The Illinois Committee for Effective Literacy (IL-CEL) convened in 2022 to advocate for high quality literacy education for Multilingual Learners (MLs) in the state of Illinois. In 2024, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) published the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan as a guide for districts and schools across the state. The committee has continued to expand support for educators who serve MLs through presentations, white papers, collaborating, and current work related to providing more specific guidance for school and district leaders on grade-specific literacy practices, research and resources. 

In 2026, IL-CEL published Accessible and Responsive Literacy Instruction: Grade-Specific Recommendations for Multilingual Learners in Illinois as a companion to the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan. These recommendations are designed to guide teachers and school leaders to nurture multilingual learners’ growth as readers, writers, and orators by providing opportunities to explore and express themselves in multiple languages and modes of communication. IL-CEL intends for this framework to be adopted by the Illinois State Board of Education as part of the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan to ensure equitable and accessible literacy instruction for all multilingual learners.

These guidelines provide foundational principles and concrete examples for promoting linguistic and culturally relevant and appropriate instructional  practices that capitalize on rich interaction in and across content areas, and among peers, teachers, families and the wider community. This in turn, sets multilingual  learners up for academic success and positions them to thrive in a multicultural and multilingual global landscape. 

IL-CEL’s recommendations aim to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate and responsive guidance for educators and school/district leaders implementing the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan. This guide offers specific considerations, strategies, and tools to ensure multilingual learners who are developing English as their second or new language succeed in school. The guidelines are designed to provide a broad research-based framework for delivering equitable, inclusive, linguistically and culturally responsive literacy instruction.

Click here to read the Accessible and Responsive Literacy Instruction: Grade-Specific Recommendations for Multilingual Learners in Illinois

For more information, contact ilmultilingualliteracy@gmail.com