The state’s board of education on Friday awarded Evanston/Skokie School District 65 a grant of more than $2.2 million to improve teaching strategies over the next three years.

The Comprehensive School Reform Grant will be used to fund district-wide programs such as improving instruction, minimizing disruptions, extending the school day and reading programs, said Hardy Ray Murphy, superintendent of D65.

While the grant is usually awarded to one school with a large number of students who are not meeting state standards, D65 qualified because it historically has a number of low-achieving students throughout the entire district, Murphy said.

“We convinced the state we already address instructional and achievement needs,” Murphy said. “We showed that because of our integration and distribution of low-achievement students across the district the state should invest in our whole district plan.”

This was the first time D65 applied for the grant.

Under a provision of the grant, each school will be given $10,000 for discretionary spending. The schools are expected to put the funds in training, materials and supplies.

While none of the programs are targeted at any specific group of students, the plan includes five training areas where most of the funds will be directed. The goal is to increase the quality of instruction overall, Murphy said.

“This grant will help us make sure that every child is getting the best schooling with continuous excellence in teaching,” Murphy said.

The training topics include expanding Guided Reading, a program to help middle school students read non-fiction books more effectively, and Reading Across the Content Areas, a program that combines multiple subjects with reading instruction. More teachers will be trained for both programs.

Committee members and school officials said that by giving the teachers additional resources and ample knowledge of reading programs, D65 hopes to increase student achievement levels and to bring lower-achieving students up to state standards.

The district’s School Improvement Team Resource Committee, a group consisting of teachers and administrators, applied for the state grant.

“We knew that we had a lot of professional development we wanted to do,” said Betsy Sagan, school board vice president and SIT committee member. “I’m very excited we have this money. This will help us not have to stop having teacher developments amidst the current budget cuts and enable us to keep doing the good things we are doing.”

Murphy said the grant marks a vote of confidence and support from the state board of education for D65’s ongoing efforts to improve education.

“We thank the state very much for this and appreciate it,” Murphy said. “This money will see to it that there is more support for our teachers and higher levels of achievement for all of our students.”