A comprehensive report card on Illinois public education shows both good news and bad news.
Robin Steans, president of Advance Illinois, made a presentation on the new 59-page report – “The State We’re In 2025” -- Thursday morning, November 13th, at the East Moline School District administration building. A five-person panel then discussed the impact of the findings.
Advance Illinois is a nonprofit education policy and advocacy organization, which does this report every other year on early childhood through higher education.
The 2025 study explores 80 different metrics, and reflects progress and major challenges, comparing state data over time, as well as to national averages and how Illinois fares versus other states. Unlike the report, Steans’s talk included numbers on how the East Moline, Moline and Rock Island districts rate in selected areas.
“There is good news, and there is troubling news. On the plus side, educational attainment continues to rise, and data suggests Illinois schools weathered pandemic challenges better than other states.” Steans said. “That said, our findings reveal there is still work to do. Academic proficiency remains stubbornly low, equity gaps persist, and affordability remains a serious issue for Illinois families and students.”
School readiness is improving, but only a third of kids are where they need to be when entering kindergarten.
“This has changed on the state level and really shown how critical those first five years are,” Steans said.
4th and 8th grade math and reading proficiency is similar to where it was 15 years ago. High school graduation rates are getting better, with the Illinois QC sporting mixed news since 2009:
- United Township went from 89.4% graduating in 2009 to 91.3% in 2024.
- Moline went from 89.3% to 75.9%.
- Rock Island went from 92.9% to 80.4%.
The percentage of students immediately enrolling in higher education after high school has been dropping, Steans said.
“The good news is that when students get there, they complete,” she said of college graduations.
In early childhood, Illinois is at 26th in the nation in per-pupil spending, and 48th in per-student spending in higher education.
“The bright spot is, we did in 2017 -- with lots of effort from people in this room -- we passed the evidence-based funding (EBF) formula for K-12 schools and we moved from 47th in the nation to 18th in a very short period of time,” Steans said. “That’s unheard of; you never see that.”
“The state has invested as part of that funding agreement, over $2.4 billion in new dollars are flowing to schools every year,” she said of K-12 investment.
Early childhood and higher education still need much more funding. For child care, the recommended level is spending a maximum of 7% of household income, but for a median family in Illinois, they’re spending twice that, and those at poverty level are spending 41%, Steans said.
“We’re pricing out the very families that we need most to have access,” she said. “We see the same thing in higher education.”
Community colleges are doing better, but there’s a bigger gap in four-year public colleges.
Mental health challenges
The other major issue is mental health, with 77% of young people having an adverse childhood experience (ACE), which means dealing with trauma, Steans said, noting they’re more likely to affect Black students, girls and LGBTQ.
Among other findings:
- 40.4% of K–12 students report persistent sadness; nearly 1 in 5 have considered suicide.
- Among college students, 46.5% say mental health impacts academics, nearly double 2007 rates.
- Only school psychologists meet staffing benchmarks; just 13% of students attend districts with adequate counselors.
- Right now, only 13% of students statewide attend school districts with enough counselors per recommended levels, the report finds.
Student wellness reflects itself in chronic absenteeism, which means missing more than 10% of the school year, which rose during COVID and has been dropping. In East Moline, 29% of students are chronically absent; 30% in Moline-Coal Valley and 35% in Rock Island-Milan.
“What’s even more disturbing, look how it breaks down – our Black students (statewide), it’s 40 percent chronically absent,” Steans said. “That is a devastating number. We see the same gaps by English Learner status, learning style…”
“This is a national problem,” she said. “It really spiked during COVID.”
The state has seen improvement in hiring of school counselors, psychologists and social workers. That student support ratio to students has improved in all areas but school nurses, but Illinois is still among the worst in the country, Steans said.
“It shows you just how far behind that we were, to make that much progress and still trail the nation quite as much as we are,” she said.
Mark Mossman, Western Illinois University provost and academic affairs vice president, said one of his school’s quiet accomplishments in the last five years is strategies to address increased demand for mental health services.
One is called the Leatherneck Care program, where if anyone sees an issue or concern and student has been absent, it can be reported and someone will immediately engage the student to get back on track.
An emergency crisis committee meets every week, building communication to service students, he said.
Early Childhood
For the first time, the state understands what it should be spending in Pre-K students, Steans said.
“We underpay our professionals in early childhood profoundly,” she said. About 69% have an associate’s degree or higher, but on average are paid less than a high school graduate. “That’s a problem,” Steans said.
Forty-one percent of children were not showing developmental readiness for kindergarten, the report says. “People understand, we’ve got work to do before kids ever hit elementary school,” Steans said.
Participation in the state’s kindergarten readiness assessment has grown by 10 percentage points since its launch in 2018 and the percentage of children demonstrating readiness across all developmental domains increased as well—from 23.6% to 31.6%.
An estimated $8.9 billion funding gap exists across early childhood programs, the report found.
East Moline has an Early Learning Center, which provides bilingual and ESL support for pre-school kids, said Blanca Leal, director of English language programming and equity for East Moline School District 37. “We don’t wait until they get to kindergarten. We start in early childhood.”
They have paraprofessionals who speak a wide variety of languages, and that continues as students move through 8th grade.
“One of my passions is making sure families feel connected,” Leal said. “We connect with our community agencies – have families understand how to navigate the American school system. That in itself is a challenge.”
K-12 Education
While Illinois remains one of the nation’s leaders in academic growth between 3rd to 8th grade, proficiency rates continue to stagnate, with only a third of students meeting national benchmarks in reading and math in 4th, 8th, and 11th grades, the report says. Worse still, this number has been on the decline since 2015.
Among findings in Illinois K-12 schools:
- Illinois now ranks 18th in per-pupil spending, up from bottom rankings pre-EBF.
- Illinois ranks in the top five nationally for academic growth for grades 3–8, but only one-third of students meet proficiency in reading and math across 4th, 8th, and 11th grades.
- NAEP results: Illinois held steadier during the pandemic than other states but did not raise proficiency scores.
- Chronic absenteeism surged from 16.8% in 2018 to 26.3% in 2024.
- Chronic truancy nearly doubled during that same period to 20%.
- Student-to-teacher ratios improved with EBF funding. Locally, East Moline has the lowest such ratios – 12.47 students per teacher; then 14.54 in Rock Island and 16.21 in Moline-Coal Valley
- Shortages remain in bilingual, special education, and paraprofessional roles.
- Only 18% of Illinois teachers are people of color, compared to 54.7% of Illinois K-12 students. Locally, educators of color only make up 15.8% in East Moline, but students of color comprise 69.9%. In East Moline, nearly half of all students speak another language than English at home.
Higher Education
Post-secondary enrollment is down, including when COVID took a toll and we have not rebounded completely, Steans said.
“One of the reasons may be, it’s too expensive,” she said. Community colleges are more affordable (18th in the country, compared to 48th for four-year colleges). If we’re underfunding higher education, which we are, they can’t offer more financial aid to students, Steans said.
College graduation rates have been improving, particularly from transfer students. The report finds that graduation rates have gradually risen since 2008 (from 63% to 68% for bachelor’s degrees) and nearly doubled for students pursuing associate’s degrees – from 17% to 31%.
Among other findings:
- Postsecondary enrollment has declined by 28% since 2008; community colleges have been hardest hit (–35%).
- Illinois tuition for public universities is about $4,500 above the U.S. average.
- Median-income families spend 19% of their household income on public university tuition; low-income families spend 51%.
- MAP grant investments have grown 77% since 2019, boosting Illinois’ affordability into the top 20 for net tuition or what students and families are expected to pay.
- Public universities face an estimated $1.4 billion funding gap; community colleges, an over $700 million gap.
- The state has made meaningful and consistent progress in overall attainment, with 49% percent of Illinoisans holding a postsecondary degree (associate’s or more) in 2023 compared with 41% in 2008.
“The good news is, we are seeing greater access for students. But we’re still not seeing the completion at where it should be,” said Black Hawk College president Jeremy Thomas.
BHC works with high schools to find out where gaps are, to enable students to be successful. They also have staff dedicated to the transfer process to four-year institutions, including WIU.
“Higher education is not your destination,” Thomas said. “It’s not the end result; we are a vehicle to get you where you need to be. As a first-generation college student myself, my parents were first-generation high school graduates, we take that to heart. I’m here to help you meet your goal, your career path. We can’t do that without that partnership, so we’re doubling down in that area.”
Funding Challenges
The state report notes primary recommendations, including funding schools:
- Close funding gaps in early childhood, K–12, and higher ed.
- Expand affordability in childcare and postsecondary.
- Invest in wellness by scaling counselors and trauma-informed supports.
- Strengthen the educator pipeline with pay, training, and diversity initiatives.
- Center equity by targeting English Learners, low-income families, and rural/urban disparities.
Kristin Humphries, superintendent of the East Moline School District 37, noted United Way of the Quad Cities coordinates a regional Education Council, with superintendents from the metro Illinois and Iowa QC school districts, plus other stakeholders, who meet every other month.
Kindergarten readiness, 3rd grade reading, middle school attendance, high school graduation, college and career readiness are all big issues for them, he said.
“It’s been very helpful to see,” Humphries said. “We’ve been fortunate to take a look at that data and make it actionable. I see the gaps for our EL (English Learning) and our multi-lingual students, and dig in deeper and say, what are we really missing here?”
The EBF model improved funding for the district, he noted. East Moline, Silvis and Colona were among the first cities in the state to offer public community Wi-Fi, so students can have easy Internet access, Humphries said.
“Our diversity is our superpower in East Moline – I believe it and I know it,” he said. “Our families appreciate what our teachers do for them, and we’re seeing the benefit of that foundation laid in East Moline.”
Nearly a third of East Moline students are English language learners (ELL), at 31.7% (up from 21.8% in 2018), compared to 19.7% in Moline-Coal Valley and 15.5% in Rock Island-Milan.
“We work very hard to serve our community and we’re very proud of the work we do,” Humphries added. “We’re a changing community and it’s a change in a really wonderful way.”
State Sen. Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island) said the EBF model helped reduce equity gaps in K-12 schools. There is a current state bill to do something similar for the Illinois higher education system.
“Western has been a great proponent of it, and would greatly benefit from it,” he said. “You can supercharge it, the way our schools have supercharged their counseling and support services.”
Halpin needs broader support from people across the state, he said. “It’s an investment we’re going to make one way or another. But the value of the investment is stronger the sooner we make it.”
“If we want to avoid tight budget years in the future, we’re going to have to spend this money on higher education,” Halpin said. “What we’re doing now is sending students to other states to get degrees.”
The report shows that affordability continues to be a barrier for Illinois students and families where high costs for child care and postsecondary tuition and fees ask median-income families to pay a substantial portion of their income. Importantly, this percentage of income is higher for Black and Latinx households.
While EBF has resulted in better funding for most school districts and students, there are still concerning per-pupil gaps for many student groups with the largest gaps for Black and Latinx students, students from low-income backgrounds, and students in urban districts.
Pronounced teacher workforce needs persist, with special education and bilingual education roles across the state particularly difficult to fill, and rural and urban districts sharing struggles with high vacancy rates and novice teacher rates, the report finds.
“I think it validated what we’re seeing locally,” Rene Gellerman, president/CEO of the QC United Way, said Thursday of the study. “On the positive side, the increased funding for Illinois schools, you can see the impact it has. They’re able to add more teachers in the classroom.”
“Things that are common are basic milestones kids are missing,” she said, noting mental health challenges must be addressed by the community overall, not just schools. “It’s also encouraging that people are looking at it, and using it to inform investments.”
United Way works with parents, to ensure that they know what their kids need to know by the time they start kindergarten, Gellerman added. “How do you take everyday activities, and turn them into learning moments for your kids?”
“While our report is not a policy document, good policy and practice is informed by good data that helps educators, leaders, and lawmakers understand challenges and create thoughtful strategies,” Steans said. “It is my hope that the findings in this report are taken together as a guide to realizing a stronger and healthier future for our education system and the children and families it serves, shaped by good information and good policy.”
To read the full report, visit the Advance Illinois website.
This story was produced by WVIK, Quad Cities NPR. We rely on financial support from our listeners and readers to provide coverage of the issues that matter to the Quad Cities region and beyond. As someone who values the content created by WVIK's news department, please consider making a financial contribution to support our work.
