Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – State education leaders are working with other state agencies to find the areas where children’s home lives could be dragging down their performance at school. 

It’s called the Children’s Adversity Index, and Illinois State Board of Education superintendent Tony Sanders explains why it’s important:

“The success of a child in a classroom also reflects on the future prospects for a community as well,” said Sanders. “I think it just goes to show you that we really are a village. It takes a village to raise a child, and this adversity index is one more data point that can help us identify areas of need across the state.”

The countless factors which Sanders says can be predictors of academic performance include an area’s death rates among youth, food insecurity, and juvenile delinquency.

And, Sanders says, education is connected to everything.

“We are all tied together. What happens in a community directly impacts a student’s success within a classroom and vice versa.”