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Are Illinois Education Standards Too Low?
Produced by Linda Lutton on Thursday, July 09, 2009

CPS CEO Ron Huberman says the district is taking on initiatives to track students' progress class by class. (AP/File)

Chicago Public Schools officials are announcing modest gains in elementary school test scores. This is at least the 8th consecutive year CPS students have posted improvements on the state ISAT exam. But some powerful critics are cautioning that this news may not be as good as it sounds. WBEZ's Education Reporter Linda Lutton sat down with Lisa Labuz to discuss what this means.

RELATED: CPS Touts Test Score Gains, Sets Sights on Higher Standards
DATA: CPS ISAT Data, 2001-2009 (Source: CPS)

Angela Balanag, Wadsworth // Tuesday, July 14, 2009 @ 12:27 PM

Ms. Lutton, I have spent 3 days looking on the ISBE and ROE websites for evidence that the new high school Illinois Learning Standards will be unveiled in December (as you reported TH, July 9). What/who is your source for this information? What do you know about these new standards?

Linda Lutton, Education Reporter, Chicago Public Radio // Thursday, July 16, 2009 @ 2:36 PM

Thanks for posting your question. I got the information from Illinois State Board of Education spokesman Matt Vanover. He’s referring to the state’s participation in the Common Core State Standard’s Initiative. That’s an effort by 48 states to develop common (and generally, more rigorous) standards. The standards are being developed now, and are slated to be released in December. Here is an ISBE press release about the initiative: http://www.isbe.net/news/2009/june1.htm And more information is available here: http://www.corestandards.org/