Education

As the Trump administration sends National Guard soldiers to Chicago, a half dozen Illinois State University students have been called to active duty this week.

Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin told a crowd of about 1,200 people at Illinois Wesleyan University on Monday night that Bloomington-Normal favorite son Adlai Stevenson II was her commencement speaker the year she graduated college.

Illinois State University has set an enrollment record for the fourth year in a row, according to officials figures released Thursday for the fall 2025 semester.

A survey of Illinois educators reveals a significant disparity in how they interpret a three-year-old state law’s requirement to teach high school students a “unit of instruction” on media literacy.

The study found that, even with the same college degree, students from low-income families earn less than those from middle or upper-income families.

The new rules require phones and devices such as smart watches, tablets and MP3 players to be put away unless a student is using it for “educational purposes” and granted permission from the instructor. But students can have them on their person, provided they "are not used, seen or heard during instructional time."

U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen is urging the public to call Republican lawmakers to protest proposed cuts to food aid and health insurance programs for lower income people.

A group of Bloomington High School seniors raised money money to install a bench at the Connect Transit stop near the school.

The Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal has cut "55% of its team" as part of the response to a loss of grant funding.

Illinois is among about a dozen states that have little or no homeschooling oversight. Some advocates want to do something about that.