In 2023, just 35.4% of Illinois public school students were proficient in reading and 27.1% in math. For low-income students in particular, the numbers were distressingly lower.
Data shows Illinoisans who would have been working a generation ago are not today.
This edition of The Policy Shop is by policy analyst Hannah Schmid. If you were given $68,000 per student and two staffers for every three students, what do you think the result would be? National Honor Society graduates with Ivy League schools clamoring for their presence? Well, not if you gave that money to the Chicago Teachers...
The relationship between family formation and prosperity is accepted across the political spectrum.
Time-consuming steps in Chicago’s affordable housing program stops the city from seeing more housing.
Illinois' employment growth lags the nation and neighboring states in May.
Families trying to escape poverty are sometimes worse off with greater incomes because of benefits cliffs hidden in public programs.
Former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, once the longest-serving member of the city council, was sentenced to two years in prison and pay a $2 million fine.
Illinois’ average in-state tuition to public universities is among the highest in the nation. Getting an education is crucial to escaping poverty, putting Illinoisans at a great disadvantage.
Illinois Policy Institute research was cited in a U.S Senate hearing on education spending to show more funding isn’t the solution for poor performance in public schools.
Utah consolidated and integrated government job and social services into a one-stop shop. Illinois can follow that example and efficiently pull more people out of poverty and into the working world.
A study found charter students in poverty had stronger growth in reading and math compared to their peers in traditional public schools, especially minority students in poverty. But the Chicago Teachers Union wants to limit families’ options to enroll their students in charter schools.
Chicago lags behind other cities in housing affordability. The city’s permitting process could be holding it back.