High chronic absenteeism will no longer hurt a school’s state rating.

Illinois plans to eliminate poor attendance from school ratings at a time when a fourth of the state’s students miss a significant chunk of the academic year.

In an overhaul the State Board of Education approved in April, “chronic absenteeism,” or missing 10% or more of the school year with or without a valid excuse, will no longer ding a school’s rating.

The new system will use the term “consistent attendance,” the percentage of students present 90% or more of the school year.

That semantic switch may confuse parents about what’s really being measured, though it’s just a different way of saying the same thing. But the revised system also changes attendance from a “core indicator” in the rankings to merely an “elevating indicator.”

Why that matters: Strong “consistent attendance” will raise a school’s rating, but a weak performance won’t hurt it.

The state calls this a “strengths-based” approach, but it means the high rates of students skipping class across Illinois won’t affect schools’ ratings.

Lots of students skip class in Illinois

Illinois schools have an attendance problem. In the 2024-25 school year, 25% of students were chronically absent, according to state data. The national rate was roughly 22%, according to a RAND estimate.

Illinois’ rate dropped nearly one percentage point from the previous school year, marking the third year in a row that chronic absenteeism declined. But those modest improvements have not been enough to return Illinois to its pre-pandemic absenteeism levels.

In 2018-2019, the last full school year before pandemic-era school closures, 17.5% of Illinois students were chronically absent. That skyrocketed in the 2021-2022 school year to nearly 30%. While absenteeism is slowly declining, it still stands nearly eight percentage points above pre-pandemic levels.

Chronic absenteeism hurts results

Research shows that chronic absenteeism leads to lower metrics such as reading and graduation rates. U.S. Department of Education research suggests that “children who are chronically absent for multiple years between preschool and second grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the third grade.”

Third grade has been pinpointed as a critical for reading. If children have not learned to read by the end of that year, they are likely to struggle throughout their education.

Illinois already has a literacy crisis among its third-graders, with less than half reading at grade level as of 2025. Absenteeism only threatens to exacerbate the problem.

Also, high school students with even just one year of chronic absenteeism are seven times more likely to drop out.

Softened accountability metrics

The state seems determined to downplay problems affecting its students. In 2025, the state education board lowered the reading and math scores considered proficient on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness.

Despite the lowered proficiency standards, half of Illinois students still could not read at grade level in 2025.

Rather than softening accountability metrics or lowering standards, Illinois should pursue rigor and transparency in public schools.

CHICAGO (WLS) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker had some harsh words for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday, exposing the deep divide between the two leaders over the future of the Chicago Bears.

It comes as the legislature heads into the final two weeks of the session with still no deal on a bill to enable the team to move to Arlington Heights.

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Pritzker favors helping the Bears move to Arlington Heights rather than losing them to Hammond, Indiana. But Johnson insists that the best thing for the Bears is to stay in Chicago. In his strongest words yet, the governor dismissed that notion.

“He has no plan. There’s no plan,” Pritzker said.

While speaking to reporters on Monday, Pritzker called Johnson out for continuing to push for the Bears to stay at Soldier Field despite the team repeatedly making it clear that if they are going to stay in Illinois, it will be in Arlington Heights at the former racetrack property the team owns. If it is not there, they will pursue the offer from Indiana to build a stadium in Hammond.

As lawmakers consider a so-called megaprojects bill that would give the Bears a property tax break on a new stadium in Arlington Heights, the governor was frustrated by Johnson’s Chicago push.

“I know that the mayor has no plan. He has come up with no plan at all about how the Bears would end up in the city of Chicago. So, that’s problematic. I’d love them to be in the city, but we’re three years in now, and he still has no plan,” Pritzker said.

The mayor’s office responded, saying, in part, “The City’s proposal remains the only plan centered on public ownership alongside a funding mechanism that does not burden property taxpayers while keeping the Bears in Chicago.”

And while Johnson says he will continue to work with stakeholders to keep the Bears where they are, the governor took another swipe related to budget requests, suggesting significant Chicago and Springfield communication problems.

“Again, we’ve seen almost nothing out of the mayoral administration here on that subject, or really any other. And so, to show up in May and have a bunch of demands seems like late in the game, and it’s unfortunate that’s happened most years,” Pritzker said.

Meanwhile, there are concerns about infrastructure needs around the Arlington Heights property. Particularly, roads and major interchanges would need upgrades. The concerns prompted mayors from neighboring Palatine, Rolling Meadows, and Schaumburg to send letters to the governor and leading lawmakers requesting a seat at the table over those plans.

“We’re very concerned about, how is all this traffic when you’re dealing with 60,000-70,000 people that are going to be either for a Bears game or a concert or some other event that’s there? How are they going to get around?” said Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly.

While the stadium politics continue to play out in Illinois, the Bears are planning to provide the NFL with an update on their future plans at the league’s meeting on Tuesday in Orlando.