International Literacy Association

International professional organization

The International Literacy Association (ILA), formerly the International Reading Association (IRA), is an international global advocacy and member professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dialogue about research on reading, and encourage the habit of reading across the globe. The organization is headquartered in Newark, Delaware, United States, with a network of more than 300,000 literacy educators, researchers, and experts across 128 countries. The current ILA President of the Board is Kia Brown Dudley.

ILA champions rigorous research as the foundation for literacy leadership and as such developed research based standards for preparing and certifying literacy professionals: Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals, 2017 Edition (ILA Standards).

ILA sponsors the honor society Alpha Upsilon Alpha.

ILA offers a number of awards and grants for educators, researchers, and authors. Grants provide the opportunity for acclaimed field members to explore research areas in reading and literacy. Awards provide recognition to renowned authors, teachers, researchers, librarians, programs, etc. Applications are considered yearly by various committees and boards. The following list describes some of the grants and awards offered but is not limited to. The ILA offers Elva Knight Research Grant program annually provides funds to deserving researchers focused on literacy or teaching literacy. Applicants can conduct research in any way, but they must be ILA members focusing on reading/literacy. The grant is for $5,000 each. Applications close mid March. The ILA offers the Nila Banton Smith Teacher as Researcher Grant program. The $5,000 fund is offered to kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers, librarians, and literacy coaches, but teachers working directly in classrooms are favored. The grant allows teachers to explore reading, writing, or literacy related research. Applications close mid March. The ILA offers the Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan Outstanding Dissertation Award. Submitted applicants win based on their doctoral research conducted regarding literacy and/or reading. The committee considers research methodology, importance, literature review, and rationale to choose winners. Sharon Walpole is currently the chair of the committee. The 2023 award recipient was Lori Brunner, who received her Ph. D. from Michigan State University's College of Education. Her research revolved around preschool digital storybook apps, their introduction of new vocabulary, and their collaboration with digital enhancements. She found that digital storybooks create an advantage for children to learn more vocabulary. The ILA offers the Jerry Johns Outstanding Teacher Educator in Reading Award to a higher education professor who goes beyond average teaching to provide students with progressive, scholarly education on literacy and reading, while acting as a mentor for students. The award is $1,000. The 2022 award recipient was Tonya Wright, a language and literacy associate professor at the Michigan State University. Wright has been published multiple times and is also the project leader of the SOLID Start project, which stands for Science, Oral Language, and Literacy Development, from the Start of School. She was on the dissertation committee of Lori Brunner, the Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan Outstanding Dissertation Award recipient. Beginning in 1975, the ILA has offered a children’s literature award, which later became an annual award known as the Children’s and Young Adult's Book Awards. It is provided to authors' first or second published book that shows potential early on in their career. Many winners have gone on to receive other prominent award such as the Newbury Medal, Sibert Medal, Orbis Pictus Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Carnegie Medal, etc. The award includes six categories: Primary Fiction, Primary Nonfiction, Intermediate Fiction, Intermediate Nonfiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Young Adult Nonfiction. A committee of 15 professors, teachers, specialists, and people with experience in the field are chosen to pick one winner and one honor in each category every year. Authors from any country can apply for the award, but must be published in English in the calendar year. Prominent winners of the award include Laurence Yep, Nancy Bond, Christopher Paul Curtis, Karen Hesse, Sy Montgomery, Patricia Polacco, Philip Pullman, Rainbow Rowell, Rebecca Stead, Vince Vawter, and Virginia Euwer Wolff. 2023 award winners include Yong Vo for Gibberish, Shaelyn McDaniel for Hello Opportunity: The Story of Our Friend on Mars, Sarah Guillory for Nowhere Better Than Here, Barbara Binns for Unlawful Orders: A Portrait of Dr. James B. Williams, Tuskegee Airman, Surgeon, and Activist, Andrea L. Rogers for Man Made Monsters, and Jetta Grace Martin, Joshua Bloom, and Waldo E. Martin Jr. for Freedom! The Story of the Black Panther Party.

ILA has been recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 1978; ILA was reclassified to have Consultative Status with UNESCO in 1996 and continues to hold this status.