D+ Math Standards Good Enough for Illinois Schools?

by Collin Hitt Federal education law compels states to create performance standards for their schools.  Some state choose high standards – creating a common expectation that students are learning at or above grade level.  Other states have low standards – benchmarks that are so easy for schools to meet that no meaningful information is provided...

by Collin Hitt

Federal education law compels states to create performance standards for their schools.  Some state choose high standards – creating a common expectation that students are learning at or above grade level.  Other states have low standards – benchmarks that are so easy for schools to meet that no meaningful information is provided as to which schools are actually succeeding.  Illinois’s chosen elementary school standards have been lambasted in the past for being too low and thus meaningless. A new report from the American Institutes of Research piles it on even further. Our standards are laughable.

AIR compared each state’s performance benchmarks to international tests.  Standards were graded on an A-plus through D-minus scale based upon how they stacked up against international expectations.  (The researchers decided beforehand not to award any failing grades.)

Illinois received a C on its Grade 4 reading standards – the lowest grade actually awarded was a D.  Illinois’ math standards in grade 4 and 8 were both given a D-plus; in both cases, only Tennessee did worse.

If the authors had instead used an A through F grading scale, I wonder what our grade would have been. An F-plus maybe?