What literacy crisis at Chicago Public Schools? Illinois State Rep. Buckner says he can read ‘very well'

State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) | Buckner for Mayor

By Chicago City Wire reports

Mar 13, 2024

We get asked all the time why Chicago parents don’t realize just how bad CPS schools really are. One of the big reasons is politicians like Gov. J.B. Pritzker, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and Mayor Brandon Johnson only ever brag about record graduation rates and yearly student “growth.”

They never tell parents the truth about how literacy has collapsed in Chicago Public Schools, particularly for black students. Only 2 of every 10 can read at grade level, according to CPS data. In many city schools, it’s 0 out of 10.

Add Illinois State Rep. Kam Buckner to the group of lawmakers who deny Chicago’s education problems. His recent response to Rep. Blaine Wilhour’s comments on the Illinois House floor puts him on the list.

In a speech regarding CPS’ change to an elected school board, Rep. Wilhour said: “The folks in this body should be ashamed. The vast majority of Chicago’s black students can’t read, they can’t do math, at grade level.”

State Rep. Kam Buckner responded: “I’m a little flabbergasted at the gentleman from the 110th district’s diatribe. As a Chicago black student who reads very well, I will say that for those in my district who have reading comprehension issues, I will welcome the representative to refund some of the money that Chicago sends to your district to help us out.”

Rep. Buckner had a chance to be honest about the dismal outcomes in CPS schools and to champion their improvement. He’s a graduate of DePaul Law – he knows how important literacy is for the path to success.

Instead, Buckner essentially denied the crisis in Chicago. He says he reads “very well,” so what’s the problem?

Does he not know how bad outcomes are? Does he not care? Or is he so partisan that he threw the city’s struggling black students under the bus just to score a political point?

Buckner admits to some “reading comprehension issues” for black students. That’s a massive understatement. Here’s a breakdown of black student performance across Chicago:

On the South Side, just 15% read at grade level. In math, just 8% are at grade level.
On the West Side, it’s 13% and 7%.
On the Southwest Side, it’s 12% and 7%.
On the Far Southeast Side, 18% and 9%.

And then there are the individual results of some majority-black CPS schools:

At Fenger Academy High School, 0% of black students read at grade level, 0% in math.
At Hirsch Metropolitan High, 0% and 0%.
Collins Academy High School, 0% and 0%.
Chicago Excel Academy HS, 0% and 0%.
Dunbar Vocational HS, 0% and 0%.

Those are just a few of the 32 schools across Illinois where not a single student can read at grade level. There’s another 67 schools where not a single student is proficient in math.

If you’re having any doubts about the data, take a look at Kam Buckner’s own alma mater, Morgan Park High School, where 9 of every 10 black students can’t read at grade level. And the SAT scores show that the results are even more dire than that. Six of those nine black students are likely multiple years behind.

That outcome is similar for black students across all of CPS.

Buckner should be SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS that CPS is a failure in making the city’s black students literate. The failure is extreme considering CPS gets a whopping $29,000 per student in state, local and federal tax dollars.

Many will be tempted to blame parents for the schools’ outcomes – and yes, they deserve their share – but as one mother recently told us: “We are working multiple jobs, we are struggling. So we count on the schools to teach our children. But they don’t.”

And yet the school system happily takes the money and always clamors for more.

Anybody who follows Wirepoints knows the problem with Illinois education goes far beyond black literacy in CPS, as covered in our report: Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system

Credit Rep. Wilhour for calling out that broken system.

The statewide failure impacts all Illinois students, regardless of race. And it stays that way because an overwhelming majority of Illinois’ leadership refuses to acknowledge the problems, or worse, they cover them up.

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