Chicago Public School students are nearly bottoming out in science scores, according to a new study from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The Chicago Tribune reports that, according to the study, eighth grade students scored 27 points lower than others in an understanding of science, while fourth graders scored 24 points lower than other students nationally. Almost three quarters of students failed to meet basic standards. more ›

21 years ago the editors of the late Spy magazine published a book of satire called The 90's: A Look Back. One of the chapters featured an essay from "Secretary of Education" Howard Hesseman, back then star of the comedy "Head of the Class," who wrote, "The only way to make kids smarter would be to make tests dumber." Read this article from the Tribune on how the Illinois State Board of Education is lowering the passing thresholds for the Illinois Standard Achievement Test (ISAT) and, by extension, ensuring an increase in passing rates, you might view Hessman's satirical essay as prescient. more ›

The State Board of Education has released 2009 results for the Illinois Standards Achievement (elementary) and Prairie State Achievement (high school) tests. You can check out the results and other features at both the Tribune and Sun-Times. The results are used to determine if a school meets standards to avoid sanctions under the No Child Left Behind act. According to WBEZ, 1,500 schools state-wide fell short of the 70 percent mark required by the law. more ›

President Bush is in town today to celebrate the anniversary of No Child Left Behind, hobnob with Mayor Daley to talk Olympics, and give a speech about the economy to the Union League Club. And the Sun-Times makes him feel welcome with a front-page smackdown of NCLB. more ›

If you are willing to brave crappy weather with your "Bush was right" or "Bush is a dope" signs, get ready: he's coming to town on Monday. more ›

File this one under "Color Us Surprised": Obama was interested in girls, drank alcohol and experimented with drugs in high school. Obama made a campaign stop at a study hall in Manchester New Hampshire yesterday and answered students' questions. Prior to meeting with the students, Obama unveiled an $18 billion plan that would expand public education from pre-school through 12th grade. He also criticized No Child Left Behind. To their credit, the high schoolers had... more ›

Blago and Mrs. Blago raked in $267,490 last year — $19,000 less than the year before. Still, that's about six times the median household income for Illinois. Todd Stroger told the Trib he'd "make the hard decisions," when it comes to his insane budget. Hard decisions like trying to raise the sales tax in Chicago to 11 percent. Speaking of people who want more of your money, ComEd wants to raise prices, too. And... more ›

The most recent update to the Chicago neighborhood map has upset realtors, developers, and the CPS because it says "Home is Where the Hood Is." 185 Chicago schools will be restructured after being branded as "chronic failures" by the federal No Child Left Behind law. Nokia announces it's gonna open a store on Michigan Avenue, so now Motorola is busting its ass to open a store sooner, and just a block away from where... more ›

CPS is on fire when it comes to making the news lately. Today they announced that they are closing three underperforming grade schools and one high school. The roughly 1,000 students at Farren, Frazier, and Morse grade schools will be shifted to other, better-off schools in their respective areas, while Collins High School will stop accepting incoming freshmen and close its doors in three years. The closings are part of the CPS Renaissance 2010 Program,... more ›

Just as the makers of Black Warriors and Scantron sheets began their celebrations, the state of Illinois built some loopholes into the teacher qualification requirements of their No Child Left Behind compliance plans. On Thursday, the state Board of Education adopted a new set of rules with relaxed qualification requirements for veteran teachers, building in a system of credits that experienced teachers can accumulate in lieu of taking certification exams or going back to school.... more ›

Deeming it unfair that the students get to have all the fun during Standardized Testing Season, the Illinois State Board of Education's Rules Committee will consider new guidelines today that would require some teachers to pass up to 10 exams to keep their jobs. The rules have been proposed to meet requirements of No Child Left Behind law demand that all teachers be "highly qualified" by the end of the year. The rest of the... more ›

Because we needed a bit more evidence that the No Child Left Behind law is counterintuitive, the feds have ordered 11 Illinois school districts to suspend their after-school tutoring programs because their schools are not meeting standards set by the NCLB. The following Illinois school districts must either provide private tutoring or pay for district-wide tutoring without federal money: North Chicago School District 187 School District U-46, Elgin Community Unit School District 200 Wheaton Chicago... more ›

Interim State Superintendent of Education Randy Dunn announced Monday that data for the 2003-2004 school year, used to produce the Illinois State Report Card, is inaccurate and district officials will be given another two weeks to correct the errors. more ›

Yow. We thought we got off track without our computers, but we bet there were a few full-on freakfests last night at the Trib offices. The Trib website apologizes: TO OUR CUSTOMERS The production of Monday's print edition of the Chicago Tribune was delayed significantly because of an extended computer system failure Sunday night. Many subscribers therefore will not receive their Monday newspaper until as late as Tuesday morning. And the content of Monday's edition... more ›