Dusty Rhodes
Reporter - Education DeskAfter a long career in newspapers (Dallas Observer, The Dallas Morning News, Anchorage Daily News, Illinois Times), Dusty returned to school to get a master's degree in multimedia journalism. She began work as Education Desk reporter at NPR Illinois in September 2014. But it's not her years of experience or her education that help her understand this beat. It's her sons -- "one homemade, one adopted" -- who have vastly different types of intelligence and vastly different learning styles. Between the two of them, she's experienced public, charter, Montessori and magnet schools, gifted, IEP and 504 accommodations, and uncountable band concerts, science fairs, basketball games, and parent/teacher conferences. It's the parent/teacher conferences that always make her cry.
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When students head back to school, most kids walk or ride the bus. But for some special education students whose families live in Illinois, school is a…
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Most press conferences don’t provide breakfast pastries. But in mid-May, when the University of Illinois announced that every public four-year college in…
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If you've got kids, you may have gotten the call to come to the school immediately because your child forgot to wear a belt, or lost his asthma inhaler,…
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Springfield will host an unusual basketball tournament later this month, designed to have a lasting effect on the players long after the games are over.…
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The Illinois State Board of Education has decided to review the slate of standardized tests students take, to try to make sure the exams align with each…
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Who should pay pension costs for Illinois teachers and school administrators? Currently, the state bears virtually all the cost, leaving the state’s 852…
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A report released today by the Illinois State Board of Education shows most kindergarteners in the state start school unprepared. The Kindergarten…
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Low-income college students in Illinois got some good news today. The state's Monetary Award Program — which provides MAP grants to help pay for tuition —…
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When Illinois revamped its school funding formula in 2017, lawmakers didn’t touch the teacher pension system. That means it’s still operating under the…
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The legislative session that wrapped up a few days ago was dominated by debates over weighty topics like preserving abortion rights, legalizing…