Teachers: Illinois standards sub-par

The following piece was sent to us by Kevin Killion of the IllinoisLoop.org.

The weakness of the academic standards used in Illinois schools is no surprise to us, but when the American Federation of Teachers agrees, you know there's a problem!

In a brand-new report, the AFT says:

-- Illinois needs to create grade-specific content standards in reading and math for elementary and middle school
-- None of the Illinois' reading and math test documents match the standards
-- Reading and math standards are not grade by grade in grades 3-8 and the high school standards are weak.
-- The test documents for the elementary and middle level science tests do not match the content standards.

The next time some politician or school district honcho starts yammering about our "strong standards", just yell out, "The teachers don't agree!"

For more on the problems of the Illinois standards, and reviews of them by the AFT and others, see this page on the IllinoisLoop.org website.