According to Wirepoints, "a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to telling the truth about Illinois' financial and economic condition," students at 53 Illinois high schools are not reaching proficiency in math and other basic skills. The research also reveals that 30 schools in Illinois do not have a single student who can read at grade level.
Fox News reports that these problems largely existed before the COVID-19 school lockdowns, and Laurie Higgins, an education writer for Breakthrough Ideas, can see how that would be so.
"The public schools are a disaster because of leftist values, beliefs, and policies," she asserts. "It shows in objective metrics like what Wirepoints did with studying their reading and math test scores."
Higgins blames the test scores on leftists who would rather teach radical ideology than traditional subjects.
"Now you have critical race theory and all this sexuality garbage, social and emotional learning," she observes. "All these things, they are implemented by leftists, and they are taking teaching time away from foundational issues -- the kind of educational issues that you need to get ahead in the world."
Wirepoints condemns the Illinois Board of Education for ignoring the low test scores and rating many of the failing schools as "commendable."
