A devastating report from researchers at Wirepoints, a nonpartisan, Illinois-based research and news organization, reveals that Illinois is failing its children and their families.

Students are failing math on a wide-scale level.

A mere 27% of Illinois students are able to solve math problems at their grade level. An astonishing 1.4 million children are not proficient in math.

Sadly, most children cannot read at grade level as well. In Chicago, for example, only 17% of black, 21% of Hispanic and just over half of white students are able to read at grade level. Yet despite this, school administrators graduate 83% of students. Unfortunately, this injustice holds true in communities across the state.

Wirepoints has launched a new version of its School Report Cards, for all 3,600 schools and 865 school districts in Illinois. Parents can find out how their child’s school is doing by entering the school’s name on their report card website.

Wirepoints’ president, Ted Dabrowski, said,

Parents deserve to know the truth – that many of our kids can’t read. Parents are told their children are passing and that their schools and teachers are commendable or excellent, yet a vast majority of students graduate without basic reading and math skills.

If the education system and legislators of Illinois truly care about their children and want to relieve poverty in the state, then why did they allow a near-record 87.6% of students statewide to graduate in 2023 when most are not proficient in math or reading?

Parents are even told that 70% of Illinois schools are “exemplary” or “commendable.”

Sadly, minority students are hurt even worse by the education status quo than white students are. Parents need to know this so that they can speak up for their children and seek a better education for them through large-scale changes, parental involvement, and school choice.

Their children deserve better, and they should hold their schools accountable.

Dabrowski explained,

Illinoisans pay the nation’s highest property taxes to fund a broken, unaccountable education system that sets a vast majority of children up for failure. It’s dishonest.

Parents can speak up for their children by connecting with organizations such as Illinois Family Institute, Wirepoints and Parents Defending Education.