Skip to main content
California Department of Education Logo

Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant

Information regarding the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant.

Sections 2222–2225 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 authorizes the Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) Grant. This competitive grant advances literacy skills through the use of evidence-based practices, activities and interventions, including pre-literacy skills, reading, and writing. The grant serves children from birth through grade twelve, with an emphasis on disadvantaged children, including children living in poverty, English learners, and children with disabilities.

Stay informed on the CLSD grant and other statewide literacy initiatives in California! Join the California Department of Education's Literacy listserv by sending a blank email to: join-cde-literacy@mlist.cde.ca.gov.

2024 CLSD

Background Information

The California Department of Education (CDE) was awarded $38 million in CLSD 2024 grant funds to leverage and expand existing statewide infrastructure, guidance, and expertise to bring coherence to the system of literacy supports to improve student outcomes over a period of five years.

The grant also has four priorities: (1) Projects that incorporate State Education Agency (SEA) partnerships with Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs); (2) Projects designed to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic using evidence-based instructional approaches and supports to meet challenging academic content standards without contributing to tracking or remedial courses; (3) Projects designed to promote education equity and adequacy in resources and opportunity for under-served students. California will focus its grant work on addressing the literacy needs of under-served students, including multilingual learners, to support the screening and identification of reading disabilities (e.g., dyslexia), and evidence-based instructional approaches tailored to students' specific needs; and (4) Projects that support students and their families at key transitional stages in their education by ensuring coordinated, high-quality professional development for educators in these transitional stages. California will focus its grant work on evidence-based professional development focused on alignment between early childhood and elementary settings, as well as older students who are reading significantly below grade level.

Project objectives include:

  • Leverage state capacity and partnerships, including coordination with IHEs and subgrantees, to ensure pre-service teachers and in-service teachers have sufficient and consistent knowledge and skills to support evidence-based literacy instruction, intervention, and assessment.
  • Revise California’s Comprehensive State Literacy Plan (SLP) to include updated evidence-based practices and guidance documents, as well as promising practices and implementation guides from 2019 CLSD subgrantees.
  • Continue to build local capacity to establish, align, and implement literacy initiatives that emphasize family and community involvement and expand educational options, ensuring equity in student access and addressing the needs of California’s most vulnerable children, particularly related to the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on students and educators.

For additional information on the CLSD grant proposal, please see Item 15 of the State Board of Education (SBE) July 2024 Agenda (DOCX). 

Literacy Lead Agency Eligibility and Funding

The CDE will distribute three grant awards to consortia of county offices of education to support the project objectives outlined above through a competitive process. The CDE announced a Request for Applications (RFA) August 27, 2025, to fund the CLSD competitive grant awards. Links to the RFA and Funding Profile are below.

CLSD Grant: Literacy Lead Agency RFA Web Page

CLSD Grant: Literacy Lead Agency Funding Profile

Grant Web Pages and Timelines

Grant funding availability is contingent on planned allocations from the federal Department of Education (ED) to the California Department of Education for distribution to grantees.

Activity Date

Request for Applications (RFA) release

August 2025*

Application Workshop Webinar

September 4, 2025, 2–4 p.m.*

Application due to the CDE

Wednesday, October 8, 2025, by 4 p.m.*

Intent to Award posted

Week of November 10, 2025*

Last day for CLSD Grant appeals to be received by the CDE

One week after the Intent to Award is posted*

Final Awards posted

Week of November 24, 2025*

*Timeline subject to change.

Application Workshop Webinar

Applicants are invited to attend an informational webinar to learn more about the requirements of the CLSD Grant RFA. The Technical Assistance Webinar will be on September 4, 2025, 2–4 p.m.

Webinar Registration Link External link opens in new window or tab.

State Literacy Plan

A primary objective of the 2024 CLSD grant program is to revise and update the comprehensive SLP with updated evidence-based practices and guidance documents, as well as promising practices and implementation guides from 2019 CLSD subgrantees. After months of revisions and updates based on State Literacy Team (SLT) feedback, the SBE approved the California Comprehensive SLP in May, 2025. The CDE and its partners will work to implement the plan over the life of the CLSD grant. For more information about the development of the SLP, please visit the SLP Development web page.

Statewide Literacy Needs Assessment

To prepare for the development of the Comprehensive SLP, the CDE conducted a comprehensive statewide literacy needs assessment available to all California local educational agencies, including county offices of education, districts, and schools (including charter). The CDE collected 88 responses from across the state. The CDE and the SLT used these results to inform statewide literacy priorities defined in the age/grade band sections.

A summary of the results and additional information about the needs assessment is available on the Statewide Literacy Needs Assessment web page.

State Literacy Team

A new SLP team was selected through a formal application process, open from December 1, 2024, through January 10, 2025. Selected applicants met virtually in two sessions during February 2025 to respond to the revised SLP and provide additional recommendations. These meetings were hosted and facilitated by the CDE and partners at the Western Region Comprehensive Center led by the American Institutes of Research. For more information about the development of the SLP, please visit the SLT web page.

Questions:   Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant Program | CLSDP@cde.ca.gov
Last Reviewed: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Recently Posted in Professional Learning