Illinois has launched an eight-stop listening tour to gather educator input on its first Comprehensive Numeracy Plan, addressing a persistent math crisis where 72% of students lack grade-level proficiency. The statewide initiative, modeled on Illinois’ successful literacy framework, marks the beginning of a multi-year process to provide evidence-based support for math instruction across all districts by June 2026.
The Math Crisis in Numbers
The Illinois State Board of Education has launched an eight-stop listening tour across the state to gather educator feedback on the first draft of a Comprehensive Numeracy Plan aimed at addressing persistent math achievement gaps affecting nearly three out of four Illinois students. State Superintendent Tony Sanders announced the initiative in September 2025, emphasizing that numeracy equips students to think critically, solve problems, and make informed decisions in daily life. The listening tour begins October 16 in Springfield and continues through November 18 with stops in Naperville, Rockford, Champaign, Edwardsville, Carbondale, Chicago, and a virtual session.
The plan addresses a longstanding crisis in Illinois math education. While statewide English language arts performance has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, math proficiency dropped from 32% in 2019 to just 28% in 2024, meaning 72% of Illinois students currently lack grade-level math skills. Even before the pandemic, only one in three students demonstrated math proficiency.
Illinois tackles math crisis affecting 72% of students with new statewide numeracy plan. Eight-stop listening tour gathers educator input on evidence-based framework modeled after successful literacy initiative. #education #mathinstruction #Illinois
A Systematic Development Process
The development process began earlier in 2025 with a statewide needs assessment survey that engaged more than 3,000 educators, school leaders, and education partners. An invitation-only Numeracy Summit in June convened state and national math experts to review survey findings and shape the plan’s direction. The initiative is modeled on Illinois’ nationally recognized Comprehensive Literacy Plan, which was adopted in January 2024.
The plan will provide guidance to support educators, schools, and districts in advancing student success in mathematics, addressing a gap that has existed since Illinois adopted new math learning standards in 2010 without creating a comprehensive statewide support system. For 15 years, Illinois districts have lacked coordinated state-level infrastructure for math instruction improvement.
This isn’t just pandemic recovery – even at the 2019 ‘high point,’ two out of three Illinois students couldn’t demonstrate grade-level math skills, revealing a systemic problem that’s been ignored for over a decade.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Stakeholder Engagement and Timeline
The listening sessions welcome teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, counselors, parents, community advocates, and other stakeholders to provide input that will directly inform the final plan. State Senator Kimberly Lightford emphasized that engaging with educators and experts ensures the approach will be both effective and responsive to students’ needs across the state.
All sessions begin at 4 p.m., and participants can register online through the Illinois State Board of Education website. The final numeracy plan is scheduled for presentation to the state board for approval by June 2026, with implementation timelines to be determined following adoption. This comprehensive planning approach represents Illinois’ recognition that math instruction requires the same systematic, evidence-based framework that has supported literacy improvements.
Key takeaways
- 72% proficiency gap: Only 28% of Illinois students met or exceeded math performance levels in 2024, down from 32% in 2019, representing a persistent crisis that predates the pandemic
- 3,000+ stakeholders engaged: Development process began with statewide needs assessment survey and Numeracy Summit involving educators, school leaders, and education partners
- 15-year support gap: Illinois has lacked comprehensive statewide math instruction support system since adopting new learning standards in 2010
The Long Road to Implementation
However, translating the plan from approval to classroom implementation and measurable student outcomes will require sustained commitment, adequate funding, professional development infrastructure, and several years before achievement gains become visible in statewide assessments. The journey from planning to measurable impact is long and uncertain, requiring sustained political will, adequate funding, and patience from all stakeholders.
Illinois is taking an important first step toward addressing a critical problem, but success depends on whether they can implement this plan with fidelity across urban, suburban, and rural districts serving vastly different student populations. The systematic approach provides reason for cautious optimism, but only if followed by years of consistent implementation support. We’ll know in 2030 whether this ambitious effort actually changed outcomes for Illinois students.
The real test isn’t whether Illinois can create a comprehensive plan – it’s whether they’ll follow through with the funding, professional development, and implementation support needed to make it work across diverse districts serving very different populations.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
The journey from planning to measurable impact is long and uncertain, requiring sustained political will, adequate funding, and patience from all stakeholders. Illinois is taking an important first step, but success depends on whether they can implement this plan with fidelity across urban, suburban, and rural districts serving vastly different student populations. The systematic approach – needs assessment, expert input, stakeholder engagement, evidence-based methods – provides reason for cautious optimism, but only if followed by years of consistent implementation support. For more insights on educational innovation, evidence-based instruction strategies, and how to advocate effectively for better math teaching in your child’s school, explore our All Access Program.
See what All Access gives your child
Is your child struggling in school?
Get your free personalized learning roadmap
You describe what you see at home. We turn it into a plan you start this week.
- Answer 5 short questionnaires about what you already notice, 30–45 minutes at your own kitchen table
- Your child sits no test and gets no score: nothing to schedule, nothing for them to dread
- You do the answering, the AI does the writing, and a person reviews it before it reaches you
- Access all 40+ courses instantly: reading, math, focus, processing and more, with new ones added regularly
Why we use AI, plainly: it writes from a knowledge base our team maintains and audits. We work through it line by line and pull anything the evidence stops supporting. The roadmap you get on Tuesday reflects what we corrected on Monday, and a human still reads it before you do.
Your school district must evaluate your child free of charge if you ask in writing, whatever your income and whatever the outcome (US, 34 CFR 300.111 and 300.301(b)). That route takes time and answers a different question than you do. This one starts today, from what you already know.
Your answers stay yours. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not hand identifiable assessment data to outside AI companies to train their models.
A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too. That is the only route to those supports.
References
- Primary Source - Chalkbeat Chicago: Illinois numeracy plan math listening tour
- Additional Coverage - Shaw Local: Illinois developing plan to improve math education
- State Education Board - WTTW: ISBE to host listening sessions on new plan
- Regional Coverage - Daily Herald: ISBE seeks feedback on numeracy plan
- State Education Agency - Illinois State Board of Education, Springfield Office: 217-782-4321
- State Superintendent - Tony Sanders, Illinois State Board of Education
- Listening Tour Registration - Illinois State Board of Education website (sessions October-November 2025)
