News Release - U.S. Department of Education awards Colorado a five-year, $16 million grant for literacy advancement

Sept. 9, 2020

U.S. Department of Education awards Colorado a five-year, $16 million grant for literacy advancement

DENVER - The U.S. Department of Education awarded Colorado a $16 million grant to implement the Colorado Comprehensive Literacy Project, which aims to advance literacy skills for children from birth to grade 12 with special emphasis on disadvantaged children, including children living in poverty, English learners and children with disabilities.

The Comprehensive Literacy State Development Program is a competitive federal grant that seeks to improve literacy in the state by using evidence-based practices, activities and interventions, including pre-literacy skills. The grant will span five years and will provide funding to districts through a competitive grant process.

“This funding will enable the state to build upon the progress from the READ Act, which focuses resources on students in kindergarten through third grade,” said Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes. “This grant will allow us to support learning prior to kindergarten and after third grade.  And it will allow us to focus on historically underserved populations.”

The grant will provide professional development and technical assistance, literacy coaching, and will help districts disseminate family literacy information. Ninety-five percent of the funds will be directed to school districts, both rural and urban that are geographically diverse, and funds will be distributed to at least three Qualified Opportunity Zones throughout Colorado.

The Colorado Comprehensive Literacy Project activities will also create an infrastructure for districts to develop their own local literacy plans and to apply for funding to implement research-based literacy strategies and interventions. The timeline and process for distributing the funds through a competitive process is still being determined. 

For more information about the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Program, please click here.

###