PARCC tests set baseline for improving education in Illinois
As expected, Illinois received a reality check in the form of its first statewide Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) score results delivered last month: not enough Illinois students are on track to achieving college and career success.
PARCC results from the 2014-15 school year suggest that only 37 percent of Illinois fourth-graders are reading proficiently and only 31 percent of Illinois eighth-graders are proficient at math. And while the numbers have not yet been broken down for low-income and minority students, we can only assume that our pernicious achievement gaps will persist.
At a time when the job market is becoming increasingly competitive, Illinois cannot afford to underperform in education. According to Crain's Chicago Business, thousands of Illinois jobs are going unfilled because employers cannot find qualified candidates.
Employers shouldn't have to import talent when there is so much potential here at home. The social and economic health of our state depends on having an education system that prepares graduates for civic engagement and the local job market.
The good news is that recent initiatives demonstrate that the state is moving in the right direction. In 2010, Illinois revamped its learning standards for math and English Language Arts to better prepare students for college and careers.
With new standards came the need for a new tool to measure student progress against grade-level goals, and PARCC filled the void last spring.
Illinois teachers led the way in rethinking the way we assess students and invested over 20,000 hours in the creation of PARCC to measure students' preparedness for future success in school and the workforce.
We need graduates who can sift through information, generate ideas, and stake claims based on the evidence, all skills that PARCC requires.
Because PARCC was taken by 11 states and the District of Columbia, it can serve as a common metric that allows us to benchmark our students' progress against children in other states.
If our students are behind, we'll know it; and we'll improve by learning from the successes of other PARCC states.
The long-term economic stability of the state depends on having a well-educated and highly skilled workforce. PARCC measures students' critical thinking, creativity, and conceptual understanding, the skills students will need to compete in an increasingly global economy.
This year's results should not be used as a comparison to past performance, but as baseline for our future. Taking full advantage of PARCC's capabilities will mean more Illinois students entering the workforce with necessary skills to compete, ensuring that Illinois remains an economic powerhouse for generations to come.
Todd Maisch is president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.