Carnegie Learning Awarded Federal EIR Expansion Grant to Advance Adolescent Literacy through Lenses on Literature

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10:30 AM on Wednesday, March 4

The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 4, 2026--

Carnegie Learning, a global leader in AI-driven technology, curriculum, and professional learning solutions for K-12 education, announced today it has been awarded a prestigious Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Expansion grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support the large-scale implementation and rigorous evaluation of Lenses on Literature, its secondary ELA curriculum. The project will be carried out in partnership with the Kentucky Educational Development Corporation (KEDC), the Maine Department of Education, Impact Florida, and WestEd, marking a significant milestone for the organization and for adolescent literacy research nationwide.

It is rare for EIR grants to fund randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of a full core ELA curriculum at this scale, a distinction that reflects Carnegie Learning’s commitment to validating its solutions where it matters most: in real classrooms, with real students.

The five-year grant, running from 2026 through 2030, will involve eighth-grade classrooms in approximately 120 middle schools. The study will evaluate how a comprehensive, research-based ELA curriculum like Lenses on Literature, which integrates high-quality instructional materials, embedded professional learning, tiered supports, and tutoring intervention, affects:

Student engagement
Reading and writing performance
Standardized assessment outcomes
Implementation sustainability and scalability across diverse contexts

The grant builds on more than a decade of federally funded research behind the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC), the instructional backbone of Lenses on Literature. Prior studies showed that LDC-based intervention alone produced up to two years of literacy growth in a single school year. As a full core curriculum, Lenses on Literature is positioned to deliver even greater impact for students through the use of high-quality instructional materials at scale.

" Lenses on Literature is built on research that has already moved the needle for students," said Dr. Suzanne Simons, Chief Literacy Officer at Carnegie Learning. "This study lets us find out what's possible when that same rigor becomes the core curriculum every day, for every learner. The result has the potential to reshape adolescent literacy."

"This partnership is about more than one study," added Carnegie Learning Chief Scientist Dr. Steve Ritter. "It's about building the evidence base that gives educators everywhere the confidence to choose high-quality instructional materials, and the proof that those materials work."

Explore Lenses on Literaturehere.

About Carnegie Learning, Inc.

Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Learning is the world’s leading edtech company using research and AI to dramatically improve learning outcomes for students. A pioneer in K-12 education for 26+ years, we provide award-winning math, literacy, world languages, professional learning, and high-impact tutoring solutions to more than 5.5 million students and educators in all 50 states and Canada. Born out of Carnegie Mellon University, our company continues to conduct research with more than $90M in grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, and U.S. Department of Education, among others. Visit carnegielearning.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.