$10M federal grant awarded to Nebraska to study and grow statewide reading program

The Nebraska Growing Readers program will be expanding thanks to a $10 million federal grant.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation a $10 million Education Innovation and Research grant to be used over five years. The money will fund the addition of two tools called FamilyRead and TeacherRead to the Nebraska Growing Readers program with the goal of helping families and teachers enhance reading time with preschoolers.

The Nebraska Growing Readers initiative sends books to families and early childhood programs across the state. The program has distributed 963,871 books since starting in October 2023. Participating families can receive up to 100 books.

Joshua Cramer, executive vice president of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, said in a news release there’s a clear need to strengthen early literacy that led to the foundation working with the Nebraska Department of Education and Unite for Literacy to implement Nebraska Growing Readers.

“Results from four pilot communities showed statistically significant gains in early literacy,” Cramer said. “We’re excited to build on that success with this EIR award and continue growing children’s love of reading and literacy skills, which will prepare them for school and future careers.”

In addition to the two new tools, about 120 sites across Nebraska, mostly in rural communities, will take part in a study. It will compare the original Nebraska Growing Readers program, the initiative paired with the family tools and the initiative paired with both tools. Researchers hope to figure out which of the three approaches does the most to help children before kindergarten.

NDE Commissioner Brian Maher said in the news release that every child deserves to enter kindergarten with the skills and confidence needed to thrive.

“The Nebraska Growing Readers initiative has already shown promising results, and this federal investment will allow us to expand and strengthen that work while learning even more about the practices that have the greatest impact on early literacy,” Maher said. “The knowledge gained through this project will benefit children, families, and educators across Nebraska for years to come.”

The Nebraska Children and Families Foundation is partnering with the University of Notre Dame to co-lead implementation and the American Institutes for Research to conduct the independent evaluation.

By way of full disclosure, Brian Maher is a commissioner on Nebraska Public Media's governing board, the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission.