Report Urges Illinois to Close Gaps in Math Achievement and Boost Outcomes

Illinois Mathematics Achievement: Patterns and Persistent Gaps

In 2024, only 38% of Illinois students in grades 3–8 met proficiency standards in mathematics (Illinois Report Card, 2025), a figure that remains below pre-pandemic levels. Significant gaps also persist across student groups. While 56% of white 8th graders performed proficient or above on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 11% of Black students, 22% of Hispanic students, and 18% of economically disadvantaged students met the same bar. By contrast, Illinois reading proficiency now meets or exceeds pre-pandemic levels across virtually all student subgroups (ISBE, 2025).

In response, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has developed a statewide Illinois Comprehensive Numeracy Plan (released June 2026). This Plan provides guidance, tools, and resources to support equitable, high-quality mathematics instruction. This brief identifies three legislative options that policymakers may consider to further support the Plan’s implementation.

Key Findings

Research and state data point to three areas where current conditions may be limiting mathematics achievement: instructional time, teacher preparation, and access to instructional coaching. Each area is associated with improved student outcomes, with the largest effects observed for students from historically underserved groups.

• Instructional time for mathematics. Illinois mandates 60 daily minutes of reading instruction for struggling K–3 readers, but there is no equivalent requirement for mathematics even though mathematics achievement lags behind that of ELA. Alabama’s Numeracy Act (2022)—the only state with minimum requirements for mathematics at 60-minutes daily—is associated with 4th-grade scores climbing from last nationally in 2019 to 32nd in 2024 (above the national average).
• Teacher preparation in mathematics. Over 35% of Illinois preservice elementary teachers did not pass the content exam on their first attempt; more than 20% did not pass across multiple attempts (ISBE, 2024). Most Illinois programs require fewer mathematics education credits than national professional organizations recommend, and over 60% of elementary programs nationally require six or fewer credits in mathematics content (Garner et al., 2024).
• Access to mathematics instructional coaches. Only 17.2% of Illinois public schools had a mathematics coach in 2020–21 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021), and that share has likely declined as pandemic relief-funded positions expired. Research indicates that schools serving students of color and low-income students tend to have higher concentrations of novice teachers (Education Trust, 2022), who may benefit most from sustained coaching support.

Policy Options for Legislative Consideration

Several pathways exist that could help support the state’s Comprehensive Numeracy Plan going forward.

• Pathway 1: Establish a minimum of 60 minutes of daily mathematics instruction for grades K–5. Consistent with Illinois’s existing reading mandate, Alabama’s Numeracy Act (2022), and Maryland’s new requirements beginning in 2027-208, this approach would set a floor for mathematics instructional time while preserving local scheduling flexibility. Accountability could be implemented through a schedule review and approval by ISBE.
• Pathway 2: Establish minimum mathematics education coursework requirements for elementary teacher licensure. Illinois currently lacks specific credit-hour requirements for preservice teachers in mathematics content or methods. A minimum of 12–15 combined credits—consistent with recommendations from national professional organizations and aligned with model states such as Alabama and Virginia—would establish a common robust standard across programs while preserving institutional flexibility in course design.
• Pathway 3: Invest in school-based mathematics instructional coaches, with phased implementation prioritized by poverty and accountability tier. Similar to the $3 million investment made for the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan (Smylie, 2024), grant funding could support the training and hiring of mathematics coaches—consistent with coaching efforts in Missouri and Alabama. The current Illinois Elementary Mathematics Specialist (EMS) endorsement, offered at UIC, the University of Chicago, and National Louis University, provides an existing infrastructure for coach preparation.

Looking Ahead

The Illinois Comprehensive Numeracy Plan (ISBE, 2026) offers a framework for improving mathematics instruction and learning across the state. Accompanying legislative action on instructional time, teacher preparation, and instructional coaching could provide the structural and fiscal conditions to support implementation. Each option involves tradeoffs—between state mandates and local flexibility, between immediate investment and longer-term capacity building—that policymakers will need to weigh, considering fiscal constraints and local context.

Read the full report here

The Future of Math

Mason and co-author Phi Nguyen were also guests on the Illinois Policy Unpacked podcast, where they discussed the reasoning behind the plan, their role in its development, and how it could improve outcomes for students across Illinois.

This article was originally published by the University of Illinois System Institute of Government and Public Affairs