Kentucky Awarded the Federal 2024 Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant
On September 3, 2024, the United States Department of Education (USDE) awarded the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) a 5-year, $54,985,544.00, Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grant to advance literacy skills, including pre-literacy skills, reading and writing, with an emphasis on disadvantaged children, including children living in poverty, English learners and children with disabilities.
The CLSD discretionary grant program, renamed Kentucky Comprehensive Literacy 2025 (KyCL 25), will provide competitive funding to districts to strengthen high-quality instructional resources (HQIRs) and curriculum based professional learning (CBPL) for all levels. KyCL 25 will focus on increasing student literacy achievement through four project goals.
Goal 1: Instructional staff will use evidence-based, literacy HQIRs to deliver coherent and aligned instruction to all students.
Goal 2: Instructional staff will use evidence-based, literacy HQIRs to support struggling readers to narrow the achievement gap for our target populations in a cycle of continuous improvement.
Goal 3: Instructional staff will be engaged in sustained, aligned, job-embedded, high-quality CBPL focused on a literacy HQIR.
Goal 4: Schools will increase family engagement in the literacy development of their student(s) and awareness of resources to aid in supplemental literacy instruction at home.
The KDE Office of Teaching and Learning is issuing a Request for Application (RFA) for subgrantees for the KyCL 25 grant that can be found on the Competitive Grants Webpage. Funding will be based on the number of students in each district feeder system designated as small, medium and large. The number of awards will depend on the number and size of the awarded applicants. The KDE anticipates funding approximately 40 districts. The four-year award for small districts would be $1,065,000.00, medium districts would be $1,300,000.00 and large districts would be $1,560,000.00. All public-school districts and state schools can apply. No matching funds are required. RFA’s should be submitted by Dec. 18, 2024, at 4 p.m. ET. Funding for this grant will begin on July 1, 2025, and end on Sept. 30, 2029.
Structured Literacy Beyond Early Literacy Instruction: Developing Skilled Middle and High School Readers Webinar Series Session 2 Materials and Recording Available Now!
 Do you know middle and high school teachers supporting students who are not yet skilled readers? If the answer is yes, the Developing Skilled Middle and High School Readers Webinar Series for grade 6-12 teachers and instructional coaches may be of interest.
This series shows how the structured literacy practices that are transforming early literacy instruction in Kentucky - as a result of the Read to Succeed Act (SB 9, 2022) and the Kentucky Reading Academies’ LETRS professional learning - can positively impact middle and high school reading and writing instruction.
Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, learning materials will be posted on the adolescent structured literacy webpage to provide evidence-based strategies and practices for developing skilled middle and high school readers and writers. These include:
To help us support literacy development at every grade level, share this information with grade 6-12 teachers and instructional coaches.
Please contact ELAteam@education.ky.gov with questions.
ICYMI: FY25 Reading Diagnostic and Intervention Fund Mini Grant RFA
The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Office of Teaching and Learning has issued a request for applications (RFA) for the fiscal year 2025 Reading Diagnostic and Intervention Fund Mini-Grants. Kentucky public school districts must apply on behalf of individual schools. The Kentucky School for the Blind and Kentucky School for the Deaf also are eligible to apply.
The RFA can be found on the Competitive Grants from KDE webpage.
As specified in KRS 158.792, the Reading Diagnostic and Intervention fund is created to help teachers and library media specialists improve the reading skills of struggling readers in kindergarten through grade three (3). The Reading Diagnostic and Intervention Fund mini grant will help districts adopt high-quality instructional resources (HQIRs) that support the implementation of structured literacy practices for tier 2 and/or tier 3 reading instruction in kindergarten through grade three (3). Primary, or tier 1, HQIRs rated green on EdReports may be considered for purchase with mini-grant funds for the purpose of implementing tier 2 instruction.
A district/school shall use funding to purchase instructional resources to support the implementation of structured literacy practices, supplement, not replace, the classroom comprehensive reading program and align with the KDE’s definition of HQIRs as listed below:
Important Dates
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October 22, 2 p.m. ET: Technical Assistance Webinar
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October 29, 4 p.m. ET: Deadline for questions. All questions must be sent to KDERFP@education.ky.gov.
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