# ![](media/image1.png){width="0.9402777777777778in" height="0.9520833333333333in"}UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

THE UNDER SECRETARY

> June 26, 2003

The Honorable Robert Schiller \
Superintendent of Education\
Illinois Board of Education\
100 North First Street\
Springfield, IL  62777

Dear Superintendent Schiller:

I am writing to follow up on Secretary Paige's letter of June 10, 2003,
in which he approved the basic elements of Illinois' State
accountability plan under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
(NCLB). I join Secretary Paige in congratulating you on Illinois'
commitment to holding schools and districts accountable for the
achievement of *all* students. I appreciate Illinois' efforts to meet
the Title I requirements and your responsiveness to making changes as a
result of the external peer review of Illinois' accountability plan. In
consideration of these changes, Illinois' plan is fully approved.

With regard to one issue in Illinois' accountability plan, the Secretary
has exercised his authority to permit the orderly transition from
requirements under the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) to NCLB.
Illinois proposed to include students with the most significant
cognitive disabilities in its accountability system based on their
performance on an alternate assessment that would hold those students to
different achievement standards from those all other students are
expected to meet. All students with disabilities must be included in a
State's accountability system. Moreover, §200.1 of the final Title I
regulations requires that all students be held to the same grade level
achievement standards. In addition, §200.6(a)(2)(ii) of those
regulations states that "\[a\]lternate assessments must yield results
for the grade in which the student is enrolled."

We have issued new proposed regulations that would permit a State to use
alternate achievement standards to measure the achievement of students
with the most significant cognitive disabilities (refer to the Federal
Register notice of March 20, 2003). For this transition year only, while
these proposed regulations are being finalized, Illinois may use
alternate achievement standards for students with the most significant
cognitive disabilities who take an alternate assessment to calculate
adequate yearly progress (AYP) for schools and districts. Those
alternate achievement standards must be aligned with Illinois' academic
content standards and reflect professional judgment of the highest
learning standards possible for those students. Moreover, the percentage
of students held to alternate achievement standards at district and
State levels may not exceed 1.0 percent of all students in the grades
assessed

We note that this transition policy is not intended to preempt the
rulemaking process or the standards and assessment peer review process,
and that the final regulations may reflect a different policy and/or
different percentage.

As required by section 1111(b)(2) of Title I, Illinois must implement
its accountability plan during this school year to identify schools and
school districts in need of improvement and to implement section 1116 of
Title I for the 2003-04 school year, including arranging for public
school choice and supplemental educational services. If, over time,
Illinois makes changes to the accountability plan that has been
approved, you must submit information about those changes to the
Department for approval, as required by section 1111(f)(2) of Title I.

Approval of Illinois' accountability plan is not also an approval of
Illinois' standards and assessment system. As Illinois makes changes in
its standards and assessments to meet NCLB requirements, Illinois must
submit information about those changes to the Department for peer review
through the standards and assessment process.

Please be aware that approval of Illinois' accountability plan for Title
I does not indicate that the plan complies with Federal civil rights
requirements, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities
Act, and requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act.

I am confident that Illinois will continue to advance its efforts to
hold schools and school districts accountable for the achievement of all
students. I wish you well in your efforts to leave no child behind.

Sincerely,

/s/

Eugene W. Hickok

cc: Governor Rod Blagojevich