Aurora West begins year one of HMH literacy rollout; district cites early gains and technology hurdles

District instructional leaders told the Aurora West USD 129 board on Oct. 20 that the district is in the first year of implementing the HMH elementary literacy curriculum (InterReading and Arriba La Lectura) across all 10 elementary buildings. They said the program emphasizes structured foundational skills, grade-level text, daily writing and small-group instruction and that it was chosen because it aligns with the Illinois State Literacy Plan and provides a bilingual equivalent to the English materials.

Dr. Vasquez said the district selected HMH after a multi-year process that included a literacy committee and instructional minutes committee. "We used the Illinois literacy plan to ground our thinking," Vasquez said, and the district added 15 minutes to the school day and moved to a common district schedule so classrooms could implement the program consistently across buildings.

Dr. Waddell and other presenters described specific classroom components: explicit phonics routines, scaffolded small-group work, a systematic progression of lessons, daily writing…