Education officials in Illinois expect to see a marked increase this year in the percentage of students classified as proficient in reading, writing and math, along with a slight decline in proficiency rates in science.
That’s not because of any change in the way schools are teaching or how well students are learning, but rather a change in the way the state reports scores on the annual assessments. State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said last week the new scoring system has been in development for about 18 months.
The new grading system will be used in the 2025 report card that is due to be released this fall and will reflect scores from the tests students took this spring. For years, those scores have been reported on the annual Illinois Report Card, which tells the public how students are performing overall. But state officials have also complained for years that the way scores have been reported – and especially how scores are categorized as above or below the proficiency level – do not accurately reflect how well students are doing.
