Illinois is the #4 largest school system in the United States, serving 2,073,721 students students across 4,332 public schools.
Minority enrollment is 50% (majority Hispanic and Black), which is more than the national average of 43%.
The student:teacher ratio of 15:1 is more than the 14:1 national average.
Student by Ethnicity
(IL) School Average
American Indian
n/a
Asian
4%
Hispanic
23%
Black
19%
White
50%
Unknown
4%
Illinois Public Schools by County
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Recent Public School Articles
Updated July 18, 2014
For far too long the American public school system has failed to address “out-of-school” factors like poverty and their impact on what happens in the classroom. As the nation continues to become increasingly diverse, many schools are adopting comprehensive approaches to education that account for the unique needs of students so that each child is prepared for their future and not just for a year-end test.
Wyoming recently became the first state to reject the Next Generation Science Standards because of concern regarding lessons that teach human-caused climate change. Several other states have also taken measures to reject the standards, which has some education officials concerned about the quality of instruction students in those states will receive.
Inadequate funding and resources for schools, harsh zero-tolerance discipline policies, police presence in public schools, and de facto segregation continue to create school environments in which poor and minority students have little chance of succeeding. The result is a continuation of the school-to-prison pipeline that has been commonplace in the American education system for decades, despite federal, state and local efforts to curb the problem.
