Dear CPS Families,
We hope that things are off to a great start for you and your student this school year!
In the Spring of 2025, your child participated in the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) exam. This assessment is required by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for students in grades three through eight.
On Monday, October 27, during Parent-Teacher Conferences, you will receive a report.
This report is organized in three ways:
- Scale Score. A scale score is a number that summarizes a student’s overall performance. IAR scale scores range from 650 to 850 for all tests.
- Performance Levels. Performance levels rate your child’s overall performance on the IAR by describing how well they met grade-level expectations. There are four performance levels for this exam:
- Level 4: Above Proficient
- Level 3: Proficient
- Level 2: Approaching Proficient
- Level 1: Below Proficient
- Subclaim Performance Indicators. These indicators use three categories to show your student’s performance on a subset of the ISBE learning standards:
- H = Higher level readiness
- M = Middle level readiness
- L = Lower level readiness
Important Changes to Performance Levels
For years, Illinois has had the toughest benchmarks in the country for Math and English Language Arts. As a result, many students who were doing well in school did not see that success reflected on state assessments like the IAR.
To address this issue, and to capture a more realistic picture of the learning and college and career readiness being achieved in Illinois classrooms, ISBE developed new performance levels (see above) for this year’s IAR exam.
This change in performance levels has resulted in new Proficiency Benchmarks for students, which are described in this family guide.
The report includes a written explanation on how your child is doing and where they may need additional support. There are also charts and graphics that show you how well your child is performing in relation to the ISBE learning standards, and how their performance compares to other students in their school, within CPS, and throughout the state.
You can learn more about your child’s scores through the Illinois Assessment of Readiness Family Portal. This tool allows online access to your child’s performance on the IAR, and includes guidance on how to interpret your child’s results.
We hope that the attached IAR report provides you with helpful insight into your child’s academic progress. If you have any questions about their results, please contact your child’s teacher directly.
Sincerely,
Principal Shelton