Samantha Smylie

2 weeks ago | chalkbeat.org | Samantha Smylie

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools. With just over a month left in the spring legislative session, Illinois lawmakers are advancing a number of education-related bills, including ones that would restrict the use of cellphones in classrooms, no longer require student test scores to be a part of teacher evaluations, and protect federal rights for students with disabilities in the mediation process with districts.

3 weeks ago | chalkbeat.org | Samantha Smylie

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools. A top Illinois congressman is calling on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to reverse recent changes to the U.S. Department of Education office that provides support to over 5 million English learners nationwide. In a letter sent Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García from Illinois, along with Democratic Reps.

3 weeks ago | chalkbeat.org | Samantha Smylie |Mila Koumpilova

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools. About 11,000 Illinois high school students couldn’t complete the ACT, a college entrance exam required for graduation and used by the state to measure school performance, after a technical issue disrupted testing earlier this month. The students who could not finish the test on April 8, the first day of testing, have to retake the exam within the testing window, which ends May 2.

4 weeks ago | hpherald.com | Samantha Smylie

Editor's note: This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newslettersAmy Blythe stays up at night thinking about what will happen to kids and families if federal funding is cut for Head Start, an early childhood education program serving low-income families. Blythe is the assistant vice president of Early Learning Services at Easterseals, which serves 1,500 kids throughout Chicagoland and Rockford.

4 weeks ago | chalkbeat.org | Ann Schimke |Becky Vevea |Jessie Gomez |Samantha Smylie

Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox. Two of Colorado’s largest school districts will start universal dyslexia screening programs next school year, joining about a dozen other districts across the state that already look for signs of the learning disability in young students.