Please take a moment to reach out to the Illinois State Board of Education and let them know that a rule change they are trying to rush through is unfair to schools and to high school students who choose not to take state standardized tests.

You can email ISBE on the right side of this page or email your letter rules@isbe.net. Your email will be sent to the public comment address for ISBE Rules. The deadline is Dec. 3.

This change is being proposed in the final days of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration, which has pushed ISBE to focus on standardized testing. The federal Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, was meant to do away with much of the standardized testing that further exacerbates the inequities in Illinois’ public school system. ESSA also gave students the right to opt out of these standardized tests.

But the proposed rule change would force all students to take a standardized test in order to graduate, or force schools to prove why a student didn’t take it – a burden to schools.

You have until Dec. 3 to act on this. Please share your own thoughts and experiences with ISBE so those making the decision can understand the real-life consequences of the change to Rule 1.30.

This change just harkens back to No Child Left Behind, a failed policy that we know tried to hold schools accountable based on assessments and then ranking them, often doing harm to schools in high-poverty areas and communities of color.

Please make your voice heard! Get ISBE’s attention by filling out the form to the right with your name, email, address and personal message. Don’t let these last minute-changes reverse our state’s positive course.