The Illinois State Board of Education, ISBE, plans to administer a very unpopular 10-hour standardized test, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, PARCC, next spring in the midst of strong dissent from both parents and educators. On Friday November 21, 2014, 3700 signed petitions against PARCC were delivered by a parent group to the ISBE urging for at least a year’s delay of the test. The parents asked the Board of Education to request a waiver from the US Department of Education, but ISBE intends to administer the test partially out of fear of losing funding from the federal government according to state superintendent Christopher Koch. Joining the call for a year’s delay is Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the Chicago Public Schools CEO who requested the year’s delay for the PARCC implementation because the district is not ready to administer the exam.