Academic Standards

Policy Action: Raise Academic Standards

Fortunately, state leaders recognize that our state’s standards are too low and need to be updated. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), Illinois Community College Board, the Illinois Business Roundtable and the Illinois governor’s office joined the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network in 2008, an initiative dedicated to raising graduation standards across the nation. This is a terrific step to align expectations, measures, data and accountability to the goal of all students graduating from high school ready for their next step.

Adopt a common core of college- and career-ready standards. It is time for the state to accelerate its college and career readiness agenda begun through ADP.

ISBE has taken a leading role in working with more than 46 other states to develop a common core of academic standards aligned to college and career readiness and benchmarked against top-performing nations. Scheduled to be ready by the end of 2009, Illinois should act swiftly to adopt these standards when complete.

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