With the overwhelming majority of Illinois students failing to reach even proficiency on the state’s own academic tests, policymakers announced a new “solution” to the crisis: dumb down the expectations on the assessments even more to conceal the scope of the problem. Critics ridiculed the plan.
“Illinois’ students are nationally recognized for their academic achievements, but our proficiency rates have not reflected that reality,” claimed Illinois Superintendent Tony Sanders in a statement. “Illinois’ new performance levels bring much-needed alignment between grade levels, subjects, and actual college and career readiness expectations.”
He did not specify who or what national institutions were “recognizing” Illinois students for their supposed academic achievements. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, less than one in three eighth grade students in the state is even “proficient” in English or math.
In a statement by the Illinois State Board of Education released last month, officials suggested the test results showing how few students were “proficient” in anything did not accurately reflect their abilities. As such, the scores needed to prove proficiency are being adjusted way downward in English and math.
“Prior performance levels mislabeled many students in elementary and high school, often indicating that students were less academically successful and prepared for college than they actually were,” the statement claimed after an 18-month process involving consultations with “educators” and “stakeholders.”
The changes will not actually alter the tests themselves, but rather the way results are interpreted. According to the state board, the only change is in the level needed for proficiency. These changes were “validated by external experts,” state education officials claimed in a news release about them. The supposed “experts” were not identified.
Under the new system, many students who did not achieve proficiency will now be considered “proficient” anyway, even though their abilities and knowledge did not change.
“The new, unified levels correct long-standing misalignment between Illinois’ state assessments and other real college and career readiness expectations,” continued the board, which voted unanimously for the changes.
With the new ranking system, over half of the victims of Illinois government schools would rank as proficient in English, whereas just four in ten were proficient on the state test before, according to a Chicago outlet focused on education.
In math, just 28 percent of students were proficient last year. Under the new system, 38 percent would be considered proficient now.
Democrat lawmakers celebrated the news. “These common-sense adjustments will align state testing benchmarks with college expectations and will particularly benefit rural students, low-income students, and students of color whose true capabilities and academic successes have not been reflected in our state’s proficiency rates or in their own test results,” argued State Representative Mary Beth Canty (D-Palatine).
Critics, by contrast, ridiculed the move. “Lowering proficiency benchmarks will inflate the percentage of students meeting proficiency standards this year and moving forward, but it will do little to improve students’ actual performance in core subjects,” argued policy analyst Hannah Schmid with the Illinois Policy Institute.
Exposing some of the misinformation put out by state officials, Schmid said they were “misrepresenting” what national testing results show about the state’s proficiency benchmarks. “Instead of addressing low proficiency, the board is minimizing the problem by changing the definition of a student struggling,” she pointed out.
While Illinois students and victims of government schools nationwide struggle with even basics such as reading, America was once the most literate nation in the world. Large amounts of evidence and data from early America show that, before government usurped control over education, much of the nation had essentially universal literacy.
And of course, Illinois is not the first state to move in this direction. In recent years, authorities in Oregon announced that passing state exams in core subjects was no longer required to graduate from high school. Apparently expecting students to be able to read, do math, or know anything at all to receive a high-school diploma was not in line with “equity.”
In a blatantly racist statement about the decision, Democrat Governor Katy Brown claimed the move would help racial and ethnic minorities. “Suspending the reading, writing and math proficiency requirements,” Brown said, “will benefit Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.”
New Jersey went a step further, removing testing for teachers in the state designed to ensure they have the “basic skills” needed to teach. As of January of 2025, the state no longer requires that teachers prove they can read, write, or do basic math. This, too, officials claimed, was designed to reduce “barriers” supposedly afflicting “minorities.”
The news about Illinois changing its proficiency standards came after a heated legislative effort this year to impose draconian controls on homeschooling families and private schools. Ironically, students educated at home and in private schools are doing far better than those in the government system.
As Illinois schools fail to teach students even the basics, the state just became the first in the nation to mandate annual “mental health” screenings of all children from the 3rd grade through graduation. How a system that cannot even teach reading or math properly will handle “mental health” remains to be seen, but experts are sounding the alarm.
IFI’s Dave Smith emphasized: “This is yet more evidence that government bureaucrats aren’t serious about educational excellence. If they truly cared about students, they would be focused on preparing them to become productive members of society. Instead, they care more about protecting their perceived achievements than ensuring real academic proficiency. Anyone paying attention should seriously consider home education or private Christian schooling.”
What is really going on with this gimmick in proficiency standards is simple. The government “education” bureaucracy, unable and unwilling to properly educate students on the basics, is seeking to conceal the magnitude of the educational catastrophe unfolding in the state.
In short, taxpayers and families are being defrauded on a massive scale. Lying about it by pretending the child victims are “proficient” when they are clearly not will do nothing to fix the problem. Children deserve a real education. Unfortunately, they will not get it from the state’s government schools.
