Illinois is changing testing benchmarks. Here’s what it means for your student
A former East St. Louis student’s story is a real-world example of why Illinois is changing benchmarks for state testing, the state board of education said.
The 2023 graduate, who wasn’t identified by name, managed a 4.0 grade point average while being involved in a myriad of clubs and six dual-credit courses, plus they worked in the summer. All these things indicate a successful college journey, Illinois State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said Wednesday in a webinar for the media.
The student is now enrolled at Southwestern Illinois College. Yet, according to state testing, that same student was “not proficient” in English language arts or math when they were in high school.
Sanders said every school district across the state has experienced similar mismatches between state test scores and academic success. While approximately 66% of the students in Illinois’ high school class of 2022 enrolled in college within a year of graduating, just 31% of 2024 juniors were considered proficient in English language arts according to state benchmarks, and even fewer, 26%, were proficient in math.
Such misalignments are a key reason why the State Board of Education voted Wednesday to change its grading system for state testing — a move educators expect will yield a higher percentage of students who are proficient in reading, writing and math.
“We told a whole generation of our students who were college ready that they were not, and we potentially identified the wrong students for additional supports and missed students who could have benefited from acceleration,” Sanders said.
A state board of education spokesperson clarified that these new proficiency benchmarks will be applied to the tests students took in spring 2025. They will be seen on the 2025 Illinois Report Card that will be published later this fall.
Sanders stressed the upcoming changes “don’t lower the bar” — the state is not changing what students should know and when. Instead, it’s changing the minimum scores that students in grades 3 through 8 need on state testing to be considered “proficient,” or on-track with their learning, in English language arts and math.
Unlike the initial proficiency benchmarks in English and math, Sanders said those applied to Illinois Science Assessment were too low, as the state created them based on a smaller set of pandemic-era data that showed low student performance. With the new science benchmarks, educators expect fewer student scores to be considered proficient in the category.
The state board also approved ACT proficiency benchmarks, which apply to pre-ACT and ACT tests taken by high school students.
Sanders said the new proficiency benchmarks will better reflect students’ college and career readiness.
How is IL changing how it evaluates student tests?
In Illinois, there are three main tests that the state uses to chart elementary and middle school students’ learning: the Illinois Assessment of Readiness English Language Arts test, the IAR Math test and the Illinois Science Assessment.
Students in 3rd through 8th grades take both IAR tests each year and only take the ISA in 5th and 8th grade. Until spring 2025, freshmen and sophomores took pre-SAT tests and juniors took the SAT to assess their math and English language arts skills.
Now, freshmen and sophomores take PreACT tests in English language arts, math, reading and science and juniors take the ACT, which measures proficiency in English language arts, reading, math, science and writing.
The Illinois State Board of Education had different ways of classifying student performance on these tests. With the changes it approved Wednesday, students’ scores on each test will either be considered below proficient, approaching proficient, proficient or above proficient.
For all grade levels who take the IAR English Language Arts test, the scores needed to be considered proficient have decreased. For most grade levels, with the exception of 7th and 8th graders, the scores needed to be considered above proficient have also decreased.
The same goes for the IAR Math test, except that 8th graders now need a higher score to be considered above proficient.
Students in 5th and 8th grade now need higher scores to be considered proficient and above proficient on the ISA.
The state board used input from teachers and other educators, policy leaders, content specialists, those involved in postsecondary education and community members when creating the new proficiency benchmarks, Sanders said.
It also approved ACT testing benchmarks which will be used to evaluate how students scored on the pre-ACT and ACT tests they took last spring. Sanders said these proficiency benchmarks correspond with the scores students need not only to get into college, but also the scores needed to pass college classes.
How will new IL proficiency benchmarks impact students?
More students are expected to be considered proficient in their tested subjects under Illinois’ new proficiency levels, according to state board data.
Sanders and other educators in Wednesday’s webinar discussed how the old, more rigorous proficiency standards led to students being falsely labeled as not ready for college. In turn, students’ confidence was impacted, they said.
Earlier in the webinar, Sanders mused over what opportunities the aforementioned East St. Louis student and others whose state test scores were also considered “not proficient” may have missed out on if they took those benchmarks to heart.
“They were told they were not ready for college based on our assessment system,” Sanders said. “If they had listened to us, they might not have enrolled in college. Maybe they wouldn’t (have) even enrolled in dual credit while they were still in high school … maybe they wouldn’t have pursued those other leadership and employment opportunities.”
The former proficiency standards also made it harder for parents to gauge how their students were doing, and for teachers to tell if they were teaching effectively.
