The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is pleased to announce that 32 local education agencies (LEAs) were selected through a competitive sub-grant application process to receive services through the Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) program to improve literacy efforts at the local level. Elementary services will be provided to 40 individual schools within the participating LEAs; another 40 schools will receive secondary services.

Missouri is one of 11 states to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for its CLSD program. The $18 million grant will be distributed over five years, allowing the state to advance literacy skills for children from birth through Grade 12.

“Literacy serves as the foundation of all learning,” said Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven. “Reading by Grade 3 is critical to a child’s success both in school and in life. Improving literacy is central to our agency’s vision of improving lives through education.”

The Missouri CLSD program was designed to complement DESE’s commitment to literacy under the agency’s Show Me Success plan. The goal of the project is to improve educators’ working knowledge of evidence-based literacy strategies to effectively teach reading and writing to all students. This includes providing professional development to pre-service teachers in institutions of higher education as well as early childhood and K-12 educators. Additionally, the grant will help LEAs develop evidenced-based literacy plans to implement at their schools, while also providing additional literacy support for families. 

To view the list of participating LEAs and to follow the progress of this grant, visit the CLSD webpage here.