Rationale: Learning standards
The Illinois Learning Standards delineate the state's expectations for what students must know and be able to do. Since 1999, the state's student assessments have been based on these standards. All teacher candidates need to be familiar with a state's student learning standards (and soon the national Common Core standards) in order to be effective. Ideally, every methods course should include a significant number of assignments in which lesson planning and other tasks give teacher candidates practice in using the Illinois Learning Standards to organize their instruction.
