Illinois

Illinois OKs plan to revamp how reading is taught

Published

2 years ago

January 24, 2024

Illinois OKs plan to revamp how reading is taught

From Indiana to New Jersey to New York, states across the country are making boosting literacy rates among students a top priority. Illinois no exception. The Illinois State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously passed a comprehensive plan to improve the way students are taught to read.

The nearly 200-page document underscored the need to use “evidence-based” instruction across Illinois that uses a systemic and explicit approach to teaching reading.

The report outlines seven parts of literacy instruction, including comprehension and writing, but highlights the need for teaching phonics — or understanding the relationship between letters and sounds. This comes as a large body of scientific research details how we learn to read — and that’s through explicitly sounding out words. For some districts, this would represent a shift away from a “balanced literacy,” a broad-swing approach intended to foster a love of reading that includes phonics but doesn’t prioritize it.

Last spring, state lawmakers passed a bipartisan bill requiring the state board of education to come up with a literacy plan by the end of this month. While the state is making this plan a priority, it’s not a mandate for school districts. Curriculum decisions are left up to individual districts.

Nearly 15 months and two statewide listening tours later, Dr. Erica Thieman and Kirtsen Parr say they have a plan they’re proud of. Thieman is the director of K-12 curriculum and instruction for the state board, while Parr is with the standards and instruction department. They presented the plan, drafted with help from Illinois educators and literacy advocates, at the board meeting Wednesday, and say they’ve met with many people who are passionate about literacy education.

“The public engagement that has spiraled from the development of this plan has been inspiring and uplifting,” Thieman said. “We have watched educators and advocates with differing perspectives around the state unite behind a common cause.”

And that cause, they say, is making sure kids know how to read. Parr says the COVID-19 pandemic has made that mission difficult. She says the impact of the pandemic is felt the most on younger students.

While students’ English language arts scores increased by nearly 16% from 2022 to 2023, they remain below pre-pandemic levels, according to Illinois School Report Card data. And when comparing student performance in third through eighth grades, the youngest students struggled the most to meet performance levels.

“These learners were just beginning their journey as lifelong readers, when in-person schooling moved to virtual remote learning, with widely varying levels of support in the home,” Parr said. “Illinois education systems must prioritize literacy as a fundamental goal, recognizing it is essential in all aspects of student lives.”

Additionally, reading test scores over the last four years continue to be, on average, lower among Black and Hispanic students, students who are bilingual, experiencing homelessness and in state care.

Vice chair of the board Donna Leak says the data is frightening.

“I look around our table, and all the people around the table with masters and doctorates and degrees,” she said, adding that she then thinks about “where my third graders are. That sense of urgency is tremendous.”

Leak is superintendent of School District 168 in south suburban Chicago. She says, given what’s next for educators to start implementing this plan, the state board could start hosting webinars in the coming months.

“The fire is here, and we’re ready to move on it,” Leak said.

According to the plan, school districts must develop a rubric to evaluate their literacy instruction curriculum by this July.

And by July 2026, in a change that could cause controversy, the state plans to create a new content area test for would-be elementary teachers that would allow for a “language and literacy” subscore. Then, the number of candidates in each teacher preparation program who takes the test and passes the language and literacy portion for each teacher training program would be published.

Mawa Iqbal covers state government and politics for WBEZ. Follow @mawa_iqbal

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Illinois

Wisconsin women buried by 3s at Illinois, continue to struggle on road

Published

12 hours ago

February 12, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin women buried by 3s at Illinois, continue to struggle on road

MADISON – Life on the road continues to be rough for the Wisconsin women’s basketball team.

The Badgers dropped to 2-7 in opposing arenas with a 92-60 loss to Illinois on Feb. 11 at State Farm Arena in Champaign, Illinois. The loss marked the Badgers’ fourth Big Ten road loss by at least 25 points.

Freshman center Dorja Zaja finished with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Senior forward Gift Uchenna added 13 points, but nine came in the second half when UW trailed by as many as 41 points.

Wisconsin’s top two scorers, Destiny Howell and Kyrah Daniels, combined for nine points on 3-for-20 shooting overall that included 1-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. Daniels led the Badgers in assists (five) and tied for second in rebounding (six).

Wisconsin coach Robin Pingeton thought her team’s troubles started in practices following its overtime loss to then-No. 25 Washington on Feb. 8

“We had two days of practice that just were flat and not in a way of feeling sorry for ourselves that we didn’t get the win but exhauston.,” Pingeton said on the Badgers postgame radio show. “And so how do you pick yourself up and get yourself ready to go battle again?

“That’s truly where I thought the game was lost, before we even stepped between the lines. It’s a great group of girls. We love them to death. It’s a special locker room for sure, but, you’ve got to learn to through the fires.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Illinois shooters make Wisconsin pay

The Illini feature a strong interior presence led by 6-foot-3 freshman Cearah Parchment. The team also entered play averaging a league-low 16.9 3-pointers per game and ranking 14th in 3-point percentage (33.3%).

The Badgers went with a zone defense early and Illinois sank 4 of 8 3-point attempts in the first quarter. They never cooled off. Illinois’ 64.7% 3-point shooting (11 for 17) tied its season high.

Sophomore guard Aaliyah Guyton, who entered play 32.4% from 3, went 6 for 6 and scored a career-high 22 points.

Freshman Dorja Zaja offers bright spot for Badgers

The presence of so many bigs for Illinois created an opportunity for Zaja to get more minutes and she made the most of them.

Her points as well as her field goals and field goal attempts were season highs. Her 19 minutes equaled the most she has played this season.

It was as aggressive offensively as she’s been.

“She’s got a high IQ,” Pingeton said. “She lets the game come to her versus forcing the action, not rushing.”

UW keeps turnovers low, hits offensive glass but does little with chances

Wisconsin produced some good statistics. It finished with just 11 turnovers, its lowest road total this season. It also grabbed 14 offensive rebounds.

But true to the night, UW couldn’t do anything with the extra possessions. The Badgers had just 11 second-chance points and had a tough time getting space and time for their shots. Statistically, Wisconsin’s 36.9% shooting was Illinois’ best game of defense since the conference opener versus Indiana

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Illinois

Why did Greg Gard wear a blonde wig to celebrate Wisconsin’s win?

Published

24 hours ago

February 11, 2026

Press Room

Why did Greg Gard wear a blonde wig to celebrate Wisconsin’s win?

“The hair goes home sad. The Badgers go home happy.”

That was the message posted to the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball X account, along with a video showing coach Greg Gard donning a blonde wig as he ran into the postgame locker room Feb. 10.

The celebration came moments after UW upset No. 8 Illinois, 92-90, in Champaign, Illinois.

While Gard has a history of similar locker-room entrances after big wins, you may be wondering about the wig in this one — although, if you watched the game broadcast, you saw that wig plenty of times.

Gard was stealing a bit from Illinois student fans, many of whom were adorned in blonde wigs at the game as part of a “Jake Davis Wig Giveaway.”

Davis, a junior starter who’s seen his role increase considerably in past weeks, happens to have flowing blonde locks for real. He averages 5.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

Leading up the game, Illinois coach Brad Underwood was among those donning a wig to promote the night.

Illinois was missing two of its top scorers in the game, pushing Davis to a season-high 37 minutes against Wisconsin, and he finished with 11 points and five boards.

His presence on the floor gave wigged-out Illinois fans lots to cheer about during the game, but Wisconsin’s rally to win in overtime soured the mood.

(This story was updated to add a photo gallery.)

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3 quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s overtime thriller win over Illinois: What A Game

Published

1 day ago

February 11, 2026

Press Room

3 quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s overtime thriller win over Illinois: What A Game

The Wisconsin Badgers played their second overtime game in three days and found themselves on the other side of the result, beating the No. 8 Illinois Fighting Illini 92-90. It’s a huge victory for the Badgers, who secured their second Quad 1 victory on the season and earned their second top-10 win on the road.

These types of games have become a theme under Greg Gard, as the Badgers got their second marquee win of the season following their 91-88 win over Michigan back in January. With the win, the Badgers improved to 17-7 on the season and 9-4 in conference play. They now have wins over the top two teams in the Big Ten.

Here are three quick takeaways from the Badgers 92-90 win over Illinois on Tuesday evening.

To win this game, Wisconsin was going to have to hit threes at near or above a 40 percent rate. That’s just the way they needed to do things, given how good Illinois’s interior presence was and the way the Badgers play basketball.

Well, the Badgers hit a whopping 16 threes and shot 44.4 percent from deep and still only won by two. That tells you the difficulty of the matchup, but also the impressiveness and resolve Wisconsin had from deep. The Badgers started this game strong, which is exactly what they needed, hitting four straight three-pointers to take an early 18-10 lead.

They hit seven threes in the first half, scoring at a 35 percent clip from deep. Then, they started the second half shooting well and then found their stroke after the long drought, hitting eight more threes in the second half. The Badgers have won big games this year when they’ve hit threes, and Tuesday’s win was one of those.

The Badgers don’t win this game without John Blackwell’s mentality. Wisconsin had a huge scoring drought of 5:13 in the second half and scored only one point over a 7:07 stretch where Illinois went on a 14-1 run to take a nine-point lead.

If the Badgers were going to find their way back, it was going to have to be one of their star players taking over. And that’s what John Blackwell did. Yes, he shot 9 of 22 from the field and missed some shots at the rim, but it was the mentality that really started things for the Badgers.

Wisconsin was really struggling to get shots at the rim against Illinois’s rim protectors, and their attacking efforts weren’t there as much during the cold stretch. But Blackwell was relentless and kept looking to find his way to the rim, either going up with the shot or kicking out for teammates. And like that, the comeback started.

Blackwell started things with a pair of threes before the cold stretch, but then looked to attack and kick, with Nick Boyd and Austin Rapp hitting a number of threes off the catch. With the Badgers down seven with under seven minutes to go, Blackwell’s attacking finally started to pay off, as he got a pair of layups. Then, he got a defensive steal, which parlayed into an assist for an Austin Rapp three to tie the game with 2:19.

Then, in arguably the most important possession of regulation for Wisconsin with under a minute left, Blackwell attacked hard again and drew two, kicking out for a Rapp three to give Wisconsin an 81-80 lead. Then, in overtime, Blackwell hit another three and the final free throws to finish with 24 points and four assists.

But it wasn’t just those moments. Blackwell’s mentality started to resonate with the team, which had a stellar second half defensively forcing turnovers. Additionally, Nick Boyd, who really struggled to start the game, started to see his layups go down, which were crucial for the Badgers.

The Badgers don’t pull this incredible win off without Blackwell.

This Badgers team just doesn’t give up.

Wisconsin started this one strong, which was crucial, as they were hitting their shots and staying out ahead of the Illini. They did go through some lulls offensively as Illinois started to get ahead, having a two and four-minute scoreless stretch in the period, but still went into halftime down only six.

The Badgers also responded really well out of the gate in the second half, which was just as crucial as their opening start. They started the period with an 8-0 run, with good defense turning into a pair of triples on the other side, and led 51-49 after the first two and a half minutes.

From there, though, things got rough as Wisconsin scored just one point over the next seven minutes, which allowed Illinois to flip the script and take an 11-point lead with 11:40 left in the game. But this Badgers team has shown several times this season that they can engineer a double-digit second-half comeback.

In six of their last nine games, they’ve done so, winning five of those, with the exception being Saturday’s overtime loss to Indiana. That was the case again on Tuesday, as the Badgers found their form again and slowly started to chip away at the lead against a team that you don’t want to be trailing by double digits against.

Still, after some back-and-forth action, the Badgers trailed by 10 with seven minutes left, but found success as John Blackwell started to take over, while Austin Rapp started hitting some pick-and-pop threes. But it was the defensive end where Wisconsin really impressed.

Illinois was still shooting the ball at a high rate, but Wisconsin forced eight turnovers in the second half, which allowed them to mount the comeback and take a lead late in regulation before the game went to overtime. Then, in the final five minutes, the Badgers found a way to steal the game by getting ahead early once again.

Playing deep minutes with two overtime games in three days, the Badgers showed great resilience and just found a way once again.

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