FY2025: Partnership for Reading Success — Massachusetts (PRISM) I

Fund Code: 0592

Purpose:

The Partnership for Reading Success — Massachusetts (PRISM) I grant is a component of Literacy Launch, an initiative to promote early literacy success for ALL Massachusetts students. This competitive grant will support local education agencies (LEAs), including districts and charter schools, to implement and sustain an evidence-based, culturally and linguistically sustaining multi-tiered system of support for literacy in grades preK–3. Ultimately, a high proportion of students in PRISM districts will meet reading benchmarks, with equitable experiences and outcomes for all student groups.

DESE in collaboration with EEC will provide significant resources, in the form of funding, coaching, and technical assistance resources to PRISM districts and community-based preschool partners, and directly support/guide the districts and community-based preschool partners in an equity-focused literacy improvement planning process and operationalization of that plan. Please see the PRISM Program Details attachment for more information about what this grant program entails.

Please note, this grant opportunity is pending funding.

Priorities:

DESE will award PRISM I grants to LEAs/consortia whose applications most effectively demonstrate the following conditions for successful implementation:

• Recent emphasis on and investments in evidence-based, culturally sustaining early literacy practices;
• Commitment to early literacy improvement, and specifically to PRISM, from key constituencies including school committee, principals, and teachers;
• Acknowledgement of and meaningful steps to address early literacy achievement disparities along lines of race, income, language status, and/or disability status.

In addition, competitive priority will be awarded to LEAs/consortia for each of the following characteristics:

• Below-average overall proportion of students meeting expectations on 2024 grade 3 ELA/Literacy MCAS;
• Recent substantial increase in newcomer enrollment;
• LEAs or consortia with fewer than 1,000 students enrolled in grades K-3 as listed on DESE's Enrollment by Grade report at the time this grant is due;
• LEAs with a dual-language program or school;
• LEAs applying as a consortium;
• Districts or schools in chronically underperforming status.

Eligibility:

All public school districts and charter schools are eligible to apply.

• At the time of application, the LEA must be using high-quality instructional materials for Tier 1 instruction in grades K–3 ELA/literacy.
• All schools serving grades preK–3 in the LEA must participate in the PRISM program if awarded this grant, up to a cap of 15 participating schools per LEA. For LEAs with more than 15 schools serving grades preK–3, the LEA will select up to 15 schools to participate.
• LEAs with only one school that serves students in grades preK–3 must apply as a consortium with other LEAs that includes a minimum of three geographically proximate schools. If awarded, all LEAs in the consortium will participate in the PRISM program as a coordinated team.

Funding Type:

State Funded

Grant awards are contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the Massachusetts General Laws, including G.L. c. 40A, § 3A, the MBTA Communities Act.

Funding:

Approximately $160,000 is expected to be available for FY25, pending funding.

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

The Fund Use details below are a summary. Please see the Fund Use Details attachment for more information.

Funds for FY25 will be used for:

• Stipends for members of the PRISM Leadership Team
• Collaboration with at least two different community-based programs serving preschool-aged children in the community

Pending appropriation and the meeting of grant requirements, awarded grantees may be eligible for continuation grant(s) in Fiscal Year(s) 2026-2029 (5 years total).

In years 2–5 of the grant program, PRISM LEAs will receive funding to implement customized early literacy MTSS plans. Fund use may include:

• Vendors and partners
  • Professional development from approved external providers
  • Collaboration with community-based preschool programs
  • High-dosage tutoring provider
• Materials purchases
  • Early Literacy assessments, including approved screening assessment, for preschool and for K–3 as needed
  • Other assessments as needed (K–3) for Tier 2/3 instruction
  • Tier 2/3 and other supplemental instructional materials (K–3)
  • Purchase, transadaptation, and/or development of high-quality curricular materials for dual language programs/schools
  • Tier 1 language and literacy instructional materials for district and community-based preschool providers
  • Preschool language and emergent literacy screening assessments and other assessments as needed for preschool
• Staff costs
  • Support for salaries of reading interventionist, literacy coach, and/or reading specialist positions
  • Teacher stipends or substitute teacher costs so that teachers can participate in professional development, including K–3 teachers and both district and community-based preschool providers
  • Stipends for members of the PRISM Leadership Team, including both district and community-based preschool leaders

Project Duration:

Upon Approval – 6/30/2025

Pending appropriation and the meeting of grant requirements, awarded grantees may be eligible for continuation grant(s) in Fiscal Year(s) 2026-2029 (5 years total). A total of $27,000,000 is expected to be awarded to PRISM districts in this cohort over the full 5 anticipated years of the grant, pending appropriation.

Program Unit:

Office of Literacy and Humanities, Center for Instructional Support

Contact:

Allison Pickens

Phone Number:

(781) 338-6240

Date Due:

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at 5 p.m.*

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5 p.m. Eastern on the date due.

*All responses must be received by the due date listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not received on time will not be reviewed. Applicants applying after the due date may be notified their application was received late and will not be reviewed.

Applications must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions below. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you need assistance with submitting your application, please reach out to the contact person listed on this funding opportunity.

Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the Superintendent / Chief Executive approves the grant application in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date listed in the RFP.

Additional Information:

Support is available to LEAs during the application period. Please visit www.doe.mass.edu/instruction/PRISM for webinars, videos, and Q+A related to this grant application. Several other grants and programs will be available as part of Literacy Launch. Please visit the website listed above for details.

Curriculum Data must be up to date on DESE District Profiles for K–8 ELA/Literacy, K–12 math, and 6–8 Science by the time of the grant due date. To check if this information is complete, check the statewide Curriculum report. Or, visit your District Profiles page via Profiles Home, and select Curriculum Data from the left-hand navigation. If the required data is not complete or up-to-date, details and directions on how to enter or update this data can be found at Curriculum Data Collection webpage.

Early Literacy Universal Screening: LEAs receiving this award for ELA/Literacy will be required to participate in research efforts, including providing student-level assessment data from the approved early literacy screening assessment that is administered in all schools during the award period. DESE will request that data be submitted by June 30 of each year awarded. DESE will analyze the statewide data collected for research purposes, including evaluation of this program. Analyses will comply with state and federal confidentiality laws.

Grantees will be expected to participate in all data collection activities (surveys, focus groups, providing district level data) connected with the evaluation of the grant.

GEM$ Submission Instructions:

The FY25 FC 0592 PRISM I Grant will be submitted in our new GEM$ system. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.

Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)

Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the Superintendent / Chief Executive approves the grant application in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application by the due date listed in the RFP.

The Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved Step allows for the organization lead to review and approve the grant application. Removing the requirement for the Part I Standard Contract Form, this step signifies Superintendent /Chief Executive sign off. Any grant budget changes requiring signature, will re-execute this step when amended signifying the organization lead is approving these changes.

New Organizations: Please Note, Grant Submission requires applicants to have their organization established in GEM$. Entities that do not have an organization in GEM$ must contact the DESE Program Unit issuing this grant at a minimum 5 business days prior to the grant due date for temporary organization access.

Failure to provide DESE with GEM$ Temp Organization Access Request at least 5 business days prior to the due date may result in not meeting the submission due date listed above. DESE cannot accept or review applications after the due date.

Please Note: Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off. All these roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms. The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These form can be accessed without logging in to the system.

Last Updated: July 18, 2024