Labels on the familiar state report card are poised to change.
By Hannah Schmid | Illinois Policy Institute
Illinois plans to revamp how it rates public schools, meaning familiar labels on the state report card will change.
The Illinois State Board of Education in April approved a new school accountability system beginning in fall 2026.
The board says the overhaul will make school ratings clearer and fairer. The changes also remove some key measures and reshape how performance is judged.
Yet at a time when nearly half of Illinois students can’t read at grade level and even fewer are proficient in math, the board’s overhaul will change how schools are labeled but not how they perform.
Here are five things you should know about the changes while the plan awaits federal approval.
1._Schools will no longer be graded on a curve.
Illinois’ rating system ranks schools against each other. Only the top 10% can be in the top category and only the bottom 5% are ranked in the lowest.
The rankings are based on a school’s performance against other schools rather than strictly on how well its students meet specific criteria.
The new system will grade schools based on fixed standards. The goal is to eliminate moving goalposts, where a school’s rating could change based on comparison to other schools even if its performance doesn’t change. That could make ratings more consistent over time.
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