The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is weighing potential updates to its testing system to strengthen state assessments for elementary and middle-school students.
“We have consistently received feedback from Illinois schools that the current assessment takes too long, delivers results too late, and adds too much undue stress to students and educators,” said Jackie Matthews, ISBE’s executive director of communications. “This past fall, ISBE began conducting extensive statewide outreach to get feedback from teachers, school administrators, parents and students about how we can improve the federally required state assessment system.”
Possible changes include more frequent, shorter tests during the year rather than one long test at the end of each spring. Another option is to shorten the end-of-year exam and computerize the test-taking process to offer students more individualized assessments with faster test results.