Thread by @Wirepoints

A THREAD 1/11: Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of #Illinois’ public education system. A @Wirepoints Report.

7% of Rockford black, 16% of Decatur white, and 11% of Elgin Hispanic 3rd-graders read at grade level.

wirepoints.org/poor-student-a… #twill

2/11: The Decatur Public School District is arguably the poster child of the failures of Illinois' educational system. Just 2% of black 3rd-graders can read at grade level.

It’s not much better for whites. Only 16% of whites are proficient in reading.

3/11: The white scores in Decatur are so low that the district has achieved a perverse form of “equity”: all students, regardless of color, are failing.

The district’s black/white math achievement gap is 10 percentage points, far less than the 30 point statewide gap.

4/11: Students are being pushed through the system with no regard for college or career readiness.

In 2019, 74% of Decatur seniors graduated even though only 11% were at grade level in math and only 13% were proficient in reading.

5/11: Nearly 100% of Decatur teachers were rated “excellent or proficient” in 2019 even though no more than 16% of students in any grade could read or do math at grade level.

6/11: Multi-year labor contracts for union members guarantee them job, salary and overgenerous pension benefits that ordinary Illinoisans are forced to pay for. And if the unions don’t get what they want, they can strike. Illinois is one of just 13 states that allows strikes.

7/11: Illinois teacher salaries are the highest in the Midwest, and the nation’s 11-highest, averaging nearly $68K for nine months of work. The average career teacher retires at 59 with a starting pension of more than $73K.

8/11: Pensions for Illinois administrators are even bigger. Top Illinois superintendents retire before they are 60 and receive lifetime pension payouts anywhere from $5 to $10 million dollars.

9/11: Illinois has one of the most expansive educational bureaucracies, with over 850 school districts. Nearly 45% serve only one or two schools, driving up taxpayer costs. Compare with Florida's 75 school districts where student outcomes are equal or better than Illinois'.

10/11: No state in the country has grown its spending more since 2007 than Illinois has, with spending at $16,660 per student – the 8th-highest in the nation. Florida spends only $9,550 per student and achieves equal or better student outcomes.

11/11: Given the above, it's no wonder so many Illinoisans want school choice. Nearly 80% of Illinois parents and 67% of adults support Education Savings Accounts. Those are numbers even Illinois’ powerful educational-industrial complex should fear.

wirepoints.org/poor-student-a…