District 21 outlines literacy plan, recommends SLANT structured-literacy pilot for special education

District 21 staff presented a spring literacy update Thursday, reporting multi-language phonics assessment results, a special-education pilot of structured-literacy curricula and a timeline for reviewing and adopting district-wide reading resources.

The district said it is aligning its work with the Illinois State Board of Education's three literacy goals: evidence-based instruction for every student, ongoing educator preparation and leaders equipped to sustain equitable conditions. The presentation referenced Scarborough's "reading rope" model as the research basis for integrating language comprehension and word recognition.

Administrators described ongoing implementation of a benchmark phonics program in kindergarten through fifth grade and presented midyear phonics-assessment snapshots: kindergarten end-of-trimester 2 results showed 67% meeting or exceeding end-of-year expectations in the English monolingual classrooms; first-grade midyear results were lower, reflecting differences in skill expectations and assessment timing.

Special-education staff piloted three interventions for students with reading needs: SLANT, Wilson and the Sunday System. The pilot used the Word Identification and Spelling Test (WIST) to measure progress for 41 students. According to the district, SLANT showed the largest percentage-point growth over the roughly three-month pilot period, and teacher feedback favored SLANT for its multisensory, small-group, sequential approach.

"Students who participated in the pilot made adequate progress towards their IEP goals," said Alana Lambert, a student-services coordinator. The district plans to provide focused professional development this summer for resource staff trained on SLANT and to revisit whether SLANT might be used more broadly across MTSS tiers after further data review.

District leaders said a district-wide reading-resource review will continue into 2025-26: early adopters will pilot selected Tier 1 materials and a stakeholder committee will use the state literacy curriculum evaluation rubric to recommend a K-5 reading resource. The timeline includes summer professional development, a late-fall committee review and spring 2026 early-adopter classroom rollouts.

Board members asked for clarity about benchmark changes and measurement windows; staff responded that year-to-year comparisons reflect different assessment points and increasing skill expectations across grades rather than a single change in benchmark scoring. No formal adoption vote was taken Thursday; the board will receive continued updates as the review proceeds.