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The Illinois State Board of Education approved a numeracy plan Wednesday aimed at helping educators improve how they teach math.
The plan offers districts and teachers resources, but does not mandate a curriculum or require schools to follow certain practices.
The 192-page document is being finalized two years after the state approved a literacy plan in 2024. The latter came about after advocates unsuccessfully lobbied Illinois lawmakers to pass a bill to standardize reading instruction across the state.
Illinois students’ math scores dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to lag behind in 2024. Last fall, officials reported 38% of students had met math proficiency benchmarks on the annual state standardized test given to all third through eighth graders in public school. But they also changed the cut scores used to define proficiency, making comparisons to previous years difficult.
“The goal is for students to build those numeracy skills,” said Ronda Dawson, executive director of Teaching & Learning at ISBE.
The first draft of the “Comprehensive Numeracy Plan” was first made public in October and revised in February before several public hearings in the spring.
Kirsten Parr, director of Standards & Instruction, presented changes that were made to the plan as a result of the public feedback during an ISBE meeting Wednesday. She said the state added more “examples and non-examples” of strong math instruction, added best practices and tips for supporting students with dyscalculia, a learning disability that affects how a person learns, understands, and retains math concepts, and included more high school level data.
“This is not just an elementary plan,” she noted. “This is really to increase the numeracy skills of students across all of our ages and stages.”
ISBE Vice Chair Donna Leek applauded the plan for also including resources to build students confidence in math.
“I always have struggled with people who say, ‘Oh, you know, I don’t do math, I’m not a math person.’ Nobody ever says I don’t read, right?” Leek noted. “So, how do we take away that stigma of mathematics being something that is attainable for everyone?”
She said the plan provides a good road map for school leaders and educators to also feel confident in their math teaching practices and urged ISBE to provide support to them as they roll out the plan.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
