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Title 20, EducationRelease 119-110

§6644 Subgrants to Eligible Entities in Support of Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Literacy

Title 20 › CHAPTER 70 — STRENGTHENING AND IMPROVEMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS › SUBCHAPTER II — PREPARING, TRAINING, AND RECRUITING HIGH-QUALITY TEACHERS, PRINCIPALS, OR OTHER SCHOOL LEADERS › Part B — National Activities › subpart 2 — literacy education for all, results for the nation › § 6644

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

States that get these grant funds must award competitive subgrants to eligible local groups to support kindergarten through grade 12 literacy. Subgrants can last up to 5 years and must be large enough for strong, grade-level literacy work. Local applicants must send the state a plan with a needs check, show how they will train teachers and school leaders, explain how they will find students who need help, show how literacy fits into the full curriculum, and describe links with early childhood and after-school programs. States must give priority to applicants using evidence-based activities (as defined in section 7801(21)(A)(i)). Local winners must use the funds to carry out full literacy plans. For K–5, that means serving all students (including students with disabilities and English learners), offering extra and explicit reading and writing help for those below grade level, training staff, coordinating with early childhood teams, and involving families. For grades 6–12, that means a similar comprehensive plan for older students, staff training, checking the quality of instruction, time for teachers to plan, and coordination among specialists. Funds may also pay for literacy coaches, connect after-school learning to school learning, train families, support multi-tiered literacy services, form school literacy leadership teams, and give staff time to plan instruction.

Full Legal Text

Title 20, §6644

Education, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Subgrants to eligible entities
(1)Subgrants
A State educational agency receiving a grant under this subpart shall use a portion of the grant funds, in accordance with clauses (ii) and (iii) of section 6642(d)(2)(D) of this title, to award subgrants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to enable the eligible entities to carry out the authorized activities described in subsections (c) and (d).
(2)Duration
The term of a subgrant under this section shall be determined by the State educational agency awarding the subgrant and shall in no case exceed 5 years.
(3)Sufficient size and scope
A State educational agency shall award subgrants under this section of sufficient size and scope to allow the eligible entities to carry out high-quality comprehensive literacy instruction in each grade level for which the subgrant funds are provided.
(4)Local applications
An eligible entity desiring to receive a subgrant under this section shall submit an application to the State educational agency at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the State educational agency may require. Such application shall include, for each school that the eligible entity identifies as participating in a subgrant program under this section, the following information:
(A)A description of the eligible entity’s needs assessment conducted to identify how subgrant funds will be used to inform and improve comprehensive literacy instruction at the school.
(B)How the school, the local educational agency, or a provider of high-quality professional development will provide ongoing high-quality professional development to all teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel (as appropriate), and other instructional leaders served by the school.
(C)How the school will identify children in need of literacy interventions or other support services.
(D)An explanation of how the school will integrate comprehensive literacy instruction into a well-rounded education.
(E)A description of how the school will coordinate comprehensive literacy instruction with early childhood education programs and activities and after-school programs and activities in the area served by the local educational agency.
(b)Priority
In awarding grants under this section, the State educational agency shall give priority to an eligible entity that will use funds under subsection (c) or (d) to implement evidence-based activities, defined for the purpose of this subsection as activities meeting the requirements of section 7801(21)(A)(i) of this title.
(c)Local uses of funds for kindergarten through grade 5
An eligible entity that receives a subgrant under this section shall use the subgrant funds to carry out the following activities pertaining to children in kindergarten through grade 5:
(1)Developing and implementing a comprehensive literacy instruction plan across content areas for such children that—
(A)serves the needs of all children, including children with disabilities and English learners, especially children who are reading or writing below grade level;
(B)provides intensive, supplemental, accelerated, and explicit intervention and support in reading and writing for children whose literacy skills are below grade level; and
(C)supports activities that are provided primarily during the regular school day but that may be augmented by after-school and out-of-school time instruction.
(2)Providing high-quality professional development opportunities for teachers, literacy coaches, literacy specialists, English as a second language specialists (as appropriate), principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, school librarians, paraprofessionals, and other program staff.
(3)Training principals, specialized instructional support personnel, and other local educational agency personnel to support, develop, administer, and evaluate high-quality kindergarten through grade 5 literacy initiatives.
(4)Coordinating the involvement of early childhood education program staff, principals, other instructional leaders, teachers, teacher literacy teams, English as a second language specialists (as appropriate), special educators, school personnel, and specialized instructional support personnel (as appropriate) in the literacy development of children served under this subsection.
(5)Engaging families and encouraging family literacy experiences and practices to support literacy development.
(d)Local uses of funds for grades 6 through 12
An eligible entity that receives a subgrant under this section shall use subgrant funds to carry out the following activities pertaining to children in grades 6 through 12:
(1)Developing and implementing a comprehensive literacy instruction plan described in subsection (c)(1) for children in grades 6 through 12.
(2)Training principals, specialized instructional support personnel, school librarians, and other local educational agency personnel to support, develop, administer, and evaluate high-quality comprehensive literacy instruction initiatives for grades 6 through 12.
(3)Assessing the quality of adolescent comprehensive literacy instruction as part of a well-rounded education.
(4)Providing time for teachers to meet to plan evidence-based adolescent comprehensive literacy instruction to be delivered as part of a well-rounded education.
(5)Coordinating the involvement of principals, other instructional leaders, teachers, teacher literacy teams, English as a second language specialists (as appropriate), paraprofessionals, special educators, specialized instructional support personnel (as appropriate), and school personnel in the literacy development of children served under this subsection.
(e)Allowable uses
An eligible entity that receives a subgrant under this section may, in addition to carrying out the activities described in subsections (c) and (d), use subgrant funds to carry out the following activities pertaining to children in kindergarten through grade 12:
(1)Recruiting, placing, training, and compensating literacy coaches.
(2)Connecting out-of-school learning opportunities to in-school learning in order to improve children’s literacy achievement.
(3)Training families and caregivers to support the improvement of adolescent literacy.
(4)Providing for a multi-tier system of supports for literacy services.
(5)Forming a school literacy leadership team to help implement, assess, and identify necessary changes to the literacy initiatives in 1 or more schools to ensure success.
(6)Providing time for teachers (and other literacy staff, as appropriate, such as school librarians or specialized instructional support personnel) to meet to plan comprehensive literacy instruction.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 6644, Pub. L. 89–10, title II, § 2204, as added Pub. L. 103–382, title I, § 101, Oct. 20, 1994, 108 Stat. 3622, related to consortium requirement, prior to its omission in the general amendment of this subchapter by Pub. L. 107–110.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Dec. 10, 2015, except with respect to certain noncompetitive programs and competitive programs, see section 5 of Pub. L. 114–95, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2015 Amendment note under section 6301 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

20 U.S.C. § 6644

Title 20, Education

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110