MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County School System is one of 38 Georgia school districts that have been awarded Literacy for Learning, Living, and Leading in Georgia (L4GA) grants by the Georgia Department of Education.

Georgia was awarded a total of $61,579,800 through the federal Striving Readers grant competition, according to a press release from the Colquitt County School System. Ninety-five percent of funds were sub-granted to 38 districts. These funds are allocated for students in schools within a feeder system (including birth-to-age-5 childcare providers and elementary, middle, and high schools). All awarded districts have community-school partnerships with local organizations, the Regional Education Service Agencies, and teacher preparation programs to collectively improve literacy outcomes. The goal of the L4GA initiative is to improve student literacy learning.

“It’s a great day for literacy in Georgia,” state School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “I am confident the $61 million Georgia is now able to invest in local schools and communities to support literacy will impact the lives of thousands of students. I commend each L4GA grant recipient – the competition was fierce as we received an unprecedented number of applications. Making sure Georgia students are reading on grade level remains mission-critical, top-priority work for us and I have no doubt these districts – who submitted clear, focused, student-centered plans to improve literacy outcomes – are going to use these funds to make a tremendous difference for kids.”

The Colquitt County School System has been awarded $2,779,615.01 through the L4GA grant to build upon efforts started in 2014 with previous literacy grants that spanned birth to seventh grade.

“This award is due to the tireless efforts of each school in forming the grant application and the district literacy plan,” Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Marni Kirkland said. “School grant writing team members partnered with their peers to form a PK-12 approach to literacy with a focus on Response to Intervention in addition to reading and writing across the content areas for all grade bands.”

The Georgia Department of Education will coordinate sub-grants, facilitate all participating partners, conduct an evaluation of the initiative, and use data to create improvements on an on-going basis.

“The L4GA grant award is yet another indicator that the district is focused on providing the appropriate resources for all students,” Colquitt County School System Superintendent Doug Howell said. “This award is the result of a common mission that the leaders and teachers in our system share to provide pragmatic approaches to resolving barriers students may experience in the learning process as they move through the system.”