On June 2, we launched a campaign to stop the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) from holding a vote that would result in increased testing for students in grades 3-8 in Illinois. Nine days later, we were victorious!
ISBE shared late last week that they would be delaying their vote. We did it – for now! Thank you to our members, who testified before board members at the Education Planning and Policy Committee meeting and sent over 600 letters to ISBE, and to our partner organizations* who helped us host a webinar, talk to legislators, and alert the media.
As IFT President Dan Montgomery stated, the work is not yet over. “Now it’s time to engage the wider education community—parents, students, teachers, administrators, and assessment experts—all of whom need to be a part of deciding how to measure student growth in a way that recognizes the diverse strengths, skills, and talents of our students.”
Our next steps are clear: We do not want to see this same proposal from ISBE at a later date. We need to work together to transform our testing system into an assessment system that promotes meaningful student learning and engagement through rich, culturally relevant curricula. We look forward to collaborating with ISBE and stakeholders to make that happen. Please sign up if you would like to join a statewide effort to design an assessment system that reduces reliance on standardized testing and provides opportunities for all students to thrive academically.
Thank you again for taking action for our students.
*Partner organizations include: Chicago Teachers Union, Illinois Families for Public Schools, the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Journey for Justice, the Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois, and Raise Your Hand Illinois.
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