Standardized assessments long have played a role in public education. For much of that time, they have been faulted as too time-consuming, too restrictive, and too removed from real teaching and learning. The shift to new standards and assessments turns the page on this. Illinois put in place the new Illinois Learning Standards to make clear what students must know and be able to do at every step from kindergarten through high school. When we have new standards, we need new ways to understand how our students progress on them. That is why Illinois created a new assessment system rooted in the standards to ensure what is tested reflects what is taught. This opens the door for districts--the driver of most testing--to reduce the number of assessments that students take. This brief discusses Illinois' shift to new standards and assessments. Topics in this brief include the following: (1) the number of standardized tests students take; (2) the need to create a state assessment system that truly supports instruction to enable districts to reduce local testing; (3) opportunities to streamline assessments through the use of the new state assessment system, PARCC; and (4) how fewer assessments result in less concern about testing time.