The Georgia Department of Education is awarding an additional $563,250 to three Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESAs) to provide literacy readiness instructional supports and teacher training, State School Superintendent Richard Woods announced today.

At its November meeting, the State Board of Education approved Superintendent Woods' recommendation to extend literacy support and teacher training contracts to two additional RESAs. The total amount awarded is $1,464,350 to include four RESA partnerships and 672 participants, 112 educators in each round.

The teacher training and instructional supports will be provided to the awardees at no cost through federal ESSER funds. The awardees may use the contract funds to cover training, materials, substitutes, and stipends for 112 Georgia public school teachers in each RESA district.

“Reading comprehension is a foundational skill that improves students' future opportunities when they master literacy," Superintendent Woods said. “We have seen great success with the first two cohorts of teachers who received training and support through these contracts. The support and training opportunities they provide help teachers increase the percentage of K-5 students with strong reading comprehension skills."

Each awarded RESA will advertise available opportunities to teachers, as applicable.

This is the third cohort of RESAs to receive the contract awards to expand and improve instructional supports and teacher training in rural school districts. Each Literacy Technical Assistance round includes literacy training for district and school administrators and district-, school-, and classroom-level educators; stipends for participants; substitute costs; and train-the-trainer opportunities for sustainability purposes. Districts select the training approach that supports their overall literacy strategic plan. In each round, the Literacy Specialist is a designated position to support, extend and sustain the literacy training initiative at the RESA level.

“We understand the importance of providing instructional supports and training opportunities to teachers in rural Georgia districts," said Dr. Bronwyn Ragan-Martin, GaDOE Deputy Superintendent for Rural Education and Innovation. “Reading comprehension is paramount for student success in school and in the future. We are happy to expand the support and training opportunities to more rural Georgia educators."

GaDOE is committed to helping teachers advance their skills and working closely with partners in education to support improving student literacy.

Literacy Readiness Contract Awardees

First Round; Approved at May Board Meeting
Southwest Georgia RESA Round 1 Literacy Technical Assistance
Southwest Georgia RESA Literacy Specialist
Chattahoochee-Flint RESA Round 1 Literacy Technical Assistance
Chattahoochee-Flint RESA Literacy Specialist
Second Round; Approved at August Board Meeting
Southwest Georgia RESA Round 2 Literacy Technical Assistance
Third Round; Approved at November Board Meeting
Chattahoochee-Flint Round 2 Literacy Technical Assistance
Pioneer RESA Round 1 Literacy Technical Assistance
Pioneer RESA Literacy Specialist
First District RESA Round 1 Literacy Technical Assistance
First District RESA Literacy Specialist