Notre Dame part of federally funded literacy grant to expand access to high-impact tutoring in Indiana
This article was originally published by Erin Blasko on news.nd.edu.
The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), in partnership with the University of Notre Dame and WestEd, has been awarded approximately $10 million to expand access to high-impact tutoring in Indiana — part of a nationwide $256 million investment to accelerate literacy achievement across the country.
Administered by the U.S. Department of Education, the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant will be used to support children’s literacy by expanding the number of individuals connected to schools, from tutors and aides to parents, who are trained in the science of reading.
The award positions Indiana as one of just 10 states receiving an EIR grant this cycle.
“We are thrilled that Indiana has been selected for this highly competitive federal award,” Gov. Mike Braun said. “Through a partnership between the state of Indiana, higher education and community-based organizations, we can ensure more Hoosier students, in every corner of our state, are building the foundational literacy skills that prepare them for lifelong success.”
Building on the successful Tutor-ND model developed by researchers at Notre Dame, IDOE will scale the Tutor Cognitive Science Connection Hub (Tutor-CogSci), a capacity-building model integrating high-impact tutoring with workforce development, to serve additional students — particularly in rural and underserved areas of the Hoosier state.
“The Tutor-ND program reflects the University’s long-standing commitment to expanding educational opportunities through data-driven practices and partnerships that strengthen communities,” said University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. “We are deeply grateful for the generosity of the Department of Education, which will allow Tutor-ND to broaden its crucial support for educators and students across Indiana.”
Tutor-CogSci supports college and high school students, aides and other school-connected adults through interdisciplinary learning design teams connected to university researchers and teacher educators. These teams then partner with schools, bolstering schools’ capacity to sustain effective literacy support while contributing to ongoing learning about what works.
Together, Notre Dame, IDOE and WestEd will build the human infrastructure needed to meet Indiana’s reading goals at scale; develop the youth-serving workforce, especially aspiring teachers, pediatricians, cognitive scientists and parents; and ensure continuous improvement through data-driven, design-based implementation.
“Helping children learn to read is a universal good, and that’s what brings so many Hoosiers together to do this work,” said Nicole McNeil, professor of psychology and the Sweeney Family Director of the Center for Educational Research and Action at Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives, which will manage the day-to-day aspects of the project. “Indiana is demonstrating what’s possible when leaders value research evidence and invest deeply in early literacy. We’re honored to support the educators who are leading this work.”
WestEd, a nonpartisan research, development and service agency that works to promote excellence, improve learning and increase opportunity for children, youth and adults, will serve as the project’s independent evaluator to ensure the project yields high-quality evidence to guide practice and policy.
“As evaluators, we’re excited to support this initiative that fundamentally rethinks how we scale effective tutoring,” said Jodi Davenport, vice president of learning sciences and technology at WestEd. “By grounding tutors in cognitive science and engaging college and high school students as tutors themselves, this project creates a multiplier effect: improving third-grade reading outcomes today while building the educator workforce of tomorrow.”
“This grant will help us accelerate student learning through targeted, high-impact tutoring, deepen our commitment to the science of reading and better support educators and students across all 92 counties."
Indiana is uniquely positioned to tackle one of the most urgent challenges in education: ensuring that every student receives effective, relationship-focused literacy instruction tailored to individuals’ needs.
Tutor-CogSci has been refined and tested over four years, producing gains in school readiness and reading achievement. Unlike outreach programs that deploy untrained “reading buddies” or “homework helpers,” it connects tutors directly to cognitive science, preparing them to support the full developmental literacy trajectory.
University partnerships are central to this strategy, supplying well-trained, mission-aligned tutors while advancing research and workforce development, prioritizing formation, relationships and learning outcomes over profit, ensuring fidelity, replicability and scalable impact. Tutor-ND currently partners with the Alliance for Catholic Education to support summer enrichment and learning at the Notre Dame Robinson Community Learning Center.
“Central to our state’s continued improvement in literacy is bringing everyone to the table to identify and deploy solutions,” said Katie Jenner, Indiana secretary of education. “This grant will help us accelerate student learning through targeted, high-impact tutoring, deepen our commitment to the science of reading and better support educators and students across all 92 counties. We are grateful for this opportunity and eager to get to work for Indiana students!”
Since its inception, Tutor-ND has worked with schools and community organizations to build capacity for high-impact tutoring through cognitive science. Its literacy partnership with the South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) began in 2021-22 with two pilot schools and a small group of students in grades two to four. The following year, the model expanded to nine SBCSC schools that collectively served about 1,600 students in grades two to four. In 2023-24, with AmeriCorps support, Tutor-ND added on-demand training, curriculum inserts and assessment guides, supporting new partnerships with Catholic schools, community centers and universities, including Boston College and the University of Dayton.
Today, the program supports high-impact tutoring across nine SBCSC schools during the school day, provides on-demand assistance for community-based and after-school tutors, trains school staff to lead summer programs and shares science-of-reading-aligned materials with families. It is part of the Aspiring Teachers as Tutors Network, a national collective organized by Deans for Impact that brings together educator-preparation programs and nonprofit tutoring initiatives to strengthen the formation of future educators through high-impact tutoring.
Coinciding with the rollout and expansion of the program, SBCSC’s IREAD pass rate rose from 53.7 percent in 2021 to 70.8 percent in 2025 — the largest gain among comparable public districts in the state. Those partnered with Tutor-ND increased IREAD pass by 26.4 percentage points, five times the state average over the same period. Work with Catholic schools resulted in increases to above 95 percent pass rates for all participating schools.
