Last year, Illinois passed a law requiring the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to develop a comprehensive state literacy plan. The plan was developed through the summer and fall of last year before being adopted in January. ISBE now has resources available to help you and your PTA or PTA Council both understand and influence how literacy instruction will change in your school and district in the next few years.

ISBE has released its Getting Started Toolkit to help guide educators, policymakers, and community members through the literacy plan and what it means for literacy education. Inside the toolkit, you will find:

  • An executive summary of the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan
  • Resources on how the plan was developed
  • Guidelines on literacy screenings
  • A collection of practical tools, resources, and references to support using the literacy plan in the classroom and beyond
  • A FAQ sheet answering common questions
  • Reader’s Guides tailored for every stakeholder, including families and community organizations

The Community & Family Reader’s Guide is of particular interest for PTAs and PTA Councils. The guide provides a clear overview of the plan with a minimum of education jargon (though some is present in naming the components of literacy). The guide also suggests ways your PTA or PTA Council could engage with the plan as it is implemented in your school or district. The guide provides a workbook to understand and reflect on how literacy efforts can be implemented to achieve the three goals of the plan, including questions to help guide you to discover areas where your PTA could make a difference, as well as materials to help understand where literacy efforts in your district are currently. These questions could also help your PTA or PTA Council develop a conversation around implementing the literacy plan and how to share that information with families.

Literacy is at the core of everything your child will learn throughout their school years and beyond. The state literacy plan has the potential to transform literacy education in Illinois as it is implemented, and these ISBE resources can help your PTA or PTA Council be an effective advocate for children as your school and district implement the plan.