Clay County Schools wants to strengthen literacy instruction efforts for students in grades 5-12 through a new grant from the Tennessee Department of Education.
Clay County Schools Instruction Supervisor Misty Strong said the Literacy Materials Implementation Grant will focus on enhancing classroom instruction and student engagement in English Language Arts courses. Strong said the grant will not fund entirely new materials, but instead focus on maximizing the use of resources already adopted by the state, along with additional teacher training and support.
“Really engage those teachers with standards alignment to the high-quality curriculum that we have adopted from the State of Tennessee, and just improving and refining those teacher practices to best engage and support students,” Strong said.
Strong said the grant amount has not yet been determined. While early literacy often receives the most attention statewide, Strong said continued instruction at higher grade levels is just as critical.
“We constantly need to support students’ learning needs wherever they are,” Strong said. “One of the biggest challenges that our teachers face is the differentiation of the ability levels of our students. So how we meet the student where they are, and best support them for their goals, is one of our daily missions. Be it challenging them with higher-order thinking skills or refining those reinforcement key reading skills, we have to meet the needs of all learners. And that is a daunting task.”
Clay County Schools has produced a 99 percent graduation rate over the past few years. Strong said this kind of support from other grants has played a role in that achievement.
“All of our teachers work very hard each day to meet the needs of all students, and it’s always an end-in-mind philosophy because we want the best for each student at the end of their learning journey,” Strong said. “So the best that we can do to support them daily is what we strive for.”
Funding for the grant will be distributed through state-approved vendors, covering costs such as teacher training, curriculum alignment, and student engagement tools, rather than a single lump-sum payment. Strong said school officials hope the investment will continue to improve student outcomes and strengthen literacy skills across all grade levels in the years ahead.