The Illinois Loop is an organization of parents, teachers, school board members, and others working to restore academic substance and effective teaching methods into schools.

The Illinois Loop started informally in about 1995, when a group of parents and teachers in the west suburbs of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 shared their concerns and opinions about what they perceived as dangerous trends in reading and math instruction in their schools. Using online message boards, and later the Internet, they shared news, tips and discoveries to better prepare for their efforts in their own schools.

Since then, the Illinois Loop has helped thousands of parents, teachers and school board members better understand the nature, the promise and the risks associated with promoted innovations in education.

Today, hundreds of people receive updates from the Illinois Loop's email news list. Participants include teachers, board members, nationally known education experts, and many, many parents. While a principal focus is on education in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, much of the group's activities and information is applicable throughout the United States.

Areas of particular concern to the Illinois Loop include expansion of whole language

Whole language

Whole language describes a literacy philosophy which emphasizes that children should focus on meaning and strategy instruction. It is often contrasted with phonics-based methods of teaching reading and writing which emphasize instruction for decoding and spelling. However, from whole language...

 to the detriment of reading skills, adoption by schools of so-called fuzzy math programs instead of mastery-based math programs

Traditional mathematics

Traditional mathematics is a term used to describe the predominant methods of Mathematics education in the United States in the early-to-mid 20th century. The term is often used to contrast historically predominant methods with non-traditional approaches to math education...

, reduction of the role of the teacher as an instructor, and overall lessening of substance and factual content in courses such as history, literature, geography, grammar

Grammar

In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...

 and science

Science education

Science education is the field concerned with sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the scientific community. The target individuals may be children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education comprises...

.

Issues

Illinois Loop is a conservative political organization, with a distinct bias towards a "Stand and Deliver" mode of teaching base on rote memorization. Their criticism of alternative teaching methods rarely investigates the possible merits of alternatives, preferring to advocate for a specific type of instruction.

Illinois Loop does not support the concept of differentiation, or changing instruction methods to support the learning style of particular students, and is strident in their attacks on new research.

External links

• http://www.illinoisloop.org/ Illinois Loop website, providing information on individual subjects, teaching methods, issues regarding teaching, and the operation and management of schools.