[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6506691,"mediaKeyId","5575195-4b5bf99d676d24bfcd8e5f153ce1e146","parentId",5575195,"title","Board hears progress on statewide literacy efforts: pilot 'Foundations' course, dyslexia services and LETRS training","audioSeconds",464,"startMs",942000,"endMs",1406000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5575195-4b5bf99d676d24bfcd8e5f153ce1e146&start=942&end=1406","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5575195-4b5bf99d676d24bfcd8e5f153ce1e146/thumbnail_942000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6506691/Kansas/Board-hears-progress-on-statewide-literacy-efforts-pilot-Foundations-course-dyslexia-services-and-LETRS-training","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6506691-082035e438a58fd39ec95e0d3e820c59/orig.mp4?Expires=1770512389&Signature=FTOwAqoqaZLlxqCAmMladbRedMBLlL9Jjw~swVJF4WWlK3XOJbRFVf8OeOBA2pnDQblmzG3s6FjfM8ZBlk~ildj8o1LTSnJEDZ~bXHgGo1Q-MI9QZ0jI-9nW4PbDGKa~DB1mI1sWaqaj-2JznWhwOF37-KVDAq6WGrxGopPSB9seTu4x1axjxfUq-YUCvTsfn9mrJsMu30u5TeVCVOWo~DrtTbcjfs3-A-vbuS1643yr9iVbd~wZXbKbjq5gDLyAap5JYyjWWqaJGL6UmEvF0Wkm~3nqiQ4nizO32T00mi4QBpP7Vbi83jKRit9IsJeybJ42PcRrlWx~TysBypZpug__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board ","date","2025-08-11T13:41:43Z","article","State Board members received a multi-part briefing on Aug. 13 on Kansas literacy initiatives, including a pilot of the Foundations course (approved for the board's Seal of Literacy), private nonprofit dyslexia services, and multiple professional-development pathways for classroom teachers and specialists.

Dr. Cynthia Lane, representing the Kansas Board of Regents, and Dr. Carolyn Carlson, a Washburn University professor who led the Foundations pilot, described the course as knowledge-based, supported by coaching and organized around application. \"The blueprint for literacy is about one thing. The main thing: teach every child to read,\" Lane told the board, adding that Foundations is \"knowledge based ... community of practice ... application ... and coaching.\" Lane said 35 Kansas educators completed the pilot in July and that scholarships are available for an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 licensed educators statewide.

Carlson, who led a 16-week pilot embedded in Topeka USD 501, said the course combined in-person cohort meetings, weekly coaching and classroom application assignments. \"The coach wasn't evaluating anything. They were a support to help the educator apply the information that they were learning in the course,\" Carlson said. Pilot teachers reported immediate classroom changes, improved confidence and examples of measurable growth in student reading, the presenters said.

KSDE and private providers also described other training pathways. Janine Phillips, founder of Phillips Fundamental Learning Center, described an intensive Alphabetic Phonics (Alphabetic Phonics/Cox) teacher-training and clinical program aimed at students with severe to profound dyslexia. Phillips said her center has assessed thousands of children and trained hundreds of instructors and therapists; she highlighted a multi-site pilot that reported substantial early gains for participating kindergarten and first-grade students.

\"Dyslexia is not about reading backwards,\" Phillips said, summarizing a frequent misconception. She presented evaluation data from a charitable pilot showing students in the bottom percentile moved toward or met national norms after daily small-group instruction under the program.

Two private trainers, Jane Hayes and Amy Taylor of Read Redefined, outlined a coaching-centered approach that pairs structured literacy content with live, synchronous instruction and in-class application. They emphasized that teachers need more than curricular materials: they need coached practice, progress monitoring, and tools to translate intervention gains back to the regular classroom. Read Redefined said its courses map to International Dyslexia Association knowledge-and-practice standards and provide pathways to additional certification.

KSDE also updated the board on statewide LETRS implementation (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling). Dr. Curtis explained LETRS is an evidence-based, curriculum-agnostic professional learning system intended to give classroom teachers a common knowledge base and shared language for instruction. KSDE said it is training local LETRS facilitators so districts can offer the facilitated, cohort-based instruction and local coaching needed to sustain practice.

KSDE staff reported substantial current engagement: as of a recent snapshot, thousands of Kansas educators had used LETRS licenses or were participating in facilitator-led cohorts (KSDE gave figures showing administrators, early childhood educators and over 12,000 educator license uses for LETRS materials, though KSDE staff noted numbers continue to change as cohorts restart). A KSDE staff member covering licensure also reported 851 Kansas educators had taken the reading subtest pathway for the Seal of Literacy and 725 had passed the subtest; 463 of those passers held Kansas licenses.

Board members asked about access for special populations, including students at the State Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Dr. Lane said KSDE would follow up to explore adaptations. Several board members urged KSDE and training providers to pursue sustained funding; Lane said current scholarship and ESSER resources cover training for this school year and that she and partners plan legislative outreach to support continuation.

Presenters and board members highlighted coaching as the central feature that differed across training options: cohort learning, non-evaluative coaching, and local facilitator networks were all described as essential to translating knowledge into classroom practice.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Kansas State Board of Education Meeting | August 13, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","State and nonprofit presenters described a multi-pronged effort — a Foundations professional learning pilot, scholarships, dyslexia therapy and several training pathways (LETRS, Read Redefined, Phillips Fundamental) — aiming to expand structured literacy instruction and credentialing for Kansas educators.","taxTitle","Department of Education, State Agencies, Organizations, Executive, Kansas","taxId",24281,"location","Kansas","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6506695,"KSDE official reports federal ESSER, title reimbursements restored but delayed; districts told to spend carefully",535,195000,730000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5575195-4b5bf99d676d24bfcd8e5f153ce1e146&start=195&end=730","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5575195-4b5bf99d676d24bfcd8e5f153ce1e146/thumbnail_195000.jpg","/articles/6506695/Kansas/KSDE-official-reports-federal-ESSER-title-reimbursements-restored-but-delayed-districts-told-to-spend-carefully","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6506695-721fab1d772f7f20639142575554faf9/orig.mp4?Expires=1770512389&Signature=g6CF6uH-wLbiPvaUsbX0zSCfC4yEIl5oRB4q0aZ1DxiOqTk0P-3l3GoqiWMGEPW7TKg90OQ7Zj4kE4CRJjDh7WQUtZj3WJPFtUCIbqzMWAbVwhkIdmqBdZhEFAlr~wvuhcJs1ImK5cle5Pnv1-VrKouRlLXL5Qf~nFwrGY~bwygBffL~Ic0rOH0l4CGgESytHntcOWoHSxEZr0JHW8oSNQrLZOKSGss3dQD0Mjt0QMccdeduH2t3b7DbiST72pD9Xk6rN1rl6w06mCfqN0JOmgFG6ocfdPx6-uCaQq7iyfb2eceTC7yOUQeZmSNAnWlbuzkrEGXA1rJCduf0P6uFzg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) staff on Aug. 13 told the State Board of Education that two streams of federal education funding that had been paused earlier this year — ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) reimbursements and several Title programs — are again available but that the state has not yet received all reimbursements. Dr. Frank Harwood, a KSDE presenter, said the department has submitted reimbursement requests but some are still under review at the U.S. Department of Education.

The update came after KSDE staff said districts were told on June 27 that paused 2024 funds were again accessible following an earlier pause. \"The way the federal funds work is you have to spend them first and then you can ask for reimbursement,\" Harwood said, describing a timeline in which KSDE submitted an initial reimbursement for $1,100,000 and paid an additional $1,600,000 to vendors on July 10 before submitting that request for federal reimbursement on July 11. He said invoices remain under federal review and that other states are receiving funds while KSDE awaits final processing.

Harwood told the board that the earlier federal pause left the state and its vendors in a difficult position around the fiscal-year change and training schedules. \"By taking out those three months, we have some concern whether some of the vendors can actually complete the tasks that were there,\" he said, adding that KSDE has asked vendors to begin submitting invoices monthly (rather than quarterly) to avoid a repeat of the prior cash-flow problem and to better track deliverables.

Harwood additionally summarized a separate June 30 pause that affected Title programs, saying roughly $42,900,000 for districts — including funds categorized as Title I, Title II-A, Title IV-A and Title IV-B (21st Century Community Learning Centers) — was temporarily unavailable on July 1, the first day of many districts' fiscal year. He said KSDE received word Aug. 2 and Aug. 7 that those Title funds would be released, but that districts must still spend the money and request federal reimbursement under normal monthly processes. \"The districts spend the money, the state reimburses the districts, and then the federal government reimburses the state,\" Harwood explained, adding that the Title reimbursements are generally automated and turned around quickly once the state submits claims.

Board members pressed KSDE staff on contingency planning. A board member who asked whether districts are budgeting as if they might not receive federal funds was told KSDE had advised districts to \"budget like you're going to get them and spend like you're not\" — an approach Harwood said some districts used last spring when the pause occurred. Harwood also said the administration's federal budget proposal had at one point proposed block-granting or reducing some of the Title funds, but noted the Senate Appropriations Committee had maintained funding levels in its draft.

KSDE staff urged districts to focus spending only on contracts that had been approved by the U.S. Department of Education as of Sept. 30, 2024, and to use allowable transfers within existing contracts rather than creating new contracts with the paused federal dollars. Harwood said one consequence of the pause is that certain summer training opportunities were lost and the state is trying to reallocate allowable funds to training seats and other activities that can be completed within federal timelines.

Board members and staff acknowledged the pause had damaged trust in federal funding streams and emphasized the need for clearer federal communication. Harwood said KSDE is responding to occasional federal requests for additional information and that reimbursements are processed in the order received, which can add delay when requests require follow-up. He closed by saying the good news was that the funds were accessible again and vendors have been paid, but the state and districts remain in a reimbursement queue.","KSDE staff told the State Board that paused federal ESSER and several Title program funds are available again but reimbursements to districts and state remain delayed. Officials said districts must spend within existing approved contracts and meet federal deadlines; $42.9 million in Title funds was cited as affected.","actionData","errors"]

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Board hears progress on statewide literacy efforts: pilot 'Foundations' course, dyslexia services and LETRS training

KSDE official reports federal ESSER, title reimbursements restored but delayed; districts told to spend carefully