In the News
Advance Illinois serves as a resource for media outlets from across the state and beyond on policy issues in education from birth to career. Here’s our recent coverage.
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University students and faculty urged the Illinois Board of Higher Education to press Gov. JB Pritzker to release more than $29 million in funding for state colleges and universities that state lawmakers approved this year but the Pritzker administration is holding back.
As the midway point of the school year draws near, educators across the Quad Cities met for the Advance Illinois ‘The State We’re In 2025’ report.
A new report from Advance Illinois shows schools across the state are still struggling to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A comprehensive report card on Illinois public education shows both good news and bad news.
The Student Center CEFCU Commons at Illinois Central College‘s Peoria campus was occupied by around 50 educators, administrators and local officials, all to discuss what Illinois schools are succeeding in, and what they need to improve.
An Illinois non-profit bipartisan advocacy group focusing on education issues is touring the state to discuss its latest review.
Illinois’ high school graduation rate has hit a 15-year high, as students continue to show academic growth above pre-pandemic levels, state officials announced Thursday with the release of the 2025 Illinois Report Card.
On the first standardized test results reported since Illinois changed the scores needed to be deemed proficient, 52% of students met the bar in English and 38% did so in math.
As Peoria Public Schools receive more state funding, some advocates are saying Illinois isn’t properly funding its public schools.
Illinois has climbed from 47th to 18th in state K-12 funding after adopting an evidence-based formula — showing gains despite COVID disruptions, but equity gaps and support-staff shortages remain.
A new report on Illinois education highlights both progress and persistent challenges. The state has improved in early learning and college readiness, yet proficiency rates in reading, writing, and math have stalled despite billions in added K-12 funding.
A new report about education in Illinois suggests that overall, the state has made significant progress in key areas, from readying toddlers for kindergarten to helping young adults earn college degrees or industry certificates before entering the workforce.
Illinois is no longer one of the worst states in America when it comes to funding K-12 schools, an improvement that may have helped it weather some of the COVID pandemic’s disruption to student learning, according to a new report.
A new report shows Illinois educational attainment continues to rise, and the state's schools weathered pandemic challenges better than other states.
Eight years after putting in place a tool that gauges kindergarten readiness, more children in Illinois are showing up to elementary school ready to go, but gaps between different groups of students remain and are pronounced, according to a new report on public education in the state.
Education in Illinois shows promising areas of growth — including improved kindergarten readiness and increased graduation rates — but remains hampered by stagnant reading and math literacy, as well as rising higher education costs, according to a new report.
On the Illinois State Board of Education’s recent step to adopt new research-informed assessment performance levels, Robin Steans said. “You don’t want those cut scores to be artificially high so that we’re telling parents and kids they’re not ready if they really are. You don’t want them so low that parents and students think everything’s fine when it may not be.”
Chicago Public Schools will receive an additional $76 million from the state this fiscal year for a total of $1.9 billion, according to new data released by the state on Friday.
With diversity, equity and inclusion efforts facing scrutiny under the Trump administration, school districts and states looking to diversify their teacher workforces are in a precarious situation.
For over two decades, state funding of Illinois’ public universities has failed to keep up with rising costs, forcing administrators to raise tuition, which, in turn, has squeezed family finances and even discouraged students from pursuing a degree.