A new study by Stanford University researchers Sarah Novicoff and Thomas S. Dee examines the impact of California’s Early Literacy Support Block Grant (ELSBG) during its first two years (2021-22 and 2022-23). The initiative, aimed at improving early literacy in the state’s lowest-performing elementary schools, led to significant gains in English Language Arts (ELA) achievement, with smaller but still meaningful improvements in math.
Early literacy is widely recognized as a foundational skill for long-term academic success, yet national assessments indicate that many students continue to struggle. Many states have enacted reading reforms in recent years grounded in the science of reading, a body of research emphasizing systematic phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. But research on the effectiveness of these state-led literacy reforms remains limited.
ELSBG was established as part of a legal settlement, with California allocating $50 million to improve reading outcomes in 75 of the state’s lowest-performing elementary schools. The program integrated the science of reading into classroom instruction, provided extensive professional development for teachers, and funded tutoring, afterschool programs, and family engagement initiatives. Schools also received oversight and technical support from the Sacramento County Office of Education. While the program offered flexibility in spending, it required schools to align their interventions with evidence-based literacy practices.
To evaluate the program’s effectiveness, researchers analyzed student performance data from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress. Their study employed a quasi-experimental design, comparing third-grade ELA scores, the focal grade for the intervention, to fifth-grade scores, which served as a control group. Additionally, researchers compared reading and math scores to isolate the program’s effects, as math was not a primary focus of the initiative.
The study found that ELSBG significantly increased reading achievement, with an effect size of 0.14 standard deviations—equivalent to roughly a quarter of a year of learning. This effect size exceeds that of nearly 90 percent of educational interventions serving more than 2,000 students. The study also found a small but positive impact on third-grade math scores. Though math instruction was not directly targeted by the initiative, the researchers suggest that stronger literacy foundations may have helped students better comprehend math word problems.
Beyond academic gains, the study highlights ELSBG’s cost-effectiveness. At $1,144 per student annually, the targeted program delivered a return on investment up to 13 times more cost-effective than a generalized increase in school funding. While the researchers note that replicating ELSBG in other contexts may be challenging, the findings reinforce that targeted, research-based initiatives can meaningfully improve student achievement, particularly in the nation’s lowest-performing schools.