The Partnership for Reading Success — Massachusetts (PRISM) III: Grades 4–12 competitive grant will support local education agencies (LEAs), including districts, collaboratives and charter schools, to evaluate, select, purchase, launch and implement high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) in grades 4–12. Up to three and a half 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) will provide resources in the form of funding, coaching, and technical assistance to PRISM III LEAs to evaluate, select, and implement HQIM in tier 1 ELA/literacy. This grant will support:
PRISM III will be a good fit for LEAs that:
Please see the PRISM III Program Details attachment for more information about what this grant program entails for each track.
DESE will award PRISM III grants to LEAs/consortia whose applications most effectively demonstrate the following conditions, based on their selected track:
Additional points will be awarded to LEAs/consortia who meet one or more of the following competitive priorities for this grant:
Public school districts, collaboratives, and charter schools are eligible. Consortia of LEAs may apply; if applying as a consortium, one LEA should apply on GEM$ as the fiscal agent and name the other participating LEAs in the application.
Note: Pending appropriation and the meeting of grant requirements, awarded grantees who meet the eligibility requirements for CLSD funding may be eligible for targeted continuation grant(s) in Fiscal Year 2026, Fiscal Year 2027, and Fiscal Year 2028. Targeted Continuation grants may be funded by federal Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) funds. To be eligible for the Targeted Continuation, LEAs must have at least one school serving 50% identified low-income students (40% for high schools). For consortia, all LEAs within the consortium must meet this eligibility requirement to apply for continued funding in FY26 and beyond. This is a requirement of the federal funding. Only those awardees who meet the federal eligibility requirement will be eligible to apply for Targeted Continuation.
State (7010-0033)
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 $2,500,000 is expected to be available for FY26 Summer (Upon Approval (No Earlier than July 1, 2025) – August 31, 2025), 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 III Track 1 Budgeting Guide , PRISM III Track 2 Budgeting Guide , and the PRISM III Track 3 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 three and a half years for recipients to accomplish the activities listed under Track 1, Track 2, or Track 3. 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 August 31, 2025): This track is for LEAs that have already engaged in a comprehensive evaluation and selection process and are ready to purchase 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 August 31, 2025) This track is for LEAs that 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:
Track 3 — Year 1 (Upon Approval (No Earlier than July 1, 2025) to August 31, 2025) This track is for LEAs who have HQIM in place and are interested in increased support for implementation. Funding will support:
Pending appropriation and the meeting of grant requirements, awarded grantees may be eligible for continuation grant(s) in Fiscal Year(s) 2026, 2027, and 2028 depending on their track. In subsequent years of the grant, PRISM III LEAs will receive funding to implement customized PRISM Literacy Plans. Please see the Budgeting Guides linked above for more information.
Upon Approval (No Earlier than 7/1/2025) – 8/31/2025
Pending appropriation and the meeting of grant requirements, awarded grantees who meet the eligibility requirements for CLSD funding may be eligible for targeted continuation grant(s) in Fiscal Year 2026, Fiscal Year 2027, and Fiscal Year 2028. Targeted Continuation grants will be funded by the federal Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant. To be eligible for CLSD funding, LEAs must have at least one school serving 50% identified low-income students (40% for high schools). Only those awardees who meet the eligibility requirement for CLSD funding will be eligible to apply for targeted continuation. A total of approximately $10,000,000 is expected to be awarded to PRISM III districts in this cohort over the anticipated years of the grant, pending appropriation.
Office of Literacy and Humanities, Center for Instructional Support
Lori McNally
781-338-6244
Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 5 p.m. EST
Proposals must be received at the Department by 5 p.m. Eastern on the date due.
Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the grant application is submitted by the Superintendent or their designee through the "LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved" step in GEM$. 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–12) 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 0594 PRISM III 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$. There are three LEA steps a competitive grant must be submitted through by the due date and time to be considered for funding:
Grantwriter Submitted
LEA Fiscal Representative Approved
LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved
Competitive grant applications are considered submitted once the grant application is submitted by the Superintendent or their designee through the "LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved" step in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date and time listed in the RFP. Please plan accordingly.
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.
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 15, 2025