Valparaiso University receives three-year grant for literacy education

Lilly Endowment Inc. has selected Valparaiso University to receive a three-year $750,000 grant with the goal of improving literacy instruction in Indiana. Lilly Endowment created the endowment through the Advancing Science of Reading in Indiana (or ASRI) Initiative. The goal of the ASRI initiative is to elevate the use of evidence-based methods and tools to improve reading instructions for Indiana’s K-12 students. This grant follows a planning grant for $75,000 that was awarded earlier this year. 

In an article posted on Valparaiso University’s website, assistant professor of education at the school, Benjamin Boche, Ph.D., talked about the literacy programs offered by Valparaiso University, saying, “In the past three years, we have redesigned our elementary education program to align with Science of Reading and Evidence-based practices, so this new implementation grant is an extension of the great work we are already doing. We have also spent the past several years creating strong partnerships with local area schools to host our undergraduate pre-service teachers in their classrooms, and this new grant will continue this great work.”

Most of the original planning funds were used by Valparaiso University to design the Center for Literacy. The new implementation grant will be used as the university works to get the center running. The Center for Literacy is located in Wesemann Hall and will serve as a centralized resource for Transition to Teaching students, undergraduate students, and current educators who work with future teachers. The center will focus on the Science of Reading which is a set of heavily researched teaching practices that have shown to be very effective in literacy education. The funding from the new grant will be primarily used to fund the operation of the Center. The Center will also include micro-teaching labs that students can use to practice and receive feedback as they develop their Science of Reading based teaching skills.

Funds will also be used to in-service teachers with stipends while they host Valparaiso University students in their classrooms, enhancements to the children’s literature library, curriculum support for the undergraduate program, as well as other program materials.

Professor Boche also noted that the money provided by the grant will help improve the understanding of the Science of Reading practices for his students, which will have a huge impact on the education of the region.

“When our students graduate, many of them stay in the area, so this is about supporting the region by strengthening the education of its young students,” he said.

The implementation process of this new grant will run for the next three years, finally finishing at the end of July 2026. Partner schools will be given more information about the university’s specific implementation plans next month. More information about the planning grant from earlier this year can be found here. More information about the education program at Valparaiso University can be found on the school's website.