Oklahoma to receive almost $59 million from student literacy grant, education officials say

Books line a shelf in a kindergarten classroom at Mayo Demonstration School in Tulsa on April 8. Oklahoma will receive $11.2 million this year from a federal grant for child literacy initiatives. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma will receive millions of dollars in federal support for student literacy programs and teacher training, state and federal education officials announced Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Education will provide Oklahoma with $11.2 million this school year for literacy improvement efforts, the federal agency said. Oklahoma is one of 23 states chosen for the grant this year.

The grant will award a total of nearly $59 million over the next five years, according to a news release from the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters said his administration will give $9 million of the first allocation to school districts through a competitive sub-grant process.

An agency spokesperson said the remaining $2.2 million will cover personnel costs to administer the grant, teacher stipends, development of an early learning dashboard, and a contract for a counseling and behavioral needs assessment, known as multi-tiered systems of support.

The key goals for the program are increasing the percentage of 4 year olds who “achieve significant gains in oral language skills,” growing the number of fifth and eighth graders who score at a proficient level on state reading assessments, and training teachers in the science of reading and other effective instructional strategies, according to federal documents and the Education Department’s announcement.

Walters, who has repeatedly called for the U.S. Department of Education to be abolished , instead celebrated the federal agency’s grant support in a statement Thursday.

“This grant will be a powerful supplement to the work we are already doing and offers us incredible resources to build upon the foundation we’ve built that prioritizes reading, writing, math and other critical disciplines that will enable our kids to compete and succeed wherever their dreams take them,” Walters said.

The grant is part of $149 million the federal agency is distributing for literacy initiatives across the country this year.

“The new funding announced today will help states, school districts, and communities continue to develop and implement evidence-based literacy interventions, and ensure that, together, we continue to raise the bar for student academic success, giving every student the best opportunities to succeed,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said.

Editor’s note: The state Department of Education provided additional details after publication about the planned use of $2.2 million of this year’s grant allocation.  This story has been updated to include the new information.

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