Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) Technical Assistance

Overview

Since 2017, Synergy has successfully managed the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) technical assistance (TA) center for the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy program and its successor, the Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) program. CLSD advances literacy skills (including preliteracy skills), reading, and writing for children from birth through grade 12—particularly those who live in poverty, are English learners, and experience disabilities. Synergy conducts the following activities for the CLSD TA Center: (1) enhancing and maintaining a public website; (2) developing resources and professional learning modules for state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs); (3) enhancing and maintaining a secure knowledge management system (KMS) and reporting portal for CLSD grantees to report and submit performance measures and budget data; and (4) delivering TA to all grantees and non-grantees through multiple modalities, including one-on-one sessions, communities of practice, and virtual and in-person sessions that feature subject matter experts, guided resource reviews, and networking opportunities for CLSD grantees and stakeholders. SEA and LEA leaders across the country use CLSD professional learning modules as turnkey educator learning tools to support literacy among children of different ages (from preliteracy through secondary school) and backgrounds (those with disabilities and those who are learning English) and engage families. 

The TA center is collaborating with CLSD program staff members to revise the annual performance report by collecting data that will help ED determine how program funds are used at both the grantee level and the subgrantee level. New data fields will include state-level activities, subgrant competition information, and subgrantee demographic details and major activities. These revisions involve preparing an Office of Management and Budget package, conducting focus groups to provide input into the new indicators, updating the KMS to reflect the changes, and providing a guidebook and instructional webinars to support grantees with the revised form.