Carrollton City Schools has been awarded a $2.26 million grant that will support the district’s comprehensive effort to strengthen literacy initiatives across the spectrum, including the involvement of community partners to bridge the gap between birth and the first day of school.

The Literacy for Learning, Living and Leading in Georgia Grant, called L4GA for short, was a Georgia Department of Education competitive grant opportunity open to all school districts in the state. Thirty-eight school systems statewide received $58.5 million in funding to be disbursed over a three-year period.

Of the funding awarded, most will go to early learning initiatives from birth though fifth grade with middle school and high school levels each receiving 20 percent of the award.

Karen Wild, Carrollton City Schools director of School Improvement, said the district will use the funding to improve foundational literacy, increase the capacity of teachers and support staff through professional learning efforts that will improve the quality of instruction, and increase community participation in literacy-related activities.

“Our goal is that students will develop a lifelong love of literacy, while reading for meaning, writing with a purpose, speaking to communicate information, listening for understanding and transferring these skills to new situations,” said Wild. “These abilities are the cornerstone of a successful academic experience.”

Wild said the grant will provide classroom support by funding culturally responsive classroom libraries that will include various genres and high interest reads, technology advances that will improve the access of reading and writing materials, teaching coaches who are experts in literacy, and additional resources to support students with disabilities, English Language Learners, and struggling readers.

Community partners that will be involved in this effort include the University of West Georgia, the Carrollton-Carroll County Educational Collaborative, FERST Foundation through FERST Readers,  UWG’s Cherokee Rose Writing collaborative, Tanner Health System, and West Georgia RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency).

“Some of our partners are going to provide us with an existing infrastructure to better reach our youngest children through their current initiatives, while our contribution will be the funding to further enhance their efforts,” said Anna Clifton, assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning. “Our other partners will offer their services to increase the professional learning capacity for our teachers. Both efforts are critical to the overall mission.”

Dr. Mark Albertus, superintendent of Carrollton City Schools, said the state’s support of local initiatives through this grant opportunity is the most efficient way to improve education.

“We are the ones who best know our students, our community, and its challenges,” he said. “Our overarching focus this year has been literacy improvement and we have made great strides. But challenges continue to keep some students from achieving a strong literacy background. This grant will allow us to secure resources for our struggling learners to give them the opportunity to grow up and thrive as literate adults who become productive members of our community.”