Big changes for Massachusetts reading instruction are on the horizon, and there’s good news for school districts. More funding may be available to help your students succeed.
In addition to Governor Maura Healey’s Massachusetts’ Literacy Launch initiative, a federal literacy grant promises $38 million will be funneled into the commonwealth over the next five years.
We know district and school leaders have already been making big shifts to meet the Mass Literacy mandates that have rolled out over the past few years, but what do these new programs mean for your school district? And how do you take advantage of the current state and federal funding to support your students’ literacy growth?
Read on for answers, including helpful resources and grant options for Bay State districts.
What Is Massachusetts’ Literacy Launch?
Formally known as Literacy Launch: Reading Success from Age 3 through Grade 3, the five-year plan to improve early literacy in the commonwealth was introduced by Governor Maura Healey during her State of the Commonwealth address in January 2024. It’s expected to roll out in stages through 2029.
Healey says the program will “expand evidence-based and culturally and linguistically sustaining practices for English language arts and literacy in grades pre-K through 12.” She’s outlined three methods for delivering on that promise
- Providing grants to districts to fund literacy programs updates. Money will be available for districts who qualify for the grants to hire literacy support staff, provide staff with literacy instruction training, purchase new high quality instruction materials, and implement early literacy assessments, along with a host of other investments meant to move districts toward evidence-based instruction.
- Reviewing teacher education programs. Literacy Launch funding will accelerate a review of Massachusetts-based educator preparation programs (EPPs) under way by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). With the new funding, DESE is expected to accelerate its assessment of EPPs’ programmatic alignment to the state’s Early Literacy Program Approval Criteria. This will help college students determine whether their educator preparation program provides the training they need to deliver evidence-based literacy instruction when they step into a classroom.
- Completing a statewide assessment of preschool literacy needs. A partnership between DESE and the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) is under way to develop a Massachusetts Preschool to Kindergarten Transition Toolkit for districts, and to identify high quality instructional materials (HQIM) and literacy assessments for preschools.
So far, $20 million has been set aside in the 2025 state budget for the first year of the program.
How Can My District Get Literacy Launch Funding?
Literacy Launch grants are expected to be available on an annual basis through FY29, but just one of those grants has been announced so far.
PRISM I
The program’s first district grant is the PRISM I, an acronym that’s short for Partnership for Reading Success – Massachusetts. The grant provides selected districts with funds to spend on approved items such as:
- Salaries of reading interventionists, literacy coaches, and/or reading specialists
- High-dosage tutoring focused on 1st grade
- Early literacy assessments
- Evidence-based Tier 1 language and literacy instructional materials
Districts that qualify for PRISM I funding will have access to a portion of a $27 million Massachusetts reading initiative fund over the next five years.
Applications for this grant closed in early October 2024, but there’s good news for districts who didn’t qualify — more funding is coming. DESE is expected to open up additional Literacy Launch grants with different eligibility requirements and programming.
Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant
Federal funding may be another option for districts that did not qualify for the Prism I grant.
In 2024, Massachusetts was awarded $38.4 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Education’s Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grant program, a federal initiative that’s exclusively focused on literacy.
The last time Massachusetts received funds from this federal program, it was used to create the current GLEAM (Growing Literacy Equity Across Massachusetts) grant fund that schools across the Commonwealth have used since 2020 to implement new early literacy programs.
Exactly how funds will be spent this time around has yet to be announced, but there are a few details that have been released:
- The Healey administration has promised to use some of the funds to improve standardized assessments, as well as expanding on Literacy Launch grants to provide more districts with funding to purchase high-quality reading material and improve literacy supports.
- Like the state reading initiative grants, the 2024 CLSD funding will be distributed over the next five years to further expand evidence-based and culturally and linguistically sustaining practices for English language arts and literacy in grades pre-K through 12.
More Massachusetts’ Reading Resources Districts Can Turn To
In addition to the funding options, there are several other resources Massachusetts districts should be aware of as they evaluate how to improve early literacy programs.
Tools for Engaging Families
The Mass Literacy Guide released by DESE in 2020 to provide districts with practical strategies and resources for preK-3 literacy has gotten a major overhaul.
Districts can now access a host of tools to share with parents and guardians so they too can support their children’s early reading growth. The guide also includes resources for educators to help answer caregiver questions about evidence-based literacy practices.
Adolescent Literacy Intervention Selection Tool (A-LIST)
The literacy screening mandates implemented across the state in recent years extend only through the 3rd grade, but what about your older students? Massachusetts districts now have a tool to ensure the supports provided for students in grades 4-12 are evidence-based.
DESE launched the A-List, a list of literacy intervention programs for older students that have been reviewed by the department and found to both:
- Align with recommendations from the IES Practice Guide Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9
- Support enactment of culturally and linguistically sustaining practices (CLSP)
Reading Success in One Massachusetts District
One Massachusetts district that has prioritized early literacy intervention has seen the number of fluent readers skyrocket.
Take a peek as educators from Pittsfield Public Schools district share what has been making all the difference for their 1st graders.
About Ignite Reading
Ignite Reading delivers 1:1 online tutoring to students who need extra support in learning to read. Our expert tutors teach students the foundational skills they need to become confident, fluent readers by the end of 1st grade.
With a team of literacy specialists and highly trained tutors, we provide daily, targeted instruction that quickly closes decoding gaps, so students can successfully make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn.
