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.
Latest Illinois School Report Card Shows Proficiency Gains, Persistent Gaps on Racial Lines
Robin Steans, president of the education advocacy group Advance Illinois, agreed that the report was positive overall, but said it also contains some cautionary information, especially regarding racial achievement gaps and attendance rates.
State School Report Card Shows Proficiency Gains, Gaps on Racial Lines
Elementary and secondary students in Illinois showed consistent improvements in their reading and math scores while the state’s high school graduation rate reached a 13-year high for the most recently concluded school year.
Illinois Has More Teachers with Greater Diversity, but Shortages Remain
The shortage of teachers in Illinois has slowed and even improved but gaps in critical areas, such as special education, remain and racial diversity among school leaders lags far behind that of the state’s pupils, according to a study released Thursday.
Report: Illinois’ educator workforce weathered pandemic, but persistent issues remain
The supply of education professionals continues to improve in Illinois despite strains brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, but persistent issues remain in certain regions of the state and within some teaching fields.
New Report Details Illinois’ Educator Pipeline
Illinois has more teachers in the classroom than it’s had in more than a decade according to a new report from Advance Illinois, a nonpartisan education policy group. School districts across the state, however, still face hiring challenges.

