RUTHFULLY YOURS

In a first-ever election on Nov. 5 for control of the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education, candidates backed and funded by the Chicago Teachers Union were largely rejected at the polls. Out of 10 races, only four CTU-backed candidates won, and one of those was uncontested.

It was a sign Chicago has had enough of failing schools and voters were placing blame. During CTU’s militant reign over CPS, proficiency ratings for 3-8th graders have plummeted and less than 23% of 11th graders can read at grade level. Meanwhile, the CTU has spent over six months lobbying for a $50 billion contract that rather than advancing classroom instruction makes demands over things such as climate justice, green schools, and affordable housing.

CTU candidates’ rejection is just one example of a seismic shift in the way constituents are viewing public education across the country. A national literacy epidemic means only 1 in 3 students are meeting proficiency standards in reading. People are seeing the results of union-led public education – and they’re not pleased.

The path forward for families is to stop allowing union-led public education to put power first and students last. Educators must lean into proven methods to help students succeed.

Literacy is one of the most important skills because it’s the foundation of every milestone that follows: from reading and comprehending course material in every other subject to understanding and following instructions in employment. When children aren’t reading proficiently by the end of third grade, they are far less likely to graduate high school and are four times more likely to drop out.

States such as Florida and Mississippi have worked to improve literacy rates. Both adopted literacy policies that encourage “science of reading” literacy instruction. This evidence-based reading instruction emphasizes phonics, fluency, and comprehension. The end results have been impressive.

Florida trains its teachers in the science of reading, mandates a universal reading screener for students and regular progress monitoring, and develops individualized reading plans for those falling behind. As a result, Florida’s fourth-grade reading proficiency rate on the National Assessment of Educational Progress rose by 17 percentage points during more than two decades to claim the second-highest rate in the nation in 2022.

Mississippi did the same. The state’s fourth-grade reading proficiency rate jumped from the lowest in the nation to better than 18 other states and the District of Columbia in under a decade – increasing 9.4 percentage points between 2013 and 2022. This so-called “Mississippi Miracle” didn’t happen by accident. It was the result of a focused, statewide effort to retrain teachers in evidence-based reading instruction practices, provide support through reading coaches and retain third graders until they were ready to progress to the next grade with appropriate reading skills.

Illinois has taken a different approach to solving the problem of low proficiency plaguing the state’s students. Teachers unions, led by the CTU, focus their attention on pushing political agendas such as eliminating the state’s only school choice program – the popular and effective Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program. The program helped 15,000 low-income students improve their proficiency rates. For teachers unions, discussions over pedagogy and literacy seem to be a lot less interesting than political schemes and power plays. Illinois’ fourth-grade NAEP reading proficiency rate has remained stagnant since 2011 despite public education funding climbing 54%.

Illinois lawmakers have acknowledged the crucial role of literacy in education but haven’t yet made meaningful recommendations. The only way for Illinois to move forward is to learn from other states and invest in a comprehensive literacy approach to ensure reading is taught effectively and every Illinois student is prepared for academic success. State lawmakers can recommend and pass policies to implement evidence-based literacy instruction, implement a universal reading screener for early elementary students, provide evidence-based reading intervention to students who don’t show grade-level readiness in reading, and end the practice of “social promotion” or moving students ahead to the next grade level even if they don’t know how to read.

Lawmakers should also explore ways to expand schooling options for parents through reinstating private school-choice programs such as the Invest in Kids program or expanding access to public schools regardless of a student’s ZIP code. This is how Illinois can take a significant step to tackle the literacy epidemic.

The alternative is dire – high school dropouts earn significantly less than graduates, rely more on government assistance, and are more likely to become involved in crime. For every child left behind, the costs of welfare, health care, lost productivity and social predation grow.

Like other states that have pushed for evidence-based literacy legislation and expanded schooling options, Illinoisans understand the need for a systemic overhaul of how education functions. Illinois’ children deserve a better future than what we are currently delivering, and by fixing this issue they and we can expect better futures.