Lincoln Schools awarded four-year literacy grant

Last October, Montana was awarded a five-year, $50 million literacy grant through the U.S. Department of Education. In June, the state awarded Lincoln Schools a subgrant for a little over one million dollars.

According to a press release from the Office of Public Instruction, the Montana Comprehensive Literacy State Development Project broke the Striving Readers Comprehensive State Development Program literacy grant into competitive subgrants that were awarded to eligible districts. Lincoln Public Schools was selected as one of 31 districts out of 43 to receive a subgrant.

Lincoln Schools will be eligible for up to $125,000 during the first year of the grant and up to $250,000 during each of the second through fifth years of the grant.

"What they call the first year is really July to October. The money for that year varies and we do not have the amount yet that Lincoln will receive"," said school Superintendent Jennifer Packer. "It is stated that it will be up to $125,000, but we will not get that amount. It will be much lower than that. Year two begins in October...that year, plus the other three years, we will get $250,000 each year,"

A leadership team including Packer and school Counselor Kathy Heisler worked to collect data for writing the grant this spring. They will work closely with reading coach Annette Gardner to implement the grant. Gardner's position was established through the Montana Comprehensive Literacy Project Grant that the school received in 2018.

Packer said the new grant "is very similar to the MCLP grant but will allow more flexibility to increase literacy rates across the curriculum, such has math literacy, writing literacy, etc. The MCLP grant was really developed as the years progressed and fine-tuned to be used in the development of the new grant."

Funding from that grant ends in January.

Some highlights of the new grant include funding for a preschool teacher, literacy aides, a reading coach and an instructional coach, said Heisler.

According to the Office of Public Instruction, the districts used "analysis of student literacy data to identify where an increased focus in instruction is needed to meet the needs of identified disadvantaged student groups." Districts then used this information to propose "high-quality plans for improvement in teaching and learning that will be monitored through a Continuous Improvement Cycle."

"We will be bringing in a few different evidenced based programs that will benefit the students. Programs like Zoo Phonics for the pre-school and E-spark, along with continuing the successful programs. We are able to get new technology for student use and teacher use to improve teaching practices. The grant also helps with professional development for teachers to improve teaching practices," Packer said.

In addition to the emphasis on supporting the needs of disadvantaged children, the Striving Readers Comprehensive State Program literacy grant identified several specific outcomes for the grant. These include increasing "the percentage of participating four-year-old children who achieve significant gains in oral language skills," increasing "the percentage of participating fifth-grade, eighth-grade, and high school students who meet or exceed proficiency on the state reading/language arts assessments," and increasing "the percentage of all participating disadvantaged student groups who meet or exceed proficiency on the state reading/language arts assessments by five percent annually."