Open your free 30-day trial
Every classroom in your Illinois center, infant through pre-K, gets the full curriculum as soon as you sign up.
See how a teacher in an Illinois classroom finds the day's activity, materials list and ELBY tip on a phone or tablet in a few taps.
Browse 52 weeks of lessons for all five age groups, from infant rooms to pre-K, with IELG and IELDS crosswalks for Illinois.
Talk with our team about your Illinois program: ExceleRate goals, IDEC licensing visits, Preschool for All or CCAP families, and where LBP fits.
Learning Beyond Paper is the only all-in-one cloud-based early childhood curriculum with a virtual instructional coach. For an Illinois center that means a complete year of lesson plans, ELBY coaching, English and Spanish content, and 49.5 hours of on-demand professional development through LBP University, with lessons crosswalked to the Illinois Early Learning Guidelines and the IELDS.
LBP publishes Illinois crosswalks for four age bands. Infant, young toddler and older toddler lessons map to the Illinois Early Learning Guidelines for Children Birth to Age Three. Preschool and pre-K lessons map to the 2013 Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards. Those are the two frameworks ExceleRate Illinois names in its curriculum standard, so the alignment work is done before an assessor visits.
ELBY sits inside each lesson and coaches the teacher in the moment: how to scaffold an activity for a child who needs support, how to stretch it for a child who is ready, and what to watch for and note as it happens. New hires at Illinois centers get that guidance from their first day.
Every subscription includes LBP University: 49.5 hours of on-demand PD teachers take at their own pace. Illinois center rules call for 15 clock hours of in-service training a year, and new staff join the Gateways to Opportunity Registry within 30 days of hire. LBP University adds curriculum-specific learning alongside that.
Lesson plans, activity records and observation notes live in one place. When an ExceleRate assessor asks how your curriculum connects to the IELG and IELDS, or an IDEC licensing visit turns to your daily program, you can pull it up on screen instead of digging through binders.
Every new teacher logs in to the same lesson plans, materials lists and ELBY coaching your experienced staff use, so a new hire in an Illinois classroom has a clear plan on day one instead of a stack of photocopies.
Spanish content is part of every subscription. Illinois publishes the IELDS in Spanish too, so bilingual staff and families can follow the same learning goals in the language they use at home.
Infant, toddler, preschool and pre-K rooms all run on one yearly plan. Illinois directors manage one login and one renewal date rather than separate kits for each age group.
Every classroom in your Illinois center, infant through pre-K, gets the full curriculum as soon as you sign up.
A teacher opens the platform on a phone or tablet, picks their age group and week, and sees the activity setup, materials and ELBY's coaching tip. No printing or prep meeting is needed before the first lesson.
Yes. LBP publishes Illinois crosswalks for four age bands. Lessons for infants, young toddlers and older toddlers map to the Illinois Early Learning Guidelines for Children Birth to Age Three. Preschool and pre-K lessons map to the 2013 Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards, which cover age three to kindergarten enrollment. You can open each crosswalk on our curriculum alignments page.
Yes. Learning Beyond Paper is ExceleRate Illinois approved. ExceleRate recognizes programs through Licensed, Bronze, Silver and Gold Circles of Quality, and its Silver and Gold standards look for a curriculum aligned to the IELG and IELDS, with teachers trained on it and lesson plans that connect to those guidelines. LBP gives you the aligned curriculum, the daily plans and on-demand training for staff. Your Circle of Quality still depends on your full program evidence and the assessor’s visit.
Since July 1, 2026, the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) is the lead agency for child care licensing, and the center, home and group home rules moved from DCFS into IDEC’s Parts 2008, 2007 and 2009. IDEC makes an unannounced visit to every licensed program each year. LBP does not replace your licensing compliance work, but it gives you a written daily program for every room and a record of what each class has done, which helps when you’re asked about your curriculum.
Preschool for All funds at least 12.5 hours a week of preschool for eligible three- to five-year-olds, and IDEC requires grantees to use a standards-aligned, research-based curriculum alongside developmental screening. LBP’s preschool and pre-K lessons are crosswalked to the IELDS and come with daily plans, materials lists and an observational assessment tool. Your grant specialist and the PFA rules in Part 2050 decide what your program must submit, so check those before you switch.
The Child Care Assistance Program now sits with IDEC, and local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies decide family eligibility and carry out annual health and safety monitoring visits. LBP has no effect on CCAP eligibility or payments. What it gives programs serving CCAP families is the same full curriculum, family engagement tools and English and Spanish content in every room, so every child gets the same daily experience, for one school-wide price.
LBP University includes 49.5 hours of on-demand professional development with every subscription, built around the curriculum your teachers use each day. Illinois center licensing rules call for 15 clock hours of in-service training a year for directors and staff, and new staff join the Gateways to Opportunity Registry within 30 days of hire. Check with Gateways or your licensing representative before counting LBP University hours toward those requirements. More on our professional learning page.
One yearly subscription covers your whole Illinois center: every classroom from infant to pre-K, every teacher, ELBY coaching, the 49.5 hours of PD in LBP University, English and Spanish content and the Illinois crosswalks. There are no per-teacher or per-classroom fees. Optional materials kits are fulfilled through Lakeshore Learning if you want ready-made supplies, and our team can help with grant writing if you plan to fund curriculum through a grant.
Yes. English and Spanish content is included in every subscription at no extra charge. That suits Illinois, where the state publishes the IELDS in Spanish as well as English, so bilingual teachers and families can work from the same learning goals. Teachers can share activity ideas and family engagement materials in either language, and the observational assessment tool lets you share each child’s progress with families.
Sign up for the 30-day free trial. Every classroom in your Illinois program gets full access straight away, so you can test lessons in an infant room and a pre-K room in the same week. If you’d like a walkthrough first, book a demo and we’ll show you the Illinois crosswalks, ELBY and LBP University. When the trial ends, you decide whether to start a yearly subscription.
Yes. Lessons for every age band also align to the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF), and each activity carries CLASS® keys, which helps Head Start and Early Head Start partners. Licensed family child care homes in Illinois, which can care for up to 12 children with an assistant, can use lessons from each age group on one subscription. See our Head Start and family child care pages.
Sensory, language, and attachment-focused lessons for ages 0–12 months.
Independence, early language, and mobility activities for ages 12–24 months.
Creativity, communication, and social growth for ages 24–36 months.
Standards-aligned, play-based lessons for children ages 3–4 years.
Kindergarten readiness and school-preparedness for children ages 4–5 years.
Center Director, Pirates Den Daycare
Infant and toddler lessons map to the Illinois Early Learning Guidelines and preschool lessons to the 2013 IELDS, giving you a clear curriculum record for ExceleRate and IDEC visits.
Every classroom in your Illinois program gets full access for 30 days. Decide when you're ready.
Directors in Illinois and across the country use Learning Beyond Paper to plan, teach and document every day.
Every Illinois classroom gets the full curriculum from day one.
A live walkthrough built around your Illinois program.
Infant through pre-k — one platform, one price, complete coverage.
