DELAND, Ill. (WCIA) — A Piatt County school is looking to prepare their students better for life after high school by focusing on reading and writing.

DeLand-Weldon Superintendent Michael Tresnak said the district received a grant of a few thousand dollars this year from the state. They decided to use it to bring in teachers over the summer to develop a new literacy plan for this year.

The superintendent said the school usually is average to slightly below average in testing compared to the rest of the state. He pitched the plan on Wednesday and said teachers are on board.

“The simplest terms going to expand the amount of time kids are reading, and we’re going to expand the amount of time in options in writing,” Tresnak said. “For instance, we might tell a teacher when they’re looking at assessment, is there a way of putting an essay question in there to get more writing? That’s what we want to look at.”

Tresnak said they have some of the money left over and are still deciding how to use it, moving forward.