NORTHBOROUGH/SOUTHBOROUGH – The Public Schools of Northborough and the Public Schools of Southborough have received grants from the Healey-Driscoll administration to support early literacy.
They were among 18 school districts and collaboratives to receive $1.2 million in grant funds to implement Appleseeds. A press release from the Healey-Driscoll administration describes Appleseeds as a package of materials to teach foundational reading skills in kindergarten through second grade. It’s free to download for all school districts in the commonwealth, but the grant will fund the professional printing of the materials and professional development.
“This Appleseeds grant is an important part of our administration’s commitment to improving early literacy instruction,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “We also recently proposed Literacy Launch in our latest budget, a historic investment in early literacy from age 3 to grade 3, on top of additional funding for continued literacy programing from [the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education].”
According to the press release, Literacy Launch will be implemented by the Executive Office of Education in coordination with DESE and the Department of Early Education and Care. It would help up to 45 districts transition to “a strong, evidence-based literacy program” and accelerate review timelines for teacher education programs to require early literacy training for future teachers.
Specifically, Northborough received $14,745, and Southborough received $13,087 in grant funds.
