Overview

• The board approved lowered cut scores in English language arts and math, raised standards for science and unified performance levels across the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, Illinois Science Assessment and ACT.
• State presentations indicate the new benchmarks would boost reported proficiency to about 53% in ELA, 38% in math and 45% in science, but officials will not provide back-calculated historic rates for comparison.
• High school juniors will need ACT section scores of 18 in English language arts and 19 in both math and science to be deemed proficient under the updated scale.
• State Superintendent Tony Sanders said the revisions will not affect district funding, teacher evaluations, grade promotion, graduation requirements or information sent to colleges.
• The overhaul stems from an 18-month process led by educators and validated by external experts, including teachers drafting performance descriptors and taking the exams for calibration.