Child Trends provides technical assistance (TA) to the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) in support of its efforts to sustain systemic literacy improvements initiated through the five-year Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grant, issued by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). This support includes helping NDDPI meet its federal reporting requirements and reflect on the long-term impact of the CLSD grant across the state’s birth-to-grade-12 literacy system.
Background
The federal CLSD program provides state-level grants to build robust programs to improve literacy among children from birth to grade 12. In 2019, NDDPI was awarded a CLSD grant and distributed funds to 20 sites across the state, aligning efforts with the North Dakota Literacy Plan and prioritizing students who have historically been underserved. A “site” may consist of a single school district and an associated community partner, or a collaboration between multiple school districts and their community partners.
As part of the federal CLSD program, all participating states are required to submit a final report to ED summarizing literacy progress and activities over the life of the grant. In the 2024–2025 school year—the final year of North Dakota’s CLSD grant—NDDPI sought not only to meet this reporting requirement, but also to use the process as an opportunity to reflect on progress and plan for the sustainability of systemic literacy improvements statewide.
To support this effort, Child Trends partnered with NDDPI to design a structured, reflective reporting process to help CLSD sites across the state document their implementation efforts, identify effective practices, and assess readiness for sustaining improvements beyond the grant period. Through targeted technical assistance (TA), including both virtual and in-person sessions, Child Trends guided CLSD sites in examining key literacy strategies, equity considerations, and system-level changes developed during the grant. These engagements encouraged thoughtful planning for long-term impact.
Child Trends will synthesize the resulting site-level reflections to inform NDDPI’s final statewide report to ED, while also providing insights that can guide future literacy initiatives in North Dakota.
Approach
Our TA approach to supporting ND CLSD sites is grounded in Multitiered Systems of Support (MTSS) with a focus on promoting the sustainability of literacy improvements beyond the life of the grant. As a first step of our project, we met with NDDPI to assess what kind of data the department needed for meaningful end-of-grant reporting and to design a process to help CLSD sites reflect on their progress, assess systems-level changes, and plan for long-term impact.
With shared project goals in place, centered on sustainability, we provided three levels of TA to the CLSD sites:
- Universal: In-person convenings for all CLSD site teams to reflect on key literacy topics and share effective practices for sustaining literacy improvement
- Targeted: Asynchronous sessions featuring evidence-based resources, case studies, and additional literacy topics to guide site reflection and reporting
- Intensive: Optional office hours and individualized support to help site teams work through challenges, refine their literacy strategies, and complete meaningful final reports that double as sustainability planning tools
In addition to our three levels of TA to support CLSD sites, we provide ongoing TA support to NDDPI to serve as the department’s implementation partner, collect valuable data from CLSD sites, and build a strong foundation for the state’s final reporting to ED and its continued investment in literacy.
Intended Impacts
- Facilitate meaningful reflection among CSLD sites on their literacy progress to date and plan for sustainability.
- Foster cross-district collaboration to allow CLSD sites to learn from one another.
- Collect and synthesize data from CLSD sites to inform NDDPI’s final report to ED.
Timeline
This project began in August 2024 and will conclude in August 2025.
- August 2024 - September 2024: Co-develop report templates and schedule of TA activities with NDDPI.
- September 2024 - June 2025: Conduct TA activities and collect report data from CLSD sites.
- June 2025 - August 2025: Synthesize site report data to inform NDDPI’s final report to ED.
Preliminary Learnings
- CLSD sites value the opportunity to convene in-person and virtually to share lessons learned, effective practices, and challenges related to CLSD implementation in their districts.
- The CLSD grant has given North Dakota school districts the opportunity to pilot promising, innovative literacy programs.
- These pilot efforts have also enabled districts to gain valuable insights into which literacy strategies are most effective, informing their planning for continuous improvement and long-term sustainability in literacy instruction.
Through this collaborative effort, Child Trends and NDDPI have taken steps to ensure that the progress made through the CSLD grant is documented, shared, and sustained for the future.
Team
Child Trends
- Ben Cronkright, Principal Investigator and Project Director
- Cindy Henry, Sr. Technical Assistance Specialist
- Katherine Connolly, Project Manager
- Cassidy Guros, Sr. Policy Analyst
NDDPI
- Brenda Ehrmantraut, Assistant Director of Academic Support
- Taylor Olsen, Program Administrator of Academic Support