State Assessment Shake-up: Frankfort 157-C to Form Committee for New Honors Criteria

Frankfort School District 157-C Meeting | September 2025

Article Summary: Frankfort School District 157-C is adapting to new, less restrictive student assessment benchmarks from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), which consolidates five performance levels into four. The changes, which came after the school year began, will require the district to establish new criteria for placing students in advanced and honors courses for the 2026-2027 school year.

State Assessment Benchmark Changes Key Points:

• ISBE has replaced the previous five-tier performance levels for state assessments (IAR, ISA, ACT) with a unified four-tier system.

• The new levels are Below Proficient, Approaching Proficient, Proficient, and Above Proficient, with new “cut scores” that are generally lower than previous benchmarks.

• Because the changes were released after student schedules were set, Frankfort 157-C will not alter student placements for the current 2025-2026 school year.

• The district will form a committee of teachers and administrators to develop new criteria for advanced and honors placement for the 2026-2027 school year.

Frankfort School District 157-C will form a committee to create new criteria for placing students in advanced and honors courses in response to a major overhaul of state assessment benchmarks, the Board of Education learned on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

Janet McClarence, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, presented the changes from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), which replaces the previous five performance levels on state tests with four unified levels. Previously, students’ scores on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) placed them in one of five categories: Does Not Meet, Partially Meets, Approaching Meets, Meets Expectations, or Exceeds Expectations. The new system simplifies this to four levels: Below Proficient, Approaching Proficient, Proficient, and Above Proficient.

McClarence explained that Illinois previously had the “most restrictive benchmarks for ELA and math proficiency” in the nation. The new system aligns proficiency benchmarks across different state tests and generally lowers the scores required to be considered “proficient.”

Because Frankfort 157-C has used the highest performance level (“Exceeds Expectations”) as a key criterion for placing students in advanced and honors courses, the new system requires a re-evaluation. The new performance levels were released by ISBE in August 2025, after the school year had already started and student schedules were finalized.

“These new Performance Levels impacted some of our students and placed them in a higher performance level,” McClarence’s presentation stated. However, she confirmed, “We are not making schedule changes at this time.”

Instead, the district will form a committee of teachers and administrators this year to study the new assessment indicators and propose updated criteria for advanced and honors placement for the 2026-2027 school year. The new criteria will be presented to the board and community in the spring.

Board member Dr. Larry Kociolek asked if enrichment activities would be available for students who might now qualify for honors under the new system but are not being moved this year. McClarence assured him that “ongoing enrichment is always provided to students by their teachers if they see that need.” Board President Edith Lutz inquired about how Lincoln-Way High School might handle staffing for an influx of honors students, and McClarence expressed confidence that the high school district would assess its student numbers and staff accordingly.