Polk expands phonics funding to upper grades

Polk Education Foundation is using a new $80,000 grant to push its literacy work beyond the earliest grades and into upper elementary, where educators say some students still carry unresolved decoding problems. The funding, announced May 19, comes from GiveWell Community Foundation through the Mabel Schaefer Legacy Grant. (polkeducationfoundation.org) It will support a two-year pilot called Building Blocks Literacy inside the foundation’s AmeriCorps Polk Reads program. The expansion moves past the program’s traditional kindergarten-through-third-grade focus and begins serving fourth- and fifth-grade students in Polk County Public Schools. (businessdailynetwork.com) The stated aim is to check how well older elementary students understand foundational phonics skills and whether targeted instruction can improve their reading growth. (polkeducationfoundation.org) ### Why is Polk moving phonics work into fourth and fifth grade? The Polk Education Foundation said the pilot is designed to identify upper-elementary students who may still have weaknesses in foundational phonics. The foundation said those gaps can remain hidden in older students even when reading problems show up later as weak fluency or poor comprehension. (polkeducationfoundation.org) The program’s structure reflects a broader literacy debate that has moved beyond early-grade instruction alone. Language Magazine, citing the 2026 Education Scorecard, reported on May 20 that science-of-reading policies were linked to early signs of improvement in literacy, even as the broader national recovery picture remained mixed. (businessdailynetwork.com) ### What exactly will the new grant pay for? The $80,000 award will fund Building Blocks Literacy as an extension of AmeriCorps Polk Reads, according to Polk Education Foundation and a Business Daily posting of the announcement. The foundation said the pilot will run over the next two years and add fourth- and fifth-grade students to a program that had previously centered on kindergarten through third grade. (businessdailynetwork.com) GiveWell Community Foundation said the Mabel Schaefer grant cycle is a one-time funding round created in memory of Mabel Schaefer and aimed at nonprofits in Polk and Highlands counties, Florida. GiveWell said Schaefer’s legacy areas included early childhood education, Catholic social services and elderly services. (languagemagazine.com) ### What is AmeriCorps Polk Reads doing now? AmeriCorps Polk Reads served more than 424 students this year, and 84% of them made what the foundation described as significant reading gains. Polk Education Foundation said the program generated more than 35,000 hours of service in schools and the community. The existing program is run through a partnership that includes Polk Education Foundation, Polk County Public Schools and Volunteer Florida, according to the foundation’s program page. (businessdailynetwork.com) The foundation said the service hours would represent more than $1 million a year if families or schools had to pay for comparable private tutoring. ### What evidence is Polk leaning on? The Education Scorecard, released May 13 by researchers tied to Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth, said science-of-reading policy was linked to “first signs of a turnaround in literacy.” The report also said the national picture remained uneven, with chronic absenteeism still weighing on progress. (givecf.org) That research does not specifically evaluate Polk’s pilot. (polkeducationfoundation.org) But Polk’s expansion aligns with the report’s focus on explicit, evidence-based reading instruction and with the foundation’s stated plan to test whether older students still need direct work on foundational skills. ### What happens next in Polk County? The Polk Education Foundation said Building Blocks Literacy will begin serving fourth- and fifth-grade students over the next two years through AmeriCorps Polk Reads. (polkeducationfoundation.org) Polk County Public Schools is the school-system partner in the effort, according to the foundation. (polkeducationfoundation.org) (educationscorecard.org)