To read the headlines, the report released this week by the University of Chicago's University of Chicago's Consortium of School Research says nothing especially surprising: our public school system has shown "No Real Progress" (the Sun-Times) or "Little Progress" (Chicago News Cooperative), and has "Failed Many Students" (the Tribune). (Actually, you might have been surprised if you had been paying close enough attention to know that state tests have been showing big gains in elementary schools, and if you weren't cynical enough to already believe those same tests were being dumbed-down to produce the false appearance of progress. But I assume not very many people fall in that category.)
The actual report, however, contains major news-both good and bad-that either wasn't reported at all by the major outlets, or was relegated to a few lines buried deep inside the story...