(The Center Square) – Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford said it’s not hard to comprehend why Chicago Public Schools system low-income and minority students are reading and performing math at much lower levels than their state peers.

Even after state officials inflated the number of students meeting proficiency levels by lowering reading and math benchmarks, new Illinois Report Card data shows struggling students still posted achievement gaps as low as 22 points below state average, including Black and Hispanic students scoring as low as 28 points below standards.