Macon Reporter

HB 0226, a law which recently went into effect and that will prevent public Illinois universities from mandating standardized test scores on admissions applications, drew clear opinions from  Rep. Brad Halbrook. 

"Universities should be the ones to decide what their admission policies should be," Halbrook told the Macon Reporter. "The purpose of standardized testing is to create an objective measure for universities to gauge the qualifications of a student seeking admission. The whole point of standardized testing is to give equal access to all students." 

A group called FairTest made a list of over 1,000 colleges and universities that have halted ACT or SAT score requirements. The primary reason named by the schools for that is the belief that tests “favor students from privileged backgrounds,” according to Test Prep Advisor.

But Halbrook said he believed there's another motivation for HB 0226: to hide poor performance by Illinois students.

"There is without question an element of a cover up," Halbrook told the Macon Reporter. "What better way to take away the scrutiny of our schools than to eliminate some of the only measures of success we have?" 

The National Association for College Admission Counseling sponsored a study and concluded that schools that do not mandate standardized test scores are more diverse. And a University of Illinois math professor authored an anthology for teachers in which she stated that math is racist, as it “itself operates as Whiteness,” according to News Report. 

Recent test data made available from the Illinois State Board of Education shows that the number of Illinois students in 3rd-11th grade who meet grade-level standards declined by 18% in the prior two years in math and by 17% in English, according to WBEZ. Out of all Chicago Public School 11th graders, a mere 23% attained grade-level standards for reading and just 21% met grade-level standards for math.