New state data show that Illinois saw an increase in the number of students who didn't take the state's standardized exams last school year.
About 44-thousand students didn't take the language test and 42-thousand didn't take the math test. They make up about 4% of 1 million tested students. Students who didn't participate were either marked as refused to take the exams, or absent.
The number of students taking the exams is important because there could be sanctions if too few students are tested. Schools and district must test 95% of eligible students.
