Wyoming Department of Education secures $9.99 million grant to support struggling readers
The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) has secured a $9.99 million grant from the US Department of Education in partnership with Foundations in Learning and the Iowa Reading Research Center (IRRC).
The grant was awarded through the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program, which aims to improve literacy across the US.
“Every dollar from this year’s EIR awards will support the use and expansion of evidence-based literacy instruction, expand education choice, and empower grant recipients to build and sustain high-quality literacy support systems for students,” the Department of Education said in a statement.
WDE will use Foundations in Learning’s WordFlight reading solution, with support from the IRRC. Foundations in Learning claims the online program can help 85 percent of struggling readers reach proficiency in foundational reading within one school year.
“This grant allows us to provide WordFlight to students who need personalized intervention to support their foundations for reading fluency, while testing and expanding models for educators on the ground to sustainably support high-impact interventions. This will allow us to serve more students, especially in rural districts and those with fewer resources,” said Allison Zimmermann, CEO of Foundations in Learning.
“We could not have asked for better partners to bring these ideas to fruition and build towards our vision to make literacy accessible for all by leveraging the science of learning.”
The IRRC will conduct onsite assessments and collect data in schools, allowing the University of Iowa Center for Evaluation and Assessment to evaluate the project.
“This project provides an opportunity to examine evidence-based practices across schools in Iowa, Wyoming, and other states,” adds Seth King, Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Iowa and an IRRC Research Fellow. “The findings will provide useful guidance for supporting students who struggle with foundational reading skills.”
