The IAR Sounds New, but It Still Runs on PARCC DNA
Illinois gives its main grades 3 through 8 test under the name Illinois Assessment of Readiness, or IAR, and the name makes it sound homegrown. Underneath, the IAR is a close descendant of the old PARCC test, built from a mix of custom Illinois items and licensed PARCC and New Meridian material. One concrete sign of that lineage: the IAR reports English language arts and math on a scale that runs from 650 to 850, the same band PARCC used. If you remember PARCC from a few years back, the item styles, the multi-step math, and the read-and-write tasks will look familiar, because they share the same source. The Illinois State Board of Education runs the program, and Pearson provides the online TestNav platform your child uses on test day. Paper is available only as a documented accommodation.
What IAR Looks Like: Format and Item Types
The IAR is mostly computer-based. Math comes in three 60-minute sections at every grade. English is two sections, 75 minutes each in grade 3 and 90 minutes each in grades 4 through 8, and some schools add a field-test section that does not count toward your child’s score. Sections must be given in one sitting and in order, so schools spread them across several days. The ACT and PreACT run online during a spring window, and their exact day-to-day timing is set by your district, so ask the school for its schedule. One honest caution about results: final IAR reports with growth data often arrive after the school year has ended, which makes the report more useful for tracking long-term progress than for changing anything in the current year. Families reach individual reports through the state’s IAR parent portal, and you will need an access code from the school.
Illinois Reset What “Proficient” Means
The most confusing recent change for Illinois parents is that the state redrew its performance levels. IAR now sorts students into four levels: Above Proficient, Proficient, Approaching Proficient, and Below Proficient. Along with the new labels, Illinois lowered the score needed to reach Proficient in English and math, arguing the old bar was one of the most restrictive in the country. This matters when you compare reports across years: the state has said proficiency rates under the new levels are not directly comparable to the older ones, so a child can appear to move up a level partly because the line itself moved. Currently, the Proficient line in third-grade English begins at a scale score of 735, and third-grade math begins at 732, with the exact cut rising by grade. The steadier way to track your child year to year is the scale score and the growth percentile, not the label by itself.
High School Moved From the SAT to the ACT
Illinois also switched its high school state test from the SAT to the ACT. Juniors now take the ACT with Writing, which counts as the state accountability test and covers English, math, reading, science, and writing. The ACT science section also satisfies the high school science requirement. Below grade 11, the state added a growth sequence: ninth graders take the PreACT 9 and tenth graders take the PreACT, so schools can measure progress across all three high school years rather than from a single junior-year exam. If your child already took an ACT on their own, they still take the state ACT, because federal accountability requires it. Students may still sign up for the SAT or PSAT separately if they want, and a MyACT account is not required for the state test.
ISA Science, ACCESS, and the Alternate Assessment
Science is tested separately and less often. The Illinois Science Assessment, or ISA, is given online only in grades 5 and 8, aligned to the state’s Next Generation Science Standards, and it reports on a 700 to 900 scale. Two other tests round out the system. English learners take the ACCESS for ELLs assessment each year to measure English proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities may take the Dynamic Learning Maps alternate assessment instead of the general IAR, when the IEP team decides the standard test is not appropriate even with accommodations. Knowing which of these applies to your child tells you what the spring actually looks like for your family.
What the Scores Decide, and What They Do Not
For grades 3 through 8, an IAR score does not by itself hold a child back or show up as a class grade. The IAR is built for school accountability and reporting, not as a statewide promotion-or-retention switch. That said, Illinois districts set their own promotion policies and may weigh state results as one factor alongside grades and teacher judgment, so check your district’s policy for the specific rule. Illinois is also not a formal opt-out state. There is no simple state opt-out form, though some families refuse testing. Refusal can lower a school’s participation rate, which the accountability system tracks against a 95 percent expectation, even when there is no direct penalty for the individual child.