The state board of education approved a comprehensive plan to guide school districts on evidence-based math instruction.
Illinois recently approved a “numeracy plan” designed to strengthen teaching and learning in math, in which fewer than half the state’s students were proficient last year.
The move builds on the state board’s implementation of a state literacy plan in 2024.
The two plans do not require school districts to implement a specific curriculum or instructional method. They offer evidence-based guidance.
The math plan is a sound move by the Illinois State Board of Education after it lowered the benchmarks on the state assessment last year. That made more students seem proficient in reading and math without actually improving their command of the subjects.
Mastering math is vital to students’ futures. Here are the most important things to know about the state’s new Illinois Comprehensive Numeracy Plan.
1. The plan offers guidance, not a mandate.
The plan does not require school districts to adopt a specific curriculum, program or instruction method. It provides guidance on evidence-based practices for teaching and learning math and encourages school districts to adopt the state’s numeracy plan or create their own aligned to the state’s guidance.
That gives school districts leeway to adapt the guidance to their needs, whether that’s using the state plan in full or taking elements of it to inform their own numeracy plans.
2. The plan uses evidence-based instruction methods.
Illinois’ numeracy plan is rooted in “evidence-based” instruction. Rather than prescribing a specific program or method, it emphasizes a commitment to aligning math instruction with research on how students learn.
The plan defines evidence-based practices as “individual practices (e.g., single lessons or in-class activities) or programs (e.g., year-long curricula) supported by scientific evidence.”
Five core methodologies for teaching math are aligned with evidence-based practices: explicit instruction, unassisted discovery, guided inquiry, guided strategic development and strategic coaching. Illinois’ plan emphasizes the importance of integrating these instructional approaches with specific student needs.
3. The plan incorporates the “components of numeracy.”
A 2001 National Research Council report outlined five components of mathematical proficiency: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence, adaptive reasoning and productive disposition.
Illinois’ plan incorporates those five and adds discourse to create the Six Components of Numeracy. These define what proficiency in math should be for Illinois students:
- Conceptual understanding. Students understand mathematical concepts, operations and relationships.
- Procedural fluency. Students can carry out mathematical procedures flexibly, accurately and efficiently.
- Strategic competence. Students can formulate, represent and solve problems.
- Adaptive reasoning. Students can explain and justify mathematical thinking.
- Productive disposition. Students see math as sensible and useful.
- Discourse. Students communicate mathematical ideas purposefully.
These factors provide a framework for effective math instruction. The plan provides instructional strategies to help ensure teaching is aligned with the Six Components of Numeracy and recommendations on how to assess whether students have mastered them.
4. The plan teaches math as a progression of concepts, not as disconnected topics.
By promoting a “cohesive continuum of learning,” the state board’s plan encourages districts to teach math as a progression of ideas, not as disconnected topics.
This is accomplished by aligning curriculum, assessments and interventions to ensure students repeatedly encounter math concepts across grade levels. This helps ensure that math skills and concepts build over different grades and courses and build a strong foundation for future math learning.
Time for district action
Together, these state plans create a framework for districts to enhance and unify core instruction and learning in math and reading. They are a great first step in improving student achievement.
Next, individual districts must take action to prepare students to flourish in school and life after graduation.
