By the time you read this issue of Literacy Today,
November will have arrived as the calendar moves
toward the end of 2020 (drumroll, please!). As I
write this, my networks of educators, both P–12
and higher education, are engaging and supporting
students in learning virtually, face to face, or a
hybrid of the two. These educators are my heroes.
The year 2020 brought several challenges,
many of which were courtesy of COVID-19. For
the International Literacy Association (ILA), those
challenges invited change.
The most visible of these changes is the pivot to
virtual offerings, including the following:
ILA at Home Webinars. These hourlong
webinars that include interactive Q&As have
so far featured educators such as Donalyn
Miller, Timothy Shanahan, Marjorie Y. Lipson,
Jeanne R. Paratore, and Victoria J. Risko and
are available free to members.
Free events. ILA has offered several open-
access webinars with some of the biggest
names in literacy—such as Kwame Alexander,
Susan B. Neuman, Ernest Morrell, and Nell K.
Duke—reflecting on timely topics including
anti-racism, book access in the time of COVID,
and teaching in turbulent times.
ILA Workinar. This combination of a webinar
and workshop in August was a low-cost event
held in conjunction with CASEL (Collaborative
for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning)
that focused on planning for social-emotional
learning in literacy instruction. More workinars
will be announced in the future.
ILA Intensive. This inaugural event in
September, which brought the popular ILA
in-person offering into the virtual realm,
featured speakers such as Gina Cervetti,
P. David Pearson, Timothy Rasinski, and more.
Intensives bring researchers and practitioners
together on key literacy topics and feature a
Positive Notes F rom 2020
ILA UPDATE
variety of session formats including keynotes,
panels, and short talks. Be on the lookout for
more of these in the future as well.
And finally, there was ILA Next, which had
only just begun at the time this issue went to
press. This interactive learning event featured
progressive workshops organized by learner
ages that built sequentially each week for four
weeks. The monthlong event also featured
Main Stage speakers, Learning Labs, and a
virtual exhibit hall.
Registration is still available for these events, as
all of them are available to view on demand. Note
that ILA Next registration is available only through
the end of January. Visit literacyworldwide.org
/digitalevents for more information about these
as well as upcoming offerings, which are added
regularly.
You’ll also find on our website the updated
resource Standards for the Preparation of Literacy
Professionals 2017 (Standards 2017), which is
the basis for ILA’s newly expanded National
Recognition program. ILA National Recognition and
National Recognition With Distinction, the highest
honor awarded by ILA to an institution, recognizes
reading/literacy specialist and now elementary/
intermediate classroom teacher preparation
programs that align to the rigorous benchmarks
set forth in Standards 2017. Alignment to the
standards means an institution is among the best
in teacher preparation, making this initiative part
of ILA’s ongoing efforts to ensure educators enter
the workforce ready to tackle today’s challenges,
including issues of equity and digital access. Check
out literacyworldwide.org/standards2017 and
ilanationalrecognition.org for more information.
You’ll also find a feature about the National
Recognition program on page 32.
In addition to that, much of this issue focuses
on the theme of teacher preparation, including our
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literacyworldwide.org | November/December 2020 | LITERACY TODAY