One of the key components of the Illinois Report Card is the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, which has been the state’s federally mandated measurement of students’ mastery of the Illinois Learning Standards in English language arts, or ELA, and math since 2015. The IAR test is given to students in grades three through eight in public school districts to examine “their readiness for what’s next,” according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
The IAR exam has five performance levels, including:
- Level 1: Did not yet meet expectations.
- Level 2: Partially met expectations.
- Level 3: Approached expectations.
- Level 4: Met expectations.
- Level 5: Exceeded expectations.
Students performing at levels 4 and 5, according to ISBE, have demonstrated readiness for the next grade level and are on track for college and careers — though proficiency is not the only metric the state uses when evaluating students’ performance.
“It’s also important to know that in Illinois, ‘proficient’ means much more than just reading on grade level, so we should not equate the two,” said Jackie Matthews, executive director of communications for ISBE. “Our standards cover a depth and breadth of higher order language arts skills from writing, to logic, to critical thinking, and analysis. A student could very well be reading on grade level but not be ‘proficient’ in English language arts because they have not demonstrated mastery in writing, integration, evaluation or some of the other skills encompassed by English language arts.”
The following charts show the percentage of students scoring at levels 4 and 5 on the IAR exam in 2024. No information is displayed if a student group has fewer than 10 students.
Want to see more details for your school? Visit illinoisreportcard.com.
Chicago
Suburban Cook County
DuPage County
Kane County
Lake County
McHenry County
Will County
Sources: Tribune reporting; Illinois State Board of Education
