated when going through treatment. “Most of the time […]
Read MoreJocelyn Sharif has been interested in cooking since she was a young child watching the Food Network with her parents. “I was a shy child,” said Jocelyn, “and cooking was a way to express myself.” Now Jocelyn has taken her interest in cooking and applied it to a career path. She is enrolled in Bloomington […]
Read MoreOur Deputy Director Ben Boer joined Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk on the “Education Gadfly Show” for a “master class in state policymaking” this week. Boer joined the Fordham Institute podcast to discuss how a coalition of advocates succeeded in getting Illinois to overhaul its inequitable school funding formula. Boer was voted Network MVP at […]
Read MoreBy Alex Baptiste Data Analytics Associate A good teacher can be the difference between a student going to college and dropping out of high school. But in Illinois, our most vulnerable students do not always have access to the teachers they so desperately need. A recent survey from the Illinois State Board of Education reveals that […]
Read MoreOur Deputy Director Ben Boer joined “The 21st” for an interview on the Illinois School Report Card that aired on public radio stations across the state on Nov. 3. The report card provides relevant data to families and educators for every school in the state. Listen to audio from the interview, and click here to read […]
Read MoreAcademic progress at Zion school shows promise of new system Third and 4th graders at Beulah Park Elementary School in Zion are gaining crucial skills as they make inferences while reading books as varied as Junie B. Jones and a biography of 19th century scientist Mary Anning. Now that progress will be recognized in the […]
Read MoreBy Melissa Figueira Policy Associate Several years ago, Advance Illinois helped spearhead an effort to revamp the way the Illinois Report Card displayed data about the state’s 2 million public school students. In 2013, the report cards got a much-needed makeover. Now, they are among the highest quality reports of their kind in the entire […]
Read MoreBy Anna Schneider Communications Associate After inequitably funding schools for over 20 years, Illinois finally put politics aside, and made a historic move towards bettering the quality of education for 2.1 million kids. On August 31, 2017 Illinois instituted a new, more equitable way of funding schools — an evidence-based model that drives resources to […]
Read MoreThanks to our partners! #piesummit17 @IllinoisStand #e4echi @IllinoisASA @iasbo @ctbaonline @FundILFuture @TeachPlusChi #sb1_947 pic.twitter.com/8bVKQgXOXn — Advance Illinois (@advanceillinois) October 27, 2017 Advance Illinois received industry recognition last night for its five-year campaign toward school funding reform. The Policy Innovators in Education Network, which includes 77 organizations in 34 states, named Advance Illinois its Game Changer […]
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