Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant Program

 

Boosting literacy among school-age children remains a national priority. Nearly one third of students in the United States have not developed the foundational reading skills needed to succeed academically, with students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and English learners especially at risk. The goal of the U.S. Department of Education’s Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy (SRCL) program was to improve literacy for children from birth through grade 12, with an emphasis on disadvantaged children. The program also emphasized use of evidence-based practices and support for high-quality literacy instruction.  This report assesses how well SRCL implementation was aligned with these emphases, using information collected from states, districts, and schools in all 11 states awarded three-year grants in 2017. Key Findings include: Uneven targeting of resources to disadvantaged schools suggests that SRCL’s funding objectives were not realized in every state, though limited data availability and variation in states’ definitions of disadvantage make it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Using a common definition of disadvantage created for the study, not all states funded their most disadvantaged schools consistently in terms of students from low-income families, students with disabilities, English learners, or average English language arts scores. Literacy programs supported by rigorous research evidence were not a focus, according to independent reviews of the quality of the research. Most SRCL districts purchased at least one literacy program with SRCL funds, but few of these districts purchased programs supported by rigorous evidence. In addition, few teachers in SRCL schools reported using such programs. Teachers used the kinds of comprehensive literacy instruction consistent with research and emphasized by SRCL less widely than expected. Few teachers reported engaging in all six features of high-quality comprehensive literacy instruction measured by the study, although most engaged in at least half of the features.