COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 179

September 2, 2005

INFORMATIONAL

TO:

Division Superintendents

 

FROM:

Jo Lynne DeMary

Superintendent of Public Instruction

 

SUBJECT:

Striving Readers: A Grant for Middle and High School Students

 

The United States Department of Education has recently announced Striving Readers, a new discretionary Title I grant program. The purpose of the Striving Readers program is to raise the reading achievement levels of middle and high school students in Title I-eligible schools with significant numbers of students reading below grade level.

 

Striving Readers programs will include each of three key components:

  • School-level strategies to increase reading achievement for students by improving the quality of literacy instruction across the curriculum;
  • Intensive, targeted intervention for struggling readers (i.e., students who read at least two years below grade level, including limited English proficient students and students with disabilities); and
  • A project evaluation that includes a rigorous experimental research evaluation of the intensive, targeted intervention for struggling readers.

 

Eligible applicants for Striving Readers include school divisions that have schools that are eligible to receive funds under Part A of Title I of the ESEA, and serve students in one or more grades from 6 through 12.

 

Eligible school divisions may apply individually, with other eligible school divisions, or in partnership with one or more of the following entities: state education agencies, intermediate service agencies, public or private institutions of high education, and public and private organizations with expertise in adolescent literacy and/or rigorous evaluation.

 

Applications for grants under this program must be submitted electronically using the Electronic Grant Application System (e-Application) available through the United States Department of Education e-Grants system at http://e-grants.ed.gov/. Notices of Intent to Apply are due by September 14, 2005, and the deadline for grant proposals is November 14, 2005.

 

Information on the Striving Readers program can be found at http://www.ed.gov/programs/strivingreaders/index.html. For additional information please contact Catherine Rosenbaum (Catherine.Rosenbaum@doe.virginia.gov), reading and language arts specialist, Office of Middle and High School Instruction at (804) 225-2665.

 

JLD/CR/yba