Learning Renewal

In Partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

Project Overview

These reports explore Learning Renewal in Illinois after the COVID-19 pandemic disruption to schooling. We study how important student outcomes, including test scores, attendance and enrollment, have shifted since the pandemic and what districts have done to address these shifts. We also study how emergency federal spending (“ESSER spending”) was used in Illinois and how districts prioritized spending across all waves. Finally, we explore the relation between ESSER spending and student learning outcomes, and we identify and highlight the strategies of districts with higher bounce-back learning rates.