A new report released Wednesday suggests students in U.S. schools are performing worse than their peers a decade ago, and it isn't entirely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Education Scorecard, a joint initiative from researchers at Harvard University, Stanford University and Dartmouth College, analyzed students’ reading and math scores in grades 3 through 8 from over 100 school districts across the country from 2009 to 2025...

A skilled workforce has long been Chicago’s calling card. For “The City That Works,” workforce development is critical infrastructure.

Mayor Brandon Johnson came to office boosted by his union-organizing background and promoting a pro-worker agenda. Access to stable employment is how government creates sustainable communities, his office said in proclaiming Workforce Development month in Chicago last September...

This agenda serves as a guide for our work over the next five years. Grounded in our core values and shaped by listening sessions with diverse stakeholders, this agenda reflects a sharpened sense of where the UChicago Consortium is best positioned to make a difference for Chicago’s students and schools and deepens our commitment to research that is collaborative, responsive, and rooted in the communities we serve. It lays out commitments about how we will continue to do our work, and five priority areas in which we will work. It is an ambitious research agenda.

The Illinois State Board of Education has recommended swapping out “chronic absenteeism,” a metric that tracks how many students miss 10% of school days, for “consistent attendance,” the percent of students who have been present for 90% or more of the school year.

It’s the flip side of the same coin, but it’s a tad Orwellian and it’s also paired with a change that matters far more: how much attendance actually counts...

This fall, Chicago voters will elect a fully representative school board for the first time in the city’s history — a long-awaited step toward greater community voice and, hopefully, accountability.

Key findings:

Study 1: The malleability of school climate: Lessons from the 5Essentials Survey in Chicago Public Schools

School leaders can use this guide to consider how to engage in conversations about Cultivate data with their school community, opening the door for thought partnership around ways to improve student experience. Understanding the data ensures school stakeholders can recognize the central role students' experiences play in school improvement, more effectively advocate for students, and make more informed governance decisions.

Our April 2026 newsletter features: