Keystones to Opportunity (Pennsylvania's Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant)
The Keystones to Opportunity (KtO), Pennsylvania's Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Project ( SRCL) grant is a substantially large effort of the Pennsylvania and United States Departments of Education to improve literacy for all students. Specific goals of the grant include: better aligning literacy instruction and state initiatives along the birth to Grade 12 continuum and provide guidance to sub-grantees in aligning local literacy initiatives; Demystify the language and essential elements of effective literacy instruction, and mobilize all literacy stakeholders in support of improved literacy outcomes; Provide structures, supports, and tools for school leaders and teachers to use valid and reliable data to guide instructional decision making in language and literacy; Create 21st century literacy environments where children can acquire the reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language skills they need to succeed academically; and to seed innovation by incentivizing and disseminating research-based literacy strategies that result in exceptional reading growth. KtO is projected to be a five year grant to award $36 million per year to support comprehensive approaches to improve literacy for all children from birth to grade 12.
CEAC was chosen as the evaluator for this state - wide intitiative that included 56 school districts and data on more than 191,000 students and over 7,000 teachers.
The following research questions were addressed in the evaluation:
- Is Pennsylvania's SRCL project reaching the most educationally disadvantaged students, birth through grade 12 in the Commonwealth?
- Is Pennsylvania's SRCL project improving the language and literacy achievement of educationally disadvanataged students, birth thorugh grade 12 in the Commonwealth?
- What professional development are PDE, IUs, and schools providing to support teachers in their efforts to implement KtO?
To read CEAC's Evaluation Report on the Keystones to Opportunity Initiative, click on the link below.
For an example of an individual school district (LEA) profile designed by CEAC, click on the following link.