Illinois education officials have approved changes to standardized test cut scores to align with college readiness expectations, labeling more students as proficient in reading and math. The Illinois State Board of Education claims the adjustments correct long-standing misalignments between assessment benchmarks and real-world college and career outcomes, ensuring accurate representation of student capabilities.
The changes were based on analysis of college and university course placement data, student probabilities of passing college coursework, and success data from Illinois colleges and universities. The Illinois Assessment of Readiness decreased its cut scores, while the Illinois Science Assessment increased its cut scores. According to ChalkBeat, data indicates that more students will be labeled as ‘proficient’ than in the previous year, with 53% of students expected to be proficient in English language arts, 38% in math, and 45% in science under the new cut scores.