Tony Sanders

State Superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education and architect of the 2025 IAR cut-score change — a state-level instance of altering what proficiency means to address parent confusion, rather than improving how the existing signal is communicated.

Position on the 2025 IAR cut-score change

Per Chalkbeat's coverage, Sanders said the prior cut scores were "among the highest in the nation and confused parents because they were not aligned with grade level standards." The stated diagnosis: the bands had drifted from intuitive parent meaning. The fix: redefine the bands.

Sanders also publicly acknowledged the analytical cost of the change: "They would have increased if we had kept the same cut scores, however, we changed the cut scores, so we can't tell you what they would have been." A direct concession of the limitation Robin Steans and Jessica Handy named from the advocate side.

Where this approach sits

Sanders is a clear state-policymaker voice for the redefine the signal strategy. The approach stands in contrast to the improve the communication around the existing signal strategy described in HCM Strategists × Learning Heroes report-card redesign. Same diagnosis (parents are not interpreting the current bands well), opposite intervention point — the central tension catalogued in proficiency bands and cut scores.