DC Literacy Education Task Force and structured literacy initiative (D.C. Official Code 38-2263)
How schools fund reading intervention in District of Columbia
How schools fund reading intervention in District of Columbia
How schools fund reading intervention in District of Columbia
The state-level programs below are the streams District of Columbia districts most often use for evidence-based reading intervention purchases, alongside the federal streams available everywhere.
OSSE Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) FY26-FY29 subgrants
LEAs are the primary applicants for the K-12 subgrant competition and can fund evidence-based literacy programming, instructional materials, and PD; everything funded must be rooted in structured literacy (explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, morphology, syntax, semantics) — a natural fit for Tier 2/3 foundational-skills interventions.
FY25 high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) investment
OSSE’s Advancing Excellence work includes $2 million in the FY25 budget to support LEA adoption of high-quality, science-based literacy instructional materials, guided by OSSE’s HQIM rubric and guidance.
OSSE Early Literacy Grant
Funds research-based early literacy interventions to raise third-grade reading proficiency; literacy providers (not LEAs) apply, then deliver reading programs in partnership with LEAs — a channel for a vendor-LEA partnership rather than direct LEA purchasing.
Approved-list note: DC has no mandated approved curriculum list; OSSE publishes an HQIM rubric and guidance for evaluating science-based literacy programs, and the Task Force recommended OSSE publish lists of high-quality materials aligned to the science of reading.
