The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) is proud to announce that Wyoming has been awarded a Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Wyoming is one of only twenty-four states to receive this national recognition. This five-year, twenty-four point four million dollar investment will strengthen how language and literacy are taught, supported, and sustained through the CLSD Project. The initiative ensures that every child from birth through grade twelve has access to high-quality, evidence-based instruction that prepares them for academic and lifelong success.

The CLSD Project represents a coordinated effort to connect leadership, professional learning, high-quality instructional materials, and effective classroom practices. Through a competitive subgrant process, Wyoming school districts will design and lead local initiatives that accelerate language and literacy growth for all learners. The project emphasizes serving students who face the greatest challenges, including those experiencing poverty, multilingual learners, and children with disabilities. Each subgrantee will align local needs with CLSD priorities to create lasting improvement across schools and communities.

The Wyoming CLSD Project is grounded in implementation science and systems coaching, helping schools develop sustainable, evidence-based literacy practices that endure beyond the life of the grant. It focuses on Leadership, Language, and Literacy as the foundation for educational success and continuous improvement. The project also builds leadership capacity at every level to ensure strong and consistent instructional systems. Together, these efforts create a cohesive framework that supports educators and strengthens literacy outcomes within CLSD subgrantee sites.

To guide this work, the Wyoming CLSD Project is anchored by six interconnected objectives that drive continuous improvement and measurable results. Each objective reflects the state’s commitment to strengthening leadership capacity, enhancing instructional quality, and ensuring coherence across the language and literacy continuum. Collectively, these objectives define how the CLSD Project will build a sustainable foundation for student success.

The Six Objectives Are:

Birth to Grade Twelve
Build P–12 infrastructure by engaging administrators, principals, and literacy leaders in systems-level coaching partnerships, evidence-based professional development, and job-embedded systems coaching to strengthen literacy leadership capacity, ensure consistent implementation of comprehensive literacy initiatives, and drive transformative systems change, resulting in the development of Regional Literacy Sites (RLS) that will serve the state beyond the life of the grant.

Birth to Kindergarten Entry
Invest in high-quality, evidence-aligned professional development and job-embedded coaching for early childhood educators to strengthen instruction in oral language and preliteracy skills for preschool-aged children (ages 3–5) prior to kindergarten entry, through systematic and intentional practices, while building capacity to provide supplemental and targeted support that bolsters kindergarten readiness and smooth transitions into elementary school.

Adolescent Literacy
Invest in high-quality, evidence-based professional development and job-embedded coaching for secondary (6–12) educators to strengthen core academic instruction through explicit and systematic reading and writing practices, while also building capacity to provide intensive, supplemental, and accelerated support for students reading significantly below grade level.

K–12
Invest in high-quality, evidence-based professional development and job-embedded coaching for K–12 educators, focusing on standards-aligned universal core instruction to ensure continuity of services and support through evidence-based resources and strategies for explicit and systematic reading and writing instruction.

Prioritize the adoption and implementation of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and high-quality instructional practices (HQIP), including universal core, supplemental, and intervention curricula, materials, resources, and activities to build a comprehensive and coherent language and literacy ecosystem that provides all students access to HQIM and HQIP across the P–12 continuum.

Subgrantees receive access to wraparound support for systems located in Opportunity Zones and those identified for CSI/TSI under ESSA. In addition to the grant support, the Network offers subgrantees access to unique, expert-led research opportunities designed to partner, explore, and address growth opportunities within their systems. Participants will engage in meaningful learning experiences that strengthen capacity, inspire innovation, and promote coordinated and sustainable systems change.

Subgrantee
Subgrantee
Support Partner
Support Partner
Research & Innovation Partners
Research & Innovation Partners
Contact
Dr. Claudia Ladd

CLSD Language and Literacy Director

Educators