South Carolina Department of Education Awards Laurens County School District 55 with Innovation Grant
December 18, 2023
Laurens County School District 55 (LCSD 55) announced at the November 27, 2023, LCSD 55 School Board Meeting that the district was awarded an Innovation Grant for $74,000, by the South Carolina Department of Education. The funding is authorized by Proviso 1A.56 of the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 General Appropriations Bill.
LCSD 55’s grant application, titled Meeting Every Need, will directly serve Child Early Reading and Development Education Program (CERDEP) students at Laurens Elementary School, Ford Elementary School, and Gray Court-Owings School. Per the South Carolina Department of Education, CERDEP is a program for four-year-old kindergarten for at-risk children that must be made available to qualified children in all public school districts within South Carolina.
The Innovation Grant will help LCSD 55 meet the literacy needs of young learners. Under the grant, LCSD 55 will continue its partnership with Waterford Upstart, an at-home learning program that has proven to have increased reading levels among LCSD 55 students when it was implemented in late 2022-2023. Data shows that on average, students who graduate from the Waterford Upstart program enter 5-year-old Kindergarten at almost a first-grade level.
The awarded Innovation Grant will also help the district target building foundational math and science skills among early childhood students and further family engagement. Many academic researchers find family engagement increases students’ academic success. Workshops and collaborations with parents and caregivers will take place to create strong learning support systems at home.
LCSD 55 Superintendent Dr. Thomas said, “Receiving the Innovation Grant to support our project, titled Meeting Every Need, has brought immense excitement to LCSD 55 as it directly serves the development of early foundational skills in reading and math for our students. Partnering with Waterford Upstart is an incredible opportunity that will allow us to provide high-quality early education resources, family engagement, and support to our students. We are grateful for this partnership and the positive impact it will have on the academic journey of our young learners.”
LCSD 55 Accountability, Federal Programs, and Professional Learning Director Amanda Lecaroz added, “We are excited to be awarded this Innovation Grant by the SC Department of Education as we know that establishing a solid school-to-home partnership early on in a child’s educational career will have a tremendous positive impact on their future trajectory toward academic success.”
As a grantee, LCSD 55 is required to participate in an external evaluation after the implementation of the program.S
