District briefed on Illinois plan to reset performance cut scores, redesign accountability

Miss Kurtz, a district staff member, told the Round Lake Area School District Board of Education on June 2, 2025, that the Illinois State Board of Education is pursuing a three-part redesign of student assessment, accountability and statewide supports and will conduct a summer standard-setting process to revise performance level descriptors and cut scores on state exams.

The changes “are looking to create new performance level descriptors and proficiency benchmarks,” Miss Kurtz said, adding the state’s goal is to “realign designations to give clearer expectations to schools.” She said Illinois’ current cut scores are higher than most states and have caused some students to be labeled “not proficient” despite other indicators of college and career readiness.

The change matters because cut scores and accountability designations drive how schools are classified and which supports or resources they may receive. Miss Kurtz said Illinois’ current approach produces a bell-curve ranking that places about 70% of schools in the “commendable” category, which she said limits targeting of supports to lower-performing schools. The state plans to keep high standards while “right-sizing” proficiency to be more comparable with other states, officials said.

District staff described three parts of the state’s effort: rewriting performance level descriptors, setting new cut scores through a standard-setting panel of educators this summer, and deploying a statewide system of continuous-improvement supports via regional offices of education. Miss Kurtz said the state released a second draft of the descriptors and that school districts should not expect to see results of the new cut scores until September or October, after the state board approves the standard-setting results.

Miss Kurtz noted one local participation item: “We have at least one member going — Miss Kara Wilson is our secondary curriculum instruction specialist for math and she will be participating in the standard setting for math this summer.”

Board members asked whether the change would affect national comparisons. Miss Kurtz replied, “So I should clarify, they're not actually changing the standards or changing the cut scores. So what we consider proficient at our state level is higher expectations than everybody else. They're looking to align us a little bit better with where everybody else is to even the playing field.” She and other staff added that nationally normed tests such as the ACT and NAEP remain important comparators.

District staff also summarized proposed accountability options under consideration at the state level — a decision tree, a performance profile and a simple index — and said the state aims to roll out a revised system in October 2026. No action by the board was required or taken on the state proposals during the meeting.