In search of an education

Meet Jailyn Baker. She’s a senior at Josephinum Academy – an all-girls school in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Jailyn is like many Chicago students: she works hard in school and she dreams of a bright future. What makes Jailyn’s experience unique, however, is that she has an hour-and-a-half commute both ways to go to school....

Meet Jailyn Baker. She’s a senior at Josephinum Academy – an all-girls school in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

Jailyn is like many Chicago students: she works hard in school and she dreams of a bright future. What makes Jailyn’s experience unique, however, is that she has an hour-and-a-half commute both ways to go to school.

The Illinois Policy Institute’s Director of Media Relations wrote about Jailyn in the Chicago Tribune early last year.

The Institute’s new video, “In search of an education,” shows the lengths to which Jailyn goes each day just to get a quality education.

There are a lot of kids like Jailyn – students who want a quality education but don’t have access to one in their neighborhood.

Many are stuck in the state’s worst schools, places where more than three-quarters of elementary school students and high school students are at least one grade level behind in math and reading.

Students in Illinois should be able to choose where they go to school, just like students in neighboring Wisconsin and Indiana who have access to robust school choice programs.

Illinois students should be able to choose the school that works best for them, regardless of whether it’s private, charter or public.

That’s the topic of “The Promise of a High-Quality Education,” a roundtable discussion with Sen. Rand Paul at Josephinum Academy on April 22.

Other panelists include education policy experts, leaders of some of the best schools in the city and the parents of students like Jailyn who want the absolute best when it comes to their child’s education.

If you are interested in attending, please click on the following link: [LINK]. Tickets are free.