How will the Illinois Early Learning Standards and Benchmarks affect my child?
Is your child in a program that receives Early Childhood Block Grant funding? By law, its comprehensive services must be aligned with the Illinois Early Learning Standards. The teachers there will use the Early Learning Benchmarks within the Standards to help them plan activities for the children in their classrooms. They will provide a variety of experiences designed to help children to reach the Benchmarks. Many teachers in programs that do not receive block grant money also choose to adopt the Standards. If your child is in such a program, his teachers may be using the Illinois Early Learning Benchmarks to help them plan curriculum and assess children’s knowledge and skills. Early childhood programs that use the Illinois Early Learning Standards are NOT required to use any specific curriculum. A wide range of experiences, activities, or curricula can be used to help children achieve the Benchmarks. For example, a preschool teacher would want to plan activities to help children notic
