New & Noteworthy

To date, the  W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation has awarded approximately $2.2 million in grants in 2025. Please visit our Grants Awarded section for detailed descriptions.

As Illinois works to build a more streamlined and equitable early childhood education system, federal funding, especially for Head Start, remains a vital cornerstone. Recently,  the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and the W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation, hosted Making Invisible Funding Visible: The Role of Federal Funding in Illinois' Early Childhood System

Proficiency rates in all subjects declined at Chicago Public Schools following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a new review found English language arts proficiency rates at the elementary level have bounced back and surpassed pre-pandemic levels — increasing by 11 percentage points between 2022 and 2024.

On September 12, 2024, over 200 attendees convened at the UIC Forum for “Equity-Centered Leaders, the Next 20 Years,” a celebration of the UIC College of Education’s EdD in Urban Education Leadership. The evening was a manifestation of the shared vision of program faculty from 20 years ago and a celebration of the program’s accomplishments, impact, and influence since that time. This video chronicles some of the highlights from the event.

When Maximus Simmons cast his ballot in November, he could only fill it out for one election — his Oakland school board representative — because he was among the first 16- and 17-year-olds allowed to vote in Oakland and Berkeley. The East Bay cities allowed teens to vote in school board elections for the first time last year, following years of youth advocacy.

At last week’s confirmation hearing, education secretary nominee Linda McMahon called teaching “one of the most noble professions that we have in our country” and expressed support for workforce development programs. But now the department she wants to lead has abruptly canceled more than $600 million in grants designed to prepare teachers, especially in high-need schools.

New America Foundation, a Foundation grantee, recently wrote about implications for Early Childhood Education as a new leaders assume their posts in the Federal government. Now that the November election results have been finalized and the year is almost at an end, it’s a good time to think ahead to what 2025 could mean for the future of early education. The day after the election we wrote about the initial results, but we now have a better idea of the political landscape heading into 2025.

Despite the important work that they do, child care workers in every state struggle to make ends meet on poverty-level wages, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at the University of California, Berkeley. Low wages undermine early childhood educators’ well-being and create “devastating financial security well into retirement age,” the authors of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) 2024 Early Childhood Workforce Index said. “How early educators are treated affects how our children learn,” the Workforce Index authors said. “Ensuring educators’ working conditions and well-being enables them to thrive as teachers and caregivers during the most important years of a child’s life.”

Youth advocates and staff with the Juvenile Law Center (JLC) unveiled a new report Wednesday that details unjust experiences and dismal conditions inside the Pennsylvania youth justice and welfare systems. Using the testimonies of young adults who were abused and mistreated as youth in placement facilities alongside supporting research, “Broken Promises: Futures Denied” advocates for increased protections and a reprioritization of the needs of children living under congregate care and the juvenile justice system.