The Illinois State Board of Education is updating their plan to help students across the state to improve their math skills. The ISBE is hosting a listening tour with a stop Thursday afternoon in Carbondale.
Earlier this year the Illinois State Board of Education launched their effort to update the state's numeracy plan. Ronda Dawson is ISBE's Executive Director of Teaching and Learning. She explains numeracy, "The ability to reason with numbers, interpret data, recognize patterns, and apply mathematical thinking in everyday life, and to do so with confidence."
In the 2024 State Report card they found improving math proficiency, but it's not improving fast enough.
Dawson says the current math standards have been in place since 2010 and have not been updated since, "There is certainly a need for us to reconvene and bring together a statewide effort then to help support our teachers in implementing this new guidance."
ISBE launched this plan in April with a needs assessment that looked at what is going right, possible weaknesses, and where they saw needs. This summer they hosted a summit taking that data to draft their first draft of the plan.
The new plan will establish evidence based practices for districts and teachers across the state. They plan to identify necessary resources and professional development for teachers.
The goal is to help students develop what Dawson says is a math habit mindset, "It would never be acceptable for us to hear a student say, I'm not literate, right? So we don't want students to say, I'm not numerate either."
Dawson says they'll present this plan to parents, educators, and the community at Carbondale High School at 4pm on Thursday November 13th. They'll gather feedback using model used to develop the state's current literacy plan, "When we had suggestions, we could tell with each iteration about the changes that were made so if you really was listening. And so because we know that works, we want to model that same process. in valuing the input that we get from the field."
ISBE will use the input to refine their plan with a goal to present the final plan to the state board in June of 2026.
