MSDE details literacy funding, coaching network and timeline for adolescent literacy policy
Loading...
Summary
MSDE staff reviewed funding history for literacy initiatives, results of comprehensive literacy plan reviews, professional learning uptake, the Read and Lead discretionary grant, and a timeline for an adolescent literacy policy and universal screener review.
MSDE staff presented an update on statewide literacy initiatives, including recent federal and state grants, professional learning participation, and an implementation timeline for an adolescent literacy policy.
MSDE said the Maryland Leads program distributed roughly $133,000,000 post‑pandemic to support LEAs with science‑of‑reading approaches and that a subsequent comprehensive state literacy development grant (the Read and Lead grant) awarded competitively provided $40,200,000 over five years to support roughly 15 LEAs across birth–5, K–5 and 6–12 grade bands. MSDE staff said 95% of the Read and Lead funds must be passed directly to LEAs and that awardees focused on strategies including coaching, MTSS, structured literacy aligned to the science of reading, professional learning, high‑quality instructional materials (HQIM), partnerships with institutions of higher education, and gifted and talented programming.
On teacher preparation and professional learning, MSDE reported completion counts for several course streams: 6,615 educators completed and passed the SUNY course referenced by staff; 302 completed the AIM pathways to literacy leadership; and 226 completed AIM pathways for secondary literacy. MSDE said AIM pathways and SUNY courses are being reopened for the fall and that AIM cohorts are often taken by LEA leadership teams to support local implementation.
MSDE said it is shifting a previously published “scribe template” to a script checklist to allow local flexibility while maintaining alignment to policy expectations; the change affects professional learning content tied to that checklist. The department also said it has recruited a universal screener review panel (including MSDE literacy and assessments staff, LEA literacy leaders and psychometricians) and plans to review screeners submitted through an RFI in October and November and finalize a recommended screener list for LEAs.
MSDE announced an early literacy coaching network that will convene nine in‑person full‑day sessions across the school year and noted 131 literacy coaches had registered for the program. The department said it will norm coaching work using MSDE walkthrough tools and offer optional on‑site, non‑evaluative coaching support for LEAs.
On policy timelines, MSDE said it expects to present a draft adolescent literacy policy to the board in November and to open it for public comment in December; the department will also analyze trends from LEA‑submitted retention and promotion policies to inform professional learning and technical assistance. Staff emphasized that stronger implementation supports — including MTSS alignment, coherent interventions across tiers, and family engagement tools — will be a focus of the work beyond issuing policy.
