The purpose of this competitive grant program is to fund the development, launch, and continuation of partnerships between eligible sponsoring organizations and PK–12 districts to promote improved teacher preparation and development in evidence-based early literacy instruction and improved early literacy outcomes for PK–3 students. All students deserve access to high quality instruction, and it will take collaborative and innovative efforts on the part of both districts and institutes of higher education to ensure that PK–3 educators have the pre-service training as well as the ongoing professional development needed to well-serve Massachusetts students. The goal of this grant program is for both districts and sponsoring organizations to benefit from collaboration through multi-year consortia developed to impact early literacy teaching and learning through preparation of candidates and ultimately hiring and employment of effective Elementary, Early Childhood, and Moderate Disabilities PK–2/PK–8 teachers.
DESE seeks to award Early Literacy Consortium grants to entities that:
Competitive priority will be given to:
For the purposes of this grant, an "applicant" is defined as the organization (Local Education Agency or sponsoring organization) who is applying for the grant on behalf of a "consortium," defined as a group of organizations working together to improve early literacy teaching and learning.
Category 1 — Districts or Sponsoring Organizations in the Visioning Stage of Launching a ConsortiumApplicants in this category are at the very beginning stages of planning and have not firmly established multiple partnerships. To be eligible, an applicant must represent a consortium that includes:
And be committed to:
Category 2 — Newly Established Consortia in the Planning Stage of Launching Early Literacy ProgrammingApplicants in this category have an established partnership with multiple sponsoring organizations and public school districts (four or more organizations in total) in their region and are designing and planning to implement programming that will advance effective early literacy instruction. To be eligible, an applicant must represent a consortium that includes:
Category 3 — Established Consortia Implementing Early Literacy ProgrammingApplicants in this category represent an established partnership with multiple sponsoring organizations and school districts with a clear, strategic plan for the consortium's work. To be eligible, an applicant must represent a consortium that includes:
And be able to provide:
A total of approximately $800,000 is projected to be available across FY25 (Upon approval through 6/30/2025) based on the number of quality proposals submitted and the total cost of the grant activities.
Category 1 applicants may apply for up to $10,000 total. Category 2 applicants may apply for up to $30,000 total. Category 3 applicants may apply for up to $100,000 total. Funding will be awarded based on the proposed grant activities and budget presented in the application.
Pending appropriation, funding for grant may continue in Fiscal Years 2026, 2027, and 2028 for FC0726.
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.
State Line Item 7010-0033
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 will be distributed across three categories (applicants developing a consortium, applicants launching a consortium, and applicants continuing a consortium), and eligibility requirements are set accordingly. Some grant funds will go toward development of consortia, and therefore may be awarded to single organizations (e.g., a PK–12 district, sponsoring organization, or other legal entity) committed to networking and establishing partnerships with other organizations in service of improved early literacy teaching and learning. Some grant funds will be awarded to established consortia committed to launching early literacy initiatives across partnering districts and sponsoring organizations. Other grant funds will be awarded to established consortia committed to continuing early literacy initiatives across partnering districts and sponsoring organizations. The intent is for this to be multi-year grant program designed to support consortia at various stages of development. Additional grant funding will be available as consortia expand and deepen their partnerships and programming.
Funds must be used to support the costs of grant activities including staff salaries, stipends, staff planning time as it relates to the grant, contracts, high quality instructional materials, costs related to professional development and training activities, and other expenses associated with implementing grant funded programming.
Grant activities may include but are not limited to:
Strategic Planning Activities (e.g. conventions that bring together PK–12 educators with educator preparation faculty to discuss early literacy, committee meetings to collaboratively determine mission, etc.)
Professional Development Activities (e.g. professional development or professional learning communities for supervising practitioners, program supervisors, educator preparation faculty, and district instructional leaders to improve the quality of teacher candidates' preparation in early literacy instruction)
Early Literacy Initiatives (e.g., high-dosage early literacy tutoring program for PK–3 students; the development of a resource library to support teacher candidates' understanding of evidence-based, culturally and linguistically sustaining early literacy instruction; an Early Literacy Task Force focused on building systems to support innovative staffing models; implementation of the Early Literacy Observation Tool)
Other (a model proposed by the applicant for collaboration that meets the needs of districts and sponsoring organizations)
Unallowable Expenditures: Out-of-State travel, food, current transportation costs or other currently funded costs, or any expenditures not directly related to grant activities.
Upon Approval* through 6/30/2025
Important Note: all FY25 grant funded goods and/or services must be provided and/or received by June 30, 2025.
Office of Educator Effectiveness, Center for Instructional Support
Lindsay Zorich
Friday, October 11, 2024**
Complete proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due. Confirmation of receipt will be sent.
**All responses must be received by the due date and time listed in this RFP. All responses must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions section of this RFP. Responses not submitted on time will not be reviewed and will be disqualified.
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.
Please submit questions to lindsay.zorich@mass.gov by September 20, 2024. Responses will be posted to Early Literacy in Educator Preparation website by September 27, 2024.
Information Sessions on this RFP will be held via Zoom:
Curriculum Data Collection: In order to be eligible for this grant, districts must have completed their LEA's Curriculum Data Collection. The data should be viewable and up to date at Curriculum Data. Directions about the expectations and how to provide the data can be found at Curriculum Data Collection.
Early Literacy Universal Screening: LEAs participating in this grant/program will be required to share with DESE their student-level assessment data from the approved early literacy screening assessment that is administered in all schools in grades K–3 during this program or grant award period. DESE will support LEAs to submit the required data by June 30 of each program year. DESE will analyze the statewide data collected for research purposes. All reporting will meet state and federal confidentiality laws. Identifying information of LEAs and schools will not be reported without express consent.
The FY25 FC 0726 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.
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: September 3, 2024
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