A $50 million federal grant won by the Hawaii Department of Education will fund a wide-ranging effort to enhance literacy for children “from birth to grade 12,” with a focus on disadvantaged students.

The goal isn’t to teach babies to read but to foster skills for language success from infancy all the way through high school, with targeted techniques grounded in data.

“This is an opportunity to really look at the needs of our most vulnerable learners and to intentionally design opportunities that draw on their strengths and show them that they are valued and that we care about them,” Deputy Superintendent Phyllis Unebasami said in an interview.

Public school complexes as well as community organizations that serve younger children will compete for pieces of the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant, which spans five years. The Department of Education will begin seeking applicants in January.

The infusion of funds will supplement current instruction with other approaches known to be effective, from family education and engagement to making sure that educators at all levels have the tools and training they need.

“It’s going to be very targeted,” said Donna Lum Kagawa, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instructional design. “(Applicants) need to be very strategic and implementing evidence-based practices that will truly make a difference. It’s not just any strategies.”

Added Unebasami, “We are really looking for … other things we should be doing that we haven’t been doing, and fill in the gaps in our practice.”

The $49.8 million grant will be divided among grade levels: 40% percent to elementary schools, 40% to secondary schools and 15% to early education from birth to age 5. The remaining 5% at the state level will cover grant administration and monitoring of programs.

Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education will distribute funds for the birth-to-age 5 category through various community organizations that serve families and early learners. They can team up in their proposals.

“We know that getting an early start particularly in literacy is super important,” said Stephen Schatz, P-20 executive director. “When students start out behind, it’s really hard to catch up. Literacy is foundational to everything else that happens throughout your educational career.”

Babies get the best start when they are raised in a language-rich environment, hearing books read aloud and a wide vocabulary in their home language, whether that’s English, Hawaiian or another of the 70 different languages spoken by local public school families.

“A lot of the work that needs to happen during the time between birth and 5 is about vocabulary development, it’s about speaking, it’s about listening comprehension, it’s about understanding how sounds work,” Schatz said. “All those foundational skills will allow students to be ready to learn to read when they are 5 years old.”

“Literacy skills for students who are not yet in school don’t start with picking up a book and drilling the kids with phonics,” he added.

A major focus of the grant is helping all kids read by third grade. That will be supplemented by intensive support for those who don’t meet the mark as well as students entering the system in higher grades or still struggling.

“We have found in our data that when we look at who succeeds at graduating from high school and going on to college it has a lot to do with meeting proficiency by third grade,” Unebasami said.

“We have families who may not feel confident or comfortable in the English language and/or the academic areas and that impacts the learner,” she added. “What we talked about is promoting intergenerational literacy and family empowerment to reinforce literacy skills and access to materials.”

Hawaii is one of 13 states awarded Striving Readers grants in October. The department’s proposal may have stood out for its breadth. It aims to improve not just reading and writing, but to encompass what it calls cultural, civic and digital literacy. That means raising good citizens who are versed in their heritage as well as making sure students and teachers harness technology to enhance learning.

“What we’re looking for is that the people that are making instructional decisions for the child are actually getting data that is pertinent to that point in time,” Unebasami said.

The grant also aims to promote dual language learning in the early years, which can lead to more opportunities for advanced studies and competitive career paths, Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto said.

“We want to focus on how do we bring the assets from home, from their home language, their culture, their traditions and make that a strength in our educational system,” Unebasami said.

The grant envisions outreach to hanai and foster families and others who may be disengaged, homeless or with incarcerated parents.

“We want to make sure to extend support to our most disenfranchised,” Kagawa said. “We have quite an array of different family structures and compositions.”

Kishimoto will name a steering committee, including parent representatives, to monitor implementation of the grant over the five years.

—

STRIVING READERS LITERACY GRANT

>> $50 million over five years

>> awarded to Hawaii Department of Education

>> aimed at children from birth to grade 12

Key areas:

>> advancing third-grade literacy

>> family education and engagement

>> dual language opportunities

Source: Hawaii Department of Education