Illinois
Illinois OKs plan to revamp how reading is taught
From Indiana to New Jersey to New York, states across the country are making boosting literacy rates among students a top priority. Illinois no exception. The Illinois State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously passed a comprehensive plan to improve the way students are taught to read.
The nearly 200-page document underscored the need to use “evidence-based” instruction across Illinois that uses a systemic and explicit approach to teaching reading.
The report outlines seven parts of literacy instruction, including comprehension and writing, but highlights the need for teaching phonics — or understanding the relationship between letters and sounds. This comes as a large body of scientific research details how we learn to read — and that’s through explicitly sounding out words. For some districts, this would represent a shift away from a “balanced literacy,” a broad-swing approach intended to foster a love of reading that includes phonics but doesn’t prioritize it.
Last spring, state lawmakers passed a bipartisan bill requiring the state board of education to come up with a literacy plan by the end of this month. While the state is making this plan a priority, it’s not a mandate for school districts. Curriculum decisions are left up to individual districts.
Nearly 15 months and two statewide listening tours later, Dr. Erica Thieman and Kirtsen Parr say they have a plan they’re proud of. Thieman is the director of K-12 curriculum and instruction for the state board, while Parr is with the standards and instruction department. They presented the plan, drafted with help from Illinois educators and literacy advocates, at the board meeting Wednesday, and say they’ve met with many people who are passionate about literacy education.
“The public engagement that has spiraled from the development of this plan has been inspiring and uplifting,” Thieman said. “We have watched educators and advocates with differing perspectives around the state unite behind a common cause.”
And that cause, they say, is making sure kids know how to read. Parr says the COVID-19 pandemic has made that mission difficult. She says the impact of the pandemic is felt the most on younger students.
While students’ English language arts scores increased by nearly 16% from 2022 to 2023, they remain below pre-pandemic levels, according to Illinois School Report Card data. And when comparing student performance in third through eighth grades, the youngest students struggled the most to meet performance levels.
“These learners were just beginning their journey as lifelong readers, when in-person schooling moved to virtual remote learning, with widely varying levels of support in the home,” Parr said. “Illinois education systems must prioritize literacy as a fundamental goal, recognizing it is essential in all aspects of student lives.”
Additionally, reading test scores over the last four years continue to be, on average, lower among Black and Hispanic students, students who are bilingual, experiencing homelessness and in state care.
Vice chair of the board Donna Leak says the data is frightening.
“I look around our table, and all the people around the table with masters and doctorates and degrees,” she said, adding that she then thinks about “where my third graders are. That sense of urgency is tremendous.”
Leak is superintendent of School District 168 in south suburban Chicago. She says, given what’s next for educators to start implementing this plan, the state board could start hosting webinars in the coming months.
“The fire is here, and we’re ready to move on it,” Leak said.
According to the plan, school districts must develop a rubric to evaluate their literacy instruction curriculum by this July.
And by July 2026, in a change that could cause controversy, the state plans to create a new content area test for would-be elementary teachers that would allow for a “language and literacy” subscore. Then, the number of candidates in each teacher preparation program who takes the test and passes the language and literacy portion for each teacher training program would be published.
Mawa Iqbal covers state government and politics for WBEZ. Follow @mawa_iqbal
Illinois
Unincorporated Bensenville residents say ‘nightmare’ rat infestation threatens their health, safety
UNINCORP. BENSENVILLE, Ill. (WLS) — People living in a neighborhood in unincorporated Bensenville say a rat infestation is a threat to their health and safety.
Those in the White Pines neighborhood say they know the source of the problem, but they feel like elected officials are not doing enough to help them.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
Multiple homeowners say the issue goes back at least two years. They believe one particular property is ground zero and that there have been no significant measures to eliminate what they are calling a rat infestation.
“It’s just a nightmare right now,” said White Pines resident Jim Brill.
Brill says for two years, he and his neighbors have dealt with rats running around their property.
“It’s impacting every house that surrounds that house. The rats come out when we put our trash cans out. They literally swarm out of the yard, that house’s yard, go in our trash cans,” Brill said.
Another neighbor says his home security picked up the rodents after they tripped the camera’s motion sensors, sharing at least a dozen videos with ABC7 showing them scurrying around the side of his house.
And pictures show multiple rats on the windowsills on the home that neighbors believe is the root of the issue.
“We have to, you know, take huge measures to maintain our property, and we’ve done that, but when your neighbor isn’t doing that, and then creating housing for these vermin, right, that carry disease, and can, you know, be troublesome and problematic, it’s quite frustrating,” said White Pines resident Kristin Henri.
Henri says her parents have lived there for more than 50 years, never with a rat problem, until 2024. She says the rats are a hazard to their health and safety.
“We’ve had rats on our property, running through in broad daylight, so it’s unnerving. I can’t let my dog out. I worry about my neighbor’s child across the street, who’s a toddler,” Henri said.
Henri and Brill say living in an unincorporated part of Bensenville has complicated matters. At this point, they believe it is in the county’s hands, but still the problem persists.
“We contacted the county. They keep telling us they’re going to take care of the problem, and they don’t,” Brill said.
“We need somebody to help eliminate this. It’s not fair to us. We maintain our properties, and we want to live in a safe environment,” Henri said.
The DuPage County Building and Zoning Staff told ABC7 they been working on this problem since 2024.
They are working with the owner of a single property to clean the home’s interior.
Once that’s done, the county says, it will have an exterminator come in and set traps in the area.
Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Sightings of a fireball were reported across Illinois and at least eight other states on Monday night.
The American Meteor Society received nearly 200 reports of a fireball seen over Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin around 10 p.m.
Some of the reports out of Illinois came from Chicago, Aurora, Carpentersville, Warrenville, Addison, Waukegan, Oak Lawn, Shorewood Westchester, and Glen Ellyn. There were also reports from Indiana, including Valparaiso and Fort Wayne.
There was also a report out of Ontario, Canada.
Home camera footage, posted by the American Meteor Society, shows a flash across the sky in Michigan about an hour Northwest of Detroit.
A car crashed into a home in unincorporated Cary, Illinois, while three people were inside Monday evening, fire officials said.
A spokesperson for the Cary Fire Protection District said they were called to a home in the 2500 block of Oakdale Terrace just after 5:30 p.m. after reports came in that a vehicle had crashed into a house.
When paramedics and firefighters arrived, they found a black Jeep had slammed into a house, causing damage.
Three people were in the home at the time, fire officials said, but they were all able to get out safely and no injuries were reported. There were two people in the Jeep who got checked out by paramedics for minor injuries, but they declined further medical attention and did not want to go to a hospital.
Because of the damage to the home, McHenry County officials deemed it unsafe to occupy until repairs were made.
The American Red Cross is helping the four residents of the home with temporary housing and other needs while repairs are made.
The circumstances surrounding the crash are under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. It was not clear if any charges or citations would be issued.
-
Connecticut30 seconds ago
How a carjacking in Connecticut led back to a man known as the crypto ‘Godfather’ in California
-
Florida6 minutes agoJury selection continues in fatal boat crash trial of South Florida real estate mogul George Pino
-
Delaware8 minutes agoDelaware is getting its first medical school, with classes set to start in 2028
-
Georgia16 minutes agoPolice seek public help identifying Georgia State MARTA stabbing suspect
-
Hawaii23 minutes ago
Kilauea sets record for lava fountaining episodes in any 1 eruption
-
Idaho26 minutes agoBoise lawyers give advice on how to comply with new bathroom bill
-
Illinois31 minutes agoUnincorporated Bensenville residents say ‘nightmare’ rat infestation threatens their health, safety
-
Indiana38 minutes agoHow Purdue Fans Can Watch Isaiah Hill vs. Luke Ertel in Indiana All-Star Game
