The Illinois State Board of Education is scrapping the controversial PARCC exam for high schoolers and replacing it with the SAT, according to a Monday announcement. 

The PARCC, or Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, is a standardized test aligned with the Common Core State Standards. PARCC can be administered online as a computer-based assessment. In Illinois, PARCC rolled out in 2015 and replaced the Illinois Standards Achievement Test and the Prairie State Achievement Exam. PARCC drew fire from many in the educational community as well as parents and students, including those who opted-out of taking the test. 

"District and school administrators overwhelmingly agree with ISBE that every high school junior should have access to a college entrance exam, a policy that promotes equity and access and that provides each and every student with greater opportunities in higher education," reads a statement from State Education Superintendent Tony Smith. "The SAT is aligned with the Illinois Learning Standards and will continue to empower educators to measure college and career readiness."

Third- through eighth-graders will continue to take the PARCC test.

UPDATE 1 (7/15/16): The U.S. Department of Education found Illinois to be in violation of federal law due to the way in which the text was administered, since not all high school students were given the same state texts in reading and math. The government threatened to withhold funding as a result of the constroversial testing practices in which the state was engaging, according to the Chicago Tribune.