By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Illinois education officials often blame Illinois’ “high standards” for the state’s dismal education results.
Rep. Laura Faver Dias did that when Wirepoints testified to a House education subcommittee about the state’s reading results a year ago. State Superintendent Tony Sanders made a similar claim in a recent newsletter. So did the Illinois Board of Education in its 2023 Report Card press release, saying:
“The overall proficiency rates in both ELA and math remain below pre-pandemic levels. However, Illinois has some of the most rigorous standards for proficiency in the nation. Illinois’ benchmark for proficiency is higher than that of 45 other states, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.”
All of them implied that Illinois students are more proficient in reading and math than the state results say.
Like inflated graduation rates, it’s yet another way for education officials to fool parents into thinking the state’s education system is better than it appears.
But it’s not.
Talk of “higher standards” is a distraction from the cold hard fact parents need to know: Only about one-third of Illinois students are proficient in reading and math.
And it’s not just the state’s own test, the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), that shows this. The 50-state nationwide test called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, shows the same results.
For proof, look at the graphic below. Pre-covid state (IAR) results in reading and math for both 4th- and 8th-grade students were largely in sync with national (NAEP) test data. Wirepoints analyzed 2019 data to avoid the testing and learning issues associated with the pandemic.
The same argument holds when students are broken down by race. Only 17% of black 4th-grade students scored proficient in reading on either test. And less than a quarter of Hispanic 4th-graders were proficient in reading. (For a full breakdown of math and 2022 results, see the Appendix below).
In other words, both the state and national tests are showing the same thing: only one-third of Illinois students are proficient in reading and math.
Those dismal numbers – especially for minority students – are embarrassing to Illinois politicians and officials. But rather than admit there’s a problem with Illinois’ education system, they attack the state’s own standards for being “too high,” instead.
What does “higher standards” mean?
So what are these standards “higher than that of 45 other states” that officials go on about? And do they matter?
Understand that each state has its own state test and sets its own proficiency standards for reading and math. Those standards can be lower, similar to, or higher than the standards of the NAEP national achievement test.
The reason why Illinois’ state results are so close to its national results is simple: the proficiency standards for the state IAR and the national NAEP test are very similar – what the state calls “proficient” is close to what the U.S. Department of Education calls “proficient.”
In contrast, a vast majority of states maintain proficiency standards on their tests that are far lower than the national test. That’s what Illinois politicians refer to when they talk about Illinois’ “higher standards” – they’re comparing Illinois’ IAR to other individual state tests across the nation.
For example, Virginia, a state with far lower state proficiency standards than Illinois, reported that 75% of its 4th-grade students were proficient in reading in 2019 on its state test. In contrast, Illinois, with its high standards, reported just 37% of 4th-graders as proficient on its state test. On the one hand, Illinois officials are right to say those results aren’t comparable. You can’t compare those two results because of the wide difference between the states’ proficiency standards.
On the other hand, that doesn’t matter, because the 50-state NAEP test exists to provide an apples-to-apples comparison between states.
The 2019 NAEP results show 34% of Illinois 4th-graders were proficient in reading – close to Illinois’ state test result of 37%. In contrast, Virginia’s NAEP proficiency was just 38%, dramatically different from the state’s own 75% proficiency test score.
Comparing Illinois to other states
There is one other issue to clear up related to Rep. Laura Faver Dias’ criticism of Wirepoints’ data. She told us: “Lacking in your analysis is your comparison of cut scores across states. So when we talk about ‘Florida’s performing better’ or ‘Indiana’s performing better’…Illinois has one of the highest cut scores at that third grade reading level across the country.”
Her criticism isn’t correct because Wirepoints used directly comparable NAEP test data in our presentation. Pre-covid, 2019 NAEP data shows that Illinois students performed the same or worse as students in neighboring states like Indiana and rival big states like Florida despite Illinois spending far more on education per student.
Florida, in particular, has a long history of scoring better than Illinois on 4th-grade NAEP tests despite Illinois spending nearly $8,000 more on education per student than Florida does.
No more excuses
For years, we’ve been showing parents across the state just how bad student educational outcomes are.
Illinois politicians who are devoted to the status quo do everything they can to deny poor results, but the facts, both at the state and national level, are clear.
Only 16 out every 100 black Illinois students could read at grade level in 2023. For Hispanics, it was just 22 out of every 100.
If lawmakers want to change such terrible results, they have to stop making excuses.
Appendix
Read more from Wirepoints:
- $30 million over four years: How teachers unions influence Illinois politicians.
- One big reason it’s hard to track Illinois’ educational failures. Officials keep changing the standardized tests.
- Illinois lawmakers’ killing of school choice looking more absurd as Alabama, Tennessee, Texas set up choice expansions
- Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system
The bill passed despite their votes in response to certain incidents where local prosecutors are thought to have been too lenient with non-citizens assaulting cops.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board cited Wirepoints’ analysis of Chicago student proficiency data in their latest piece condemning the Chicago Teachers Union’s outrageous contract demands…all while a vast majority of Chicago’s children graduate unable to read at grade level.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about the details of Gov. Pritzker’s proposed $52 billion budget, why the state is struggling now that federal covid dollars have run out, the controversy surrounding Tier 2 government pensions, why Illinois’ expensive education system fails to teach children to read, the outrageous demands of the Chicago Teachers Union, and more.
Ted joined Jeff Daly to discuss how politicians can never spend enough on education despite there being no accountability for that spending, the growth of education staffing across Illinois, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $1 billion demand for Chicago schools, why Gov. Pritzker is providing $830 million in taxpayer subsidies to struggling EV carmaker Rivian, and more.
Is there any Drivers Ed scores that show any difference by race ? that is an important skill. And how about the Constitution test ?
Here are some things to fix education: 1) Learning starts with a passion for something, either an area of academic interest or future job. Failing students have one thing in common, no passion in some subject, any subject. Lately they see a lot of gender indoctrination in schools, notice how that has become the passion for many lost students. The exponential rise in transgender’s in just the last 10 years. Then they are fed a long regimen of tests in areas they have no desire, no happiness. Home schooling excels simply because a students natural passion is nurtured, government schools… Read more »
I agree whole heartedly. The college-prep track is successful generally when—and only when—the student is fully personally engaged in it or is so acquiescent as to be easily teachable otherwise. Those not in one of those categories become bored trouble makers that either daydream excessively or act out accordingly which seriously reduces the effectiveness of any such efforts. Yet, since almost every parent thinks their children are budding Einsteins yet to bloom we have the school counselors using the college-prep track as their default propaganda when students are selecting their courses. That attitude is aided and abetted by state rules… Read more »
Good common sense suggestions. I had metal shop, welding, machine shop and drafting in high school and they were my favorite classes, no daydreaming there. You can make pretty decent money with any of those skills. Unfortunately if you don’t have all the art, music and indoctrination classes you won’t fit in the the north shore chardonnay sipping class. Although I bet you can be pretty happy and fit in at the backyard bbq with the beer drinkers. Why is it so bad for a kid to learn a trade instead of going on to college to get an art… Read more »
That’s a great point of view!
Progressive school boards believe that ALL children should be prepared for college, so ALL students need to take the same dumbed down classes so.. and then are SHOCKED when few of their students are prepared for college. Because OF COURSE! The progressive school board member believes every student should be just like them and go to college. The job of high school is to prepare students for a lifetime of student loan repayments, didn’tyaknow? My high school is one by one dismantling the entire advanced and AP curriculum system. First it was advanced English for freshman and sophomores were removed,… Read more »
It is obscene the amount of money Illinois spends per student, for these results. Better off providing parents with a choice of where their education dollars go from their property taxes and send kids to private schools or home school. Moving the goal post only serves the Powers that be…but hey, its all about the kids.
It’s always indignant refusal to accept facts. It’s the Illinois way, whether it’s population decline or public education performance or tax burden. Illinois leaders choose misdirection or outright lies when questioned about terrible performance, and they make sure to use their angry face and call the questioner racist, xenophobic or carnival barker. Bottom line is Illinois holds itself to a very low standard. Pathetic.