Three Brooklyn schools — P.S. 10 and P.S. 39 in Park Slope and P.S. 130 in Kensington — will each receive $40,000 in state funding to support evidence-based literacy instruction and professional development.
The grants are part of Assembly Member Robert Carroll’s “Structured Literacy” initiative. Previous recipients include P.S. 107 and P.S. 295 in Park Slope and P.S. 154 in Windsor Terrace.
Evidence-based reading methods like Structured Literacy focus on skills such as decoding, spelling, reading comprehension, and written expression. These build a foundation for other academic areas like math and science. The approach benefits all students, especially those with reading difficulties such as dyslexia and other disabilities.
“We’ve worked with schools as one of our approaches to hone in on early childhood literacy by giving teachers the tools to be better equipped to make sure that all the students in their classrooms become fluent and fluid readers,” Carroll told Brooklyn Paper. “The best way to do that is to help provide high-quality and evidence-based professional development for teachers.”
Carroll, who struggled with dyslexia as a child, has been a leader in reforming the state’s approach to literacy instruction and addressing the needs of children with dyslexia.
“We all know how foundational and fundamental it is to make sure that students are successful readers early on,” Carroll said. “I know this from struggling with dyslexia as a child, how difficult that is in early years, and how that can have a profound effect on a student if they are not given the proper support and instructions, what that does not just to their academic career, but to their mental health, and what that does to their parents.”
Some of Carroll’s legislation includes the Dyslexia and Dysgraphia Task Force Act and the Dyslexia Diagnosis Access Act, both signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
The task force created a blueprint for reforming the state’s approach to dyslexia and dysgraphia. One recommendation was the creation of a Center for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia, for which Carroll secured $250,000 in funding. The Dyslexia Diagnosis Access Act requires private insurance to cover the cost of neuropsychological exams to diagnose dyslexia.
Currently, Carroll is the prime sponsor of several related bills, including one to establish a Center for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia within the State Education Department, another to expand Medicaid coverage to include neuropsychological exams for dyslexia, ensuring financial barriers do not prevent proper diagnosis and intervention, and the New York Individuals with Dyslexia Education Act (NYIDEA). The latter would set statewide standards for dyslexia screening and intervention, overhauling the state’s approach to supporting K-5 students struggling to learn to read.
“One of the things that is easy for a politician to say is, ‘Do this or do that,” Carroll said. “One of the things to make this work is to give teachers and principals the kind of professional development and resources they need to actually institute these changes.”
Literacy is a top priority for Carroll, who endorsed New York City Comptroller Brad Lander as his first choice and State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani as his second choice in the June Democratic mayoral primary on May 21. Both candidates have pledged to prioritize literacy in the next mayoral administration.
“They would appoint a high-level City Hall official to coordinate literacy initiatives, not just between schools, but libraries, after-school programs, daycares, community groups, prisons, [and] family courts to make sure that we are actually doing all these wraparound services,” Carroll said. “The sad reality is that well over 50% of the children in New York City public schools are reading below grade level. Over 30% of them barely read at all. In some schools and among some groups of students, those numbers are significantly higher.”
In a statement, NYC Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, P.S. 130 Principal Stephen Cedermark, and P.S. 39 Principal Sara Panag expressed deep gratitude for Carroll’s commitment to helping New York City students become confident readers.
“This kind of evidence-based advocacy is necessary to transform the way we approach literacy and establish programs that will benefit thousands of students,” Aviles-Ramos said.
“This funding allows us to provide our educators with advanced training and ongoing support in evidence-based reading instruction, ensuring that all students, including those with language-based learning differences, receive explicit, systematic, and multi-sensory instruction,” Cedermark said.
“This literacy grant allows PS 39 to continue learning opportunities for teachers and school leaders that strengthen structured literacy teaching—ensuring that our teachers continue to provide explicit instruction and modeling for all students, including students with language learning challenges. By breaking reading and writing into clear building blocks and integrating multi-sensory learning, structured literacy equips students with the tools they need to succeed, including spelling and writing in a way that makes learning to read and write accessible to all,” Panag said.
