LM Oct 2025

Make Your Voice Heard: ISBE Listening Tour on Accountability Redesign

The Illinois State Board of Education is launching a statewide Listening Tour to gather feedback from the field as it works to redesign Illinois’ school accountability system. This is an important opportunity for district leaders to share their perspectives directly with ISBE as they seek to create a system that is more objective, informative, and useful for driving continuous improvement. According to ISBE, the proposed redesign aims to address three major issues with the current model: • Mislabeling schools: When 70% of schools are labeled “commendable,” it prevents the state from targeting resources where they are needed most. • Grading on a curve: The current system is normed rather than criterion-based, meaning the “goal posts” move each year. • Sorting, not supporting: The current design sorts schools into categories but doesn’t provide guidance or strategies for improvement. As a reminder, our Illinois Vision 2030 platform outlines several priorities that align directly with this work: • Revise the summative designation process to use fixed performance standards rather than comparative rankings. • Rebalance growth and proficiency in accountability scoring so that growth carries more weight for students below proficiency. • Expand college and career readiness indicators to include whole-child success measures in grades 3–8, while reducing the overemphasis on chronic absenteeism as a stand-alone metric.

The Listening Tour sessions will offer a first look at ISBE’s proposed changes and give district leaders a chance to influence the next iteration of Illinois’ accountability system.

We encourage all superintendents to attend one of the upcoming Listening Tour sessions and share feedback that reflects these Vision 2030 priorities. • Click here for the full schedule and registration details. Your voice is critical in ensuring the next accountability system accurately reflects the success and needs of Illinois schools and students. Thank you for your continued advocacy and leadership! Sincerely, Your Friends at IASA

26 LM October 2025