The Partnership for Reading Success — Massachusetts (PRISM) II: PreK–Grade 3 competitive grant is a program of Literacy Launch, an initiative to promote early literacy success for all Massachusetts students. This grant will support local education agencies (LEAs), including districts, collaboratives and charter schools, and their partner community-based preschools, to evaluate, select, purchase, launch and implement high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) in grades PreK–3 ELA/literacy. Up to two years of funding will be available to recipients, pending appropriation. This grant will empower educators with hands-on support, high-quality instructional materials, and expert guidance to bring to life relevant, real-world literacy learning experiences for every student.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is collaborating with the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to provide resources to PRISM II LEAs in the form of funding, coaching, and technical assistance to PRISM III LEAs to evaluate, select, and implement HQIM in ELA/literacy. This grant will support:
PRISM II will be a good fit for LEAs who are currently evaluating and selecting a curriculum during SY24-25 (Track 1) or LEAs who plan to engage in a process to evaluate and select a curriculum in SY25-26 for ELA/literacy in grades PreK–3 (Track 2). Please see the PRISM II Program Details attachment for more information about what this grant program entails for each track.
DESE will award PRISM II grants to LEAs/consortia whose applications most effectively demonstrate the following conditions:
Additional points will be awarded to LEAs/consortia for meeting each of the following competitive priorities:
All public-school districts, collaboratives, and charter schools are eligible to apply.
State (1596-2437)
The receipt of grant funds is 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. Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act is determined by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
Approximately $8,322,000 is expected to be available for FY26, 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.
The Fund Use details below are a summary for FY26. Please see the FY26 PRISM II Track 1 Budgeting Guide and the FY26 PRISM II Track 2 Budgeting Guide for more information on all potential funding periods.
This grant will provide funding, as well as hands-on support from Department specialists for up to two years for recipients to accomplish the activities listed under either Track 1 or Track 2. Following the grant period, recipients are expected to continue implementing the materials and practices initiated by this grant and will have access to ongoing customized assistance from DESE specialists as needed.
Track 1 — Year 1 (Upon Approval (No Earlier than July 1, 2025) to June 30, 2026): This track is for LEAs who have already engaged in a comprehensive evaluation and selection process and are ready to purchase core ELA materials in Summer 2025 to implement in SY25-26. Funding will support:
Track 2 — Year 1 (Upon Approval (No Earlier than July 1, 2025) to June 30, 2026) This track is for LEAs who have not engaged in a comprehensive evaluation and selection process and are ready to evaluate, select and purchase curricular materials in SY25-26. Funding will support:
Pending appropriation and meeting grant requirements, awarded grantees may be eligible for continuation grant(s) in Fiscal Year 2027 depending on their track. Please see the Budgeting Guides for more information.
Upon Approval (No Earlier than 7/1/2025) – 6/30/2026
Pending appropriation and the meeting of grant requirements, awarded grantees may be eligible for continuation grant(s) in Fiscal Year 2027. A total of approximately $11,000,000 is expected to be awarded to PRISM II districts in this cohort over the anticipated years of the grant, pending appropriation.
Office of Literacy and Humanities, Center for Instructional Support
Octavia Nixon
781-338-6243
Monday, May 19, 2025, at 5 p.m. EST
Proposals must be received at the Department by 5 p.m. Eastern on the date due.
Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the grant application is submitted by the Superintendent or their designee through the "LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved" step in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date and time listed in the RFP.
All responses must be submitted through proper steps and received by the due date/time 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.
Support is available to LEAs during the application period. Please visit Partnership for Reading Success — Massachusetts (PRISM) Grants page 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 (K–8) must be submitted and 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.
The FY26 FC 0593 PRISM II 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$)
New organizations that do not have an established LEA with DESE skip to Step 3.
Step 1: Establish and assign proper roles before the grant due date/time. Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off.
All roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, 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 forms can be accessed without logging in to the system.
Step 2: Submit the grant through all LEA steps in GEM$. There are three LEA steps a competitive grant must be submitted through by the due date and time to be considered for funding:
Competitive grant applications are considered submitted once the grant application is submitted by the Superintendent or their designee through the "LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved" step in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the "LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved" stage by the due date and time listed in the RFP. Please plan accordingly.
The "LEA 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.
Step 3: (If applicable) New organizations request temporary organization access. New organizations are entities that have not been established as an LEA in GEM$. Entities that do not have an organization established in GEM$ 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.
Temporary Access will need to be created by DESE before you can then assign the proper roles and submit the grant as outlined in Steps 1 and 2.
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.
Last Updated: April 14, 2025