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A new report has found that Illinois has 60 public schools in which no students reported grade-level proficiency in reading or math, in a worrisome sign for the state’s education system.
Across Prairie State, there are 23 schools, including 18 in Chicago, where no students demonstrated proficiency in any subject in 2022, according to an analysis of state data by connection points.
Seven other Illinois schools had zero proficiency in reading alone, and 30 had no students proficient in math alone, the study found.
Illinois State Sen. Willie Preston, a Democrat whose district includes part of Chicago’s South Side, spoke out to regret the findings and called on parents and lawmakers to find solutions.
“I think this is something that is a byproduct of some of our policies that we were taking during COVID,” Preston said. foxnews on Monday. “This is a very serious issue and one that, as a parent and as a legislator, I am going to feverishly tackle.”
Illinois State Senator Willie Preston spoke out after a report found the state has 60 public schools in which zero students reported grade-level proficiency in reading or math.
At Dunbar Vocational Career Academy HS in Chicago, no students reported grade-level proficiency in reading or math in 2022
Data from the Illinois State Board of Education shows that across all public schools in the state, only 29.9% of students were proficient in reading and 25.8% in mathematics, compared to 37% and 32% respectively in 2019.
Wirepoints writers Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner pointed to those numbers, arguing that the problems with the state’s education system run deeper than the disruptions suffered during the pandemic.
‘Defenders of the current system will surely invoke Covid as the big reason for the low scores. But a look at the 2019 numbers shows that the reading and math numbers were only slightly better than they are now,” they wrote.
The duo also noted that spending per student at some of the worst-performing schools has risen significantly since 2019.
Preston also argued that there were many factors at play when it came to dismal student outcomes.
‘I don’t know if it’s fair to leave all this at the feet of the teachers. I think there are other factors,’ Preston said. “There are many children facing homelessness who are not attending school regularly…many of these children come from poverty-stricken communities.”
“As a community, we just can’t focus on the dollars that are invested in the classroom,” he continued. “We have to re-engage the working class, rebuild working-class communities.”
Chicago Public Schools said in a statement: “As 2022 academic scores were reported last fall, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) found that, overall, our scores were consistent with other large urban districts.”
At Douglass Academy High School, no students were tested for proficiency in reading or math in 2022
In 30 Illinois schools, including 22 in Chicago, no student was proficient in reading last year.
Additionally, 53 schools did not have students proficient in reading. Twenty-three schools appeared on both lists, meaning no students tested at grade level in either subject.
“We have reminded our community that these scores are a direct reflection of the challenges of the pandemic, not a reflection of the extraordinary talent and potential of our students and staff,” the district said.
“We expect a strong recovery this year and next and we are hopeful that these gains will be reflected in our internal assessments, grades and classroom participation, as well as state assessments,” the statement added.
Chicago is far from the only public school system to post troubling student performance in the aftermath of the pandemic.
In Baltimore, 23 schools are failing their students with none of them meeting the required level in math, according to a recent analysis.
The schools were identified by Project Baltimore, the research unit of fox news 45. His team analyzed data from the Maryland State Department of Education test results for 2022.
They found that no students were meeting the required math standard in 10 middle schools, eight elementary schools, three middle/high schools, and two elementary/middle schools.
Census data shows spending per student in each state for fiscal year 2020
Nationwide, the average American child fell six months behind in math due to COVID school closures, and students in the poorest areas of the country fell two and a half years behind, according to a study conducted in October.
According to the Education Recovery Scorecard, which compiled a district-by-district analysis of test scores, the average student lost more than half a school year of learning in math and nearly a quarter of a school year in reading.
The report says the pandemic devastated the well-being of children, not only by closing their schools, but also by taking their parents’ jobs, making their families and teachers sick, and adding chaos and fear to their daily lives.
“When you have a massive crisis, the worst effects are felt by people with the fewest resources,” said Stanford education professor Sean Reardon, who collected and analyzed the data with Harvard economist Thomas Kane.