Lilly Endowment in Indianapolis has announced 28 grants totaling $21.5 million to colleges and universities in Indiana in support of teacher training in new methods for reading instruction.

Funded through the endowment’s Advancing the Science of Reading in Indiana (SOR) initiative, the implementation grants will enable programs focused on enhancing or expanding the use of SOR—a teaching methodology related to how children learn to read and aligned with the use of explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction focused on phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Grants ranging from $325,400 to $1.5 million are based on the number of Indiana teaching licenses granted to graduates of the college or university in early childhood, elementary, and/or special education. Recipients include the University of St. Francis ($325,000), Ball State University ($1.5 million), Indiana State University ($968,080), and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College ($346,307).

“It is imperative that more of Indiana’s elementary students learn to read proficiently, and it is essential that current teachers and the next generation of teachers are prepared to use proven methods to teach reading in their classrooms,” said Lilly Endowment vice president for education Ted Maple. “[The grants will] help Indiana colleges and universities strengthen the use of these research-based methods to teach reading in their teacher preparation programs.”

For a complete list of recipients, see the Lilly Endowment website.

(Photo credit: Wikimedia/Durin)