West Fargo Public Schools receives grant to strengthen student literacy

State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler recently announced the awarding of $41.8 million in grant funds to twenty North Dakota education entities, including West Fargo Public Schools. The grant, to be distributed over five years, will provide the district with $4.0 million to improve students’ reading, speaking, and writing skills. 

The Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant (CLSD) was written with a focus on serving disadvantaged students by enhancing instructional practices. The proposed objective for the grant is to support literacy development for children who have previously been underserved. 

“This grant will benefit students of all ages across North Dakota,” Baesler said. “It will have a lasting, sustainable impact, and it will encourage family and community engagement and non-traditional learning opportunities for all children.” 

“The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction has designed a thorough implementation and coaching support model to address structural changes in comprehensive literacy instruction that will have lasting, sustainable impact on educators,” commented Heather Sand, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, on how the grant funds will be utilized at West Fargo Public Schools. 

“We want to support teachers as they work through their self-selected literacy goals and personalize their continuous improvement cycles with opportunities for training and instructional coaching. The grant is also focused on family engagement, and we will partner with the Constantino Group to increase our understanding of effective strategies to engage our families and community.” 

According to the Department of Public Instruction’s official announcement, the twenty recipients of the grant account for the education of 67% of North Dakota’s 114,000 public school students. West Fargo Public Schools, along with Fargo Public Schools and Bismarck Public Schools, received the highest award amount.