Wall Street Journal editorial attributes school boards and teachers unions for Illinois’ failing schools
foxnews.comA Wall Street Journal editorial attributed school boards and teachers unions to the failure of Illinois' school system. The editorial board cited how 36% of all third-graders could read at grade level in 2019, which they highlighted that such an academic performance is an "F." For Hispanic students, the number drops to 27% and 22% for Black students.
The Wall Street Journal editors also noted how for specific public school systems, the numbers plummet to single digits. One school district in Decatur, 2% of Black third-graders are reading at grade level and only 1% are doing math at grade level.
School districts are offering incentives and pay raises to get more teachers into the classroom before August. (FNC) Since those academic outcomes were pre-COVID, the current state of Illinois’ poor school system can’t be attributed to school closures due to the pandemic.
However, ratings for teachers would suggest that the schools are successful.The editorial states parents may not grasp how bad the school system is when students are promoted to the next grade and 97.3% of teachers were rated "excellent" and "proficient" in 2017 in Decatur, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.That percentage of teachers being rated "proficient" and "excellent" jumped to 99.7% and then 100% this year. "That contradiction shows the system is corrupt as well as incompetent," the editorial wrote. "Family and social dysfunction play some role in this scandal.
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