Illinois State Board of Education Technical Advisory Committee for Assessment and Accountability met Jan. 29 – 30.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
Day 1: January 29 (Thursday): 8:30 CDT to 3:45 CDT
8:15 Breakfast (provided)
8:30-9:00 1. Welcome, September Meeting Recap, and Agenda for Current Meeting
Following welcome and introductions, we will review the September meeting summary and the agenda for the current meeting.
Materials:
1.1 Agenda: January 2026 ISBE TAC agenda (this document) [Center]
1.2 Minutes: September TAC Meeting Minutes (with closed session notes) [Center] 9:00-9:30
2. ISBE Updates
ISBE will provide relevant updates that affect TAC work.
Materials:
N/A
9:30-12:00
[with 15- minute break]
3. Accountability System Redesign (to be continued after break)
3.1 System Overview [~60 minutes]
ISBE will provide an overview of the redesigned system, explaining core indicators, elevating indicators, and how the system works overall. ISBE is interested in reviewing the design logic for the new accountability system, in particular the thresholds for the individual indicators. ISBE is interested in understanding the sensitivity of the system to the thresholds and the implications for reporting.
Materials:
3.1.1 Deck: Accountability Redesign Phase III (Clementz, 2026)
TAC Questions:
1. How can ISBE understand the sensitivity of the system to the setting of the threshold?
2. How can ISBE communicate the methodology for setting the thresholds clearly and transparently to the field?
3. How can ISBE best bridge the old and new accountability systems for longitudinal reporting to create coherent, meaningful stories about school and district performance?
3.2 Minimum n-size for Composites / Components [~30 minutes]
ISBE is considering treating proficiency and growth each as composites of ELA, math, and science achievement (or growth) in their accountability system although it will continue to report on all areas separately.
In this context, ISBE would like to explore different ways to implement n-size requirements for the achievement and growth composites and/or their constituent components. ISBE wants to understand if there should be a dual requirement for n sizes (i.e., one for components and one for the composite.)
ISBE is targeting to continue using a minimum n of 20, but would like input from the TAC on how best to consider special cases with less than 20 for one or two subjects.
Materials:
3.2.1 Deck: Presentation on N-size study results (Leathers, 2026)
3.2.2 Blog: Guidance for Addressing N-size in School Accountability (Domaleski, 2023)
3.2.3 Website: N-size Rules for States (Education Commission of the States, 2024)
3.2.4 Brief: A Preliminary Analysis of Minimum N-rule Application (Lorié, 2025)
TAC Questions:
1. How can ISBE make an informed policy decision about minimum n-sizes for components and/or composites given the empirical results presented and principles from the field?
2. What additional studies should be conducted to help ISBE develop n-size business rules? (Note that if critical studies were suggested, their execution would need to be fast-tracked and streamlined as the state must adopt an n-size business rule by March.)
3. Should uncertainty in classifications due to small n-sizes be accounted for in the statistical computations (e.g., through confidence intervals)?
3.3 System Monitoring [~30 minutes]
ISBE would like to develop a robust monitoring plan for their new accountability system that can be implemented on an annual basis.
Materials:
3.3.1 Brief: A Framework to Monitor and Evaluate Accountability System Efforts (D’Brot, 2018) TAC Questions:
1. What analyses should be conducted to monitor the health of the accountability system based on the system design, core evaluation practices, and best practices in the field?
2. What needs to be considered in terms of data management or other computational aspects to make these plans reliably executable?
3.4 Data Interrogation with Preliminary Accountability Data [~15 minutes]
ISBE would like to support interest holders – in particular school and district leaders – to make use of preliminary assessment and accountability data starting in April before the official reports are finalized in late October.
Materials:
3.4.1 Data Modeling Set
TAC Questions:
1. What data structures and visualizations might be most helpful to core end users during this time window to support effective use of the results?
2. What kinds of professional development support / guidance could ISBE provide around these tools in order to help end users act on the information for effective strategic planning during the summer?
12:00-1:00 Lunch (provided)
1:00-2:00 4. SGPs for Students with High Scores
Students with the highest obtainable scale score (HOSS) for two or more consecutive years sometimes have SGPs of 30 or lower. In addition, there is variability in the SGPs of such students. This is due to the SGPs being calculated on a theta scale; there is no strong evidence of a ceiling effect.
ISBE is interested in exploring this phenomenon, articulating the problems caused by the low (and varying) SGPs for these students, and ways to address them to create meaningful scores for these students and accurate, undistorted system-level representation of growth.
Materials:
4.1 Deck: Presentation by Damian Betebenner [Center]
TAC Questions:
1. What are key technical concerns around making the switch from SGPs that do not have HOSS rules to SGPs that do?
2. How can ISBE best explain to a non-technical audience the current situation or any proposed “fix” to the SGPs for top-scoring students?
2:00-2:15 Break
2:15-3:30 5. Custom Accountability Reports
ISBE will present its current mockups and vision for custom accountability reports that are designed to encourage stakeholders to engage more meaningfully with the accountability data.
This includes more differentiated profiling of schools using various sub-profiles developed from core and elevating indicators with suggested breakdowns and interactive functionalities for end users.
As part of this presentation, ISBE will describe the rationale for developing the reports, the process for deriving the logic rules, and the intended uses. ISBE is interested in getting feedback about the design and its rollout.
Materials:
5.1 Deck: My Data Dashboard mockup presentation [ISBE]
TAC Questions:
1. What aspects of the mockups are particularly powerful or could be improved for supporting the intended uses? What can be learned from other states (or broader industry contexts) for fine-tuning the design?
2. What are the opportunities and potential risks associated with the current plan for rolling these out? What other supports or initiatives should there be around these reports?
3. What measures can ISBE put in place to safeguard users against potential misinterpretations and misuses of the information? What studies could be designed to learn about how users interpret and act upon this information (e.g., focus groups, user testing, surveys)?
3:30-3:45 Public Comments
3:45 Adjourn
Day 2: January 30 (Friday): 8:30 CDT to 11:30 CDT
8:15 Breakfast (provided)
8:30-9:15 6. Individual Student Reports (ISR)
ISBE will present a revised version of the ISR that was created based on prior TAC feedback and other, more recent input. They are interested in soliciting new feedback on these revised versions as well as guidance on how to evaluate the effectiveness of the reports for different user groups.
Materials:
6.1 Template: Revised ISR template [ISBE]
6.2 Memo: Combined ISR reviewer feedback (October 2025) [Center]
TAC Questions:
1. What aspects of the revised reports address prior concerns really well and what aspects might benefit from further refinement in future years?
2. What kinds of feedback should ISBE collect from interest holders in the fall? What methods are most appropriate for gathering this feedback?
3. What surrounding resources and supports would make the rollout more actionable given the perceived core needs of different districts?
9:15-10:00 7. Assessment System and Alignment
ISBE will provide an overview of the current assessment system in IL and the empirical work that has been done around alignment across assessments, keeping peer review requirements and schedules in mind.
Materials:
7.1 Deck: Assessment system overview with alignment studies [ISBE]
TAC Questions:
1. What are strengths and weaknesses of the alignment studies? What are the implications of these features for understanding the quality of the various alignments?
2. What additional studies could be done to bridge the interpretability/coherence gap that exists between the scores and the targeted construct to inform the refinement of instructional/curricular resources?
10:00-10:15 Break (15 min)
10:15-11:15 8. Closeout of Score Gain Analyses
The Center will first briefly summarize the original issue, the critical analysis work by the TAC as well as the supporting empirical work on this issue by Pearson. Looking ahead, ISBE would then like suggestions from the TAC regarding how to leverage the insights from this work for developing robust system monitoring and evaluation practices for the new accountability system.
Materials:
Deck: Brief summary of the timeline of analyses and findings [Center]
Memo: Follow-up analyses [Pearson]
Various: Folder with supplementary materials [Pearson]
TAC Questions:
1. What kinds of empirical analyses should be included in the annual monitoring plan to conduct proper ongoing checks on the issues raised by the scorecard analyses?
2. What kinds of analyses are critical and which ones are optional given limited resources?
11:15-11:30 9. Public Comments
11:30 Adjourn
https://www.isbe.net/Documents_TAC/012926-Agenda.pdf
