Lily Furgeson had a great experience in sex ed in middle school. Furgeson, who is a 17-year-old senior at a Chicago Public Schools high school, said her eighth grade sex ed teacher made sure to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities as part of their curriculum.
Preschool is a key part of building a solid foundation for lifelong learning, some experts even say it’s the most important part of a child’s education. And yet, it’s not considered by the state of Illinois to be as important as K-12 education, based on the way funding is allocated.
The eighth graders who dashed around the classroom sounded like parrots in a pet store. The students asked each other the same question over and over.
Access to high-speed internet stops about seven miles east of both Nippersink School District 2 and Richmond-Burton Community High School District 157, according to Tom Lind.
Illinois Newsroom asked the candidates running for Congress in the 13th District (where Martin lives) what they plan to do about the issue if elected.
Knox College, in Western Illinois, honored a civil rights icon with a doctorate degree during its convocation in September. Elizabeth Eckford was one of the Little Rock Nine, the nine black students who faced extreme racism as they tried to desegregate a white high school in Arkansas in 1957. Eckford attended Knox for a year [...]
Illinois schools will soon have to publicly report and be evaluated on a new performance measurement: chronic absence. But researchers and superintendents have raised questions about whether or not that data will be meaningful or fair. In Illinois, chronic absence is defined as missing 10 percent — or 18 days — of a school year [...]
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law a slew of legislation this month intended to alleviate Illinois’s teacher shortage. But some teachers and union leaders doubt the measures are enough. Illinois Newsroom’s Lee Gaines spoke with Linda Darling-Hammond to find out what legislative fixes actually work. Darling-Hammond is the president and CEO of the Learning Policy [...]
Michelle McAnarney said she realized her daughter Darby was different than other children soon after she was born. “She was always a little delayed…
There were more than 2,000 teaching, administrative, support staff and other positions across the state that went unfilled during the 2016-17 school year, according to a report from the Illinois State Board of Education.
How many people would come to discuss the topic of students and trauma? No guests had been confirmed, but social media activity suggested high turnout for Illinois Newsroom’s first event News & Brews: How Schools Can Better Help Kids Cope. Now it was a question of capacity. The tap room in Riggs Beer Company in [...]
Simple, everyday tasks – like ordering coffee, crossing the street, or getting gas – can be an obstacle, or an intimidating challenge for people recently released from prison. This is especially true for people who have spent many years behind bars. Lisa Mercer, a graphic design professor at the University of Illinois, set out to [...]
State Senator Chapin Rose had what he thought was a no-brainer bill . All he wanted to do was help public universities connect with promising high…
Children who experience trauma often face behavioral, health and academic challenges, according to decades of research . Kristine Argue, instructional…
Last month, about a dozen people gathered in the basement of a church in Champaign, Ill. to learn how traumatic experiences affect the lives of children and young adults, and what they can do to mitigate its effects. Karen Simms, a mental health counselor and trauma expert, led the presentation, which was part of a [...]
