Letter to the Editor: City’s low literacy scores won’t be found with one training, one resource or one curriculum

It’s true. Low reading scores are a national concern, including in our area. Literacy is crucial for education, jobs, health, and our community’s economy. We all need to understand and find solutions to improve reading skills.

The Literacy Advocates of West Central Illinois is a group of community members, families, educators, and school administrators working together to raise literacy levels. Our goal is to help everyone in our community read, write and communicate effectively.

Our mission is to spread awareness about effective, evidence-based literacy instruction to caregivers, teachers and school leaders so every child gets the support they need in the regular classroom and, when necessary, in intervention. We aim to share resources, support families with struggling readers and ensure educators have the necessary training and materials.

To this end, we have partnered with local schools and: 

• The Regional Office of Education 1
• The Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri
• The Tracy Family Foundation to secure grants for teacher training
• The Illinois Reading League
• The IL SLD Support Project
• The Illinois Early Literacy Coalition
• The Dyslexia Action Group of Naperville
• Everyone Reading Illinois
• Ready. Set. Grow.
• The Knowledge Center at Chaddock
• The Quincy Public Library
• Local educators and school administrators

With financial contributions from area schools and grants and various forms of support from these partnerships:

• 100-plus local educators received 60-plus hours of training in evidence-based reading instruction in the past year through the Institute of Multi-Sensory Education.
• We offer free webinars and meetings to learn more about helping kids who struggle with reading.
• We advocate for literacy initiatives in state legislation.
• We share valuable resources on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Teachers using the new training report great success but need more support and resources to meet their students’ diverse needs. The solution will not be found with one training, one resource or one curriculum. Supporting ongoing teacher training, enhancing teacher knowledge, and ensuring coaching about current and evolving evidence-based instructional methodologies is critical.

We are grateful to the community members and educators who have worked tirelessly to improve literacy. Their dedication makes our efforts possible, and we look forward to continuing this important work.

Culver-Stockton College is training future teachers in evidence-based literacy instruction. We are excited about the positive impact they will have.

The ISBE’s Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan and Dyslexia Handbook & Toolkit are great resources available on the ISBE website. The Reading League’s Curriculum Evaluation Guidelines and Curriculum Navigation Reports are great resources on its website.

Literacy challenges are complex, but our community is committed to finding solutions. It is going to take laws at the state level, colleges of education with aligned Science of Reading teacher preparation, administrators who understand and support evidence-based practices, educators who focus their learning on methodologies that allow all students to be successful in reading and writing, and families who support their students at home and at school. We all have a lot to learn. In the past two years, we have met many dedicated educators, administrators, families, and students who are passionate about improving literacy. 

Literacy scores will not change overnight. With community advocacy for long-term support in the form of training and resources for educators, investments in evidence-based classroom instruction and intervention for in-school and after-school programs, and more awareness in community organizations, we have seen and will continue to see results.

Together, we can make a difference.

Julie Schuetz
President, Literacy Advocates of West Central IL
Quincy, Illinois