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DESE and EEC launch PRISM grants to align pre-K through grade 3 literacy
Summary
The state’s Literacy Launch dedicates $20 million for year one; DESE and EEC will fund PRISM competitive grants (PRISM 1) to about 20 communities to align pre-K and K–3 literacy instruction, require community-based preschool partners, and fund planning, coaching, curricula, screeners and stipends.
State education officials described 'Literacy Launch' and PRISM (Partnership for Reading Success Massachusetts) grants to the EEC board, framing the work as a cross-agency effort to improve reading outcomes from age 3 through grade 3.
DESE's Catherine Tarka said the legislature appropriated $20,000,000 for the initiative's first year. PRISM 1 is a competitive, multi-year grant targeting roughly 20 communities that demonstrate readiness to transform early literacy systems. The grants require districts to partner with at least two community-based preschools and create PRISM leadership teams that include preschool partners; Year 1 is a planning year that provides leadership coaching, literacy system scans and planning to set preschool-specific goals.
What PRISM provides: later-year investments (years 2–5) are expected to include evidence-based instructional materials, professional learning, coaching, preschool screeners, stipends and substitutes so preschool educators can participate in training. Competitive priorities favor communities with low grade 3 reading outcomes, recent increases in newcomer students, or small/rural districts that need consortium approaches.
Why it matters: The initiative explicitly integrates community-based preschools into district literacy systems for the first time at scale in this program design, and provides both financial and technical assistance to align curricula and assessment between preschool and K–3 settings.
Next steps: PRISM 1 applications have closed and awards were expected to be made soon; EEC staff will return to the board with developments and implementation plans for community-based partners.
