Illinois Federation of Teachers is failing students
Students in large school districts unionized by the Illinois Federation of Teachers underperform the state average in reading and math.
If the Illinois Federation of Teachers is the union in your child’s school district, chances are your child’s education is not meeting even the low bar of the state average.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers represents 186 of Illinois’ 866 school districts. That includes Chicago Public Schools, where IFT’s local affiliate, the Chicago Teachers Union, represents employees.
CPS gets a lot of attention for its poor student performance and the extreme demands coming from CTU. But students performance in other districts represented by IFT is also lacking.
Here’s a look at how third- through eighth-grade students in the next 10 largest IFT-represented school districts are performing.
Most third- through eighth-grade students perform below the statewide reading and math average in biggest IFT districts
Much has been written about student proficiency in CPS. But students in the next largest districts represented by IFT are also struggling.
In reading, eight of the 10 largest IFT districts after CPS have a lower percentage of third- through eighth-grade students meeting proficiency standards than the state average, according to data from the 2024 Illinois Assessment of Readiness. That means fewer than 2 in 5 third through eighth graders can read at grade level in those districts.
In math, nine of the 10 largest IFT-represented school districts had a lower proficiency rate for third through eighth graders on the 2024 assessment. That means not even 1 in 3 students are doing math at grade level in those districts.
In both reading and math, minority and low-income students underperformed the state average for their demographic group in most of the 10 largest IFT districts.
Illinois itself has a low proficiency rate with only 41% of third through eighth graders meeting proficiency in reading and 28% in math. Outperforming the state average should not be a high bar to meet – yet students in the largest IFT-represented districts are missing the mark.
See how students in your IFT school district performed in 2024