Healey-Driscoll Administration Celebrates Over $40 Million in Federal Education Funding to Support Literacy and Student Assessments
Funding to build on Administration's new Literacy Launch
Initiative
BOSTON – The Healey-Driscoll Administration is
celebrating that Massachusetts has been awarded more than $40 million from the
Biden-Harris administration to support the state’s literacy efforts and
continued work to improve standardized assessments over the next five
years.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)
has been awarded the Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant, the
largest literacy grant offered by the federal government, receiving $38.4
million over the next five years. Massachusetts previously received this award
and used it to create GLEAM, Growing Literacy Equity Across Massachusetts. This
new funding will build on Literacy Launch and previous GLEAM grants to expand
evidence-based and culturally and linguistically sustaining practices for
English language arts and literacy in grades pre-K through 12 through
additional grants to districts and schools.
“Every student in Massachusetts needs to be able to read and
read well. That’s why we created Literacy Launch to provide districts with the
tools to make sure their students are receiving high-quality, evidence-based
reading material. I'm grateful to the Biden-Harris Administration for this
funding that will help us reach even more districts and students with these
important resources,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Statewide assessments
are an important measure of student achievement and help us ensure students
across Massachusetts are receiving the high-quality education they deserve.
This federal funding will enable high-quality instruction and on-going assessments
in the critical science and technology STEM fields.”
“Education is a top priority for our administration,
including strengthening access to high-quality reading material and reducing
inequitable gaps in achievement,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “One
critical area of focus is around literacy and helping our students to read
well. Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration and U.S. Department of
Education, we can accelerate our efforts to provide Massachusetts’ local school
districts and communities with the evidence-based literacy tools they need to
set students up for success in school and life.”
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has
been working in close partnership with over 50 teachers and with feedback from
thousands of students to create the innovative science and
technology/engineering state assessment for grades 5 and 8 that includes
investigations using computer simulations, as well as hands-on classroom-based
assessments utilizing manipulatives and group work. The administration is being
awarded $3.9 million this coming year through the Comprehensive Grants for
State Assessments. The funding will provide professional development to science
educators and support development of new curriculum-embedded science
performance tasks for students in kindergarten through grade 8. These tasks
will allow educators to assess students’ knowledge in real-time as part of
on-going learning. The grant will also support districts in adopting
high-quality science instructional materials.
“In Massachusetts, we are prioritizing literacy because of
the simple, yet profound reality that establishing literacy skills early is not
only foundational to the remainder of a students’ education, it becomes a
foundational marker for the remainder of their life. With Literacy Launch and
this additional funding for literacy grants, we are providing districts with
tools and resources to see to it that all students learn to read and read
well,” said Education Secretary Dr. Patrick Tutwiler. “The federal
funding will also support our continued efforts to improve standardized
assessments and student experiences with them. The new science and
technology/engineering state assessment is more dynamic, hands-on, and
reflective of real-world experiences, engaging students in STEM.”
“These significant federal investments will help more
Massachusetts students become successful readers and improve science
instruction and assessment,” said Acting Commissioner of Elementary and
Secondary Education Russell Johnston. “The grants are a huge boost for two
of our goals: having individualized supports that enable all students to excel
at grade level or beyond, and creating learning experiences that are relevant,
real-world, and interactive.”
The state’s fiscal year 2025 budget includes $20 million for Governor
Healey’s Literacy Launch Initiative: Reading Success from Age 3
through Grade 3, a bold strategy to expand access to evidence-based reading
instruction for Massachusetts students. The initiative will provide competitive
grants to school districts to adopt high-quality literacy materials and provide
technical support, coaching, and professional development to educators.
Literacy Launch builds on the multi-year technical support and funding for
improvements in literacy teaching and materials DESE has offered since 2020,
including GLEAM.
The federal government requires that states administer to
all students annual statewide assessments for specific grades and subject
areas, including science. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
piloted the innovative science and technology/engineering state assessment
for grades 5 and 8 during 2020–2023 with groups of students. A larger pilot
took place in spring 2024 with approximately 12,000 students per grade.
Here is a sampling of the feedback DESE has received on the
science assessment:
"This is teaching us to expand the knowledge and
experience of our students in a way to put real-life problems in front of
them." — Science
teacher from 2022 science pilot assessment
"I liked that we were able to use our own data from our
own experiments and not take them out of an article or a data table like
usual." — Grade
8 student from 2021 science pilot assessment
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