LM March 2017

Smith ... cont’d.

highlight those districts that are differentiating their resources” to try and close achievement gaps. When it comes to quality, Smith said merely graduating students cannot be the ultimate goal. “We need a vision longer than high school graduation. We must prepare students to graduate prepared for college or a career and to be successful,” he said, noting that the “60- by-2025” plan for at least 60 percent of the people over age 18 in Illinois to have a post-secondary degree by 2025 will fall short of its goal. Currently, 42 percent of Illinoisans over 18 have post-secondary degrees. Even if all high school

graduates in the next eight years earned a post-secondary degree, the total percentage would still fall below 60. Smith also long has been an advocate for autonomy. “Schools should get credit for work that matters to their community instead of just checking boxes,” he said, noting that federal and state rules sometimes prevent that from happening. “We cannot continue to approach education the way it’s been done for so long. The situation has changed. Now more than half of our students live in poverty, are English Language Learners or have increased stress in their families. We need new tools to do new work.”

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