Steps to Literacy Modules Build on Maine’s Extensive Efforts to Support Literacy Instruction

Augusta, ME—To support educators in providing evidence-based literacy instruction, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) announced that all K-5 educators have free access to high-quality literacy modules through June of 2025. Educators who complete the modules by August 23, 2024, will be eligible to receive a stipend for each completed module.

These literacy modules build on the work of the Maine DOE to support literacy instruction across Maine, including the $10 million in grant funding for schools to develop, expand, and enhance evidence-based core literacy instruction and targeted interventions for Maine students announced earlier this year.

“We’re excited to offer these modules at no cost to Maine educators. Educators can delve into evidence-backed literacy instruction topics at their own pace and choose the professional learning modules that best fit their needs,” said Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin.

The DOE has partnered with the AIM Institute© for Learning & Research to provide Maine educators with no-cost access to these modules. The AIM Steps to Literacy Modules, a unique offering available for individual or bundled learning, provides a wealth of benefits to educators. These fully asynchronous online courses delve into evidence-based literacy topics, such as phonological awareness, dyslexia, and multilingual English learners. Each module presents engaging learning opportunities in a “learn, practice, apply” format, allowing educators to progress at their own pace. With teaching techniques, videos, and printable resources, these modules not only enhance knowledge but also equip educators with practical strategies to implement in the classroom, making them a valuable resource for professional development.

These modules build on the Maine DOE’s efforts to strengthen literacy in Maine. In January, Governor Mills announced $10 million in grant funding for schools to develop, expand, and enhance evidence-based core literacy instruction and targeted interventions for Maine students. This grant, which many schools are already utilizing, provides Maine educators with funding to participate in evidence-based literacy-centered professional learning, internal instruction, review processes, and the means to purchase evidence-based literacy materials and train instructional coaches.

In 2022, the Maine DOE released Literacy for ME 2.0, a revamped state literacy plan grounded in research-based literacy practices and organized around key components central to building comprehensive literacy programs. The Maine DOE also provides interdisciplinary instructional programming and resources around literacy for pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade.

The Mills administration expanded the state’s partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, with 4,500 eligible Maine children currently receiving free, high-quality, age-appropriate books through the program. The Maine DOE recently announced a partnership with I’m Your Neighbor Books to provide Welcoming Libraries to 16 schools across Maine, with each library containing 60 books featuring stories of immigrant families and the diversity of America. To foster the love of reading, the Maine DOE also hosts the Read to ME Challenge every February to encourage adults to read aloud to children and Read to Ride Summer, a contest that qualifies students who read at least 500 minutes over the summer a chance to win one of 48 donated bikes and helmets.

The DOE has also created several literacy-related educator groups, for educators and education organizations across Maine to share and develop resources and guide the state’s literacy work, including the State Literacy Team, Maine Association for Improving Literacy (MAIL) Network, State Dyslexia Advisory Group, Screening Project & Dyslexia Plan, and the Higher Education Pre-Service Literacy Faculty Group. These groups also share information, facilitate text studies, and offer training related to dyslexia awareness, the Science of Reading, the neuroscience of the reading brain, systematic and evidence-based Tier I instruction to lower special education referral rates, support for striving readers, alignment and collaboration between general and special education for IDEA, and inclusive literacy instruction for students identified as having specific learning disabilities.

For further details or to register for the AIM Steps to Literacy Modules, please visit the  . Maine Educators who complete modules by August 23, 2024, will be eligible to receive a stipend of $25/hour per the number of contact hours awarded for each completed module.

This program was created with Federal Emergency Relief Funding and is a part of Maine’s Whole Student Pandemic Response. Please visit the Maine Department of Education website to learn more about Maine’s Whole Student Pandemic Response.

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