The Achievement Effects of Scaling Early Literacy Reforms

While legislators have implemented many “science of reading” initiatives in the last 2 decades, the evidence on the impact of these reforms at scale is limited. In this pre-registered, quasi-experimental study, we examine California’s recent initiative to improve early literacy across the state’s lowest-performing schools. The Early Literacy Support Block Grant (ELSBG) provided teacher professional development grounded in the science of reading as well as aligned supports (e.g., assessments and interventions), new funding (about $1,000 per student), spending flexibility within specified guidelines, and expert facilitation and oversight of school-based planning. Our preferred specification finds that ELSBG generated significant (and cost-effective) improvements in English Language Arts (ELA) achievement in its first years of implementation (0.14 standard deviation) as well as smaller improvements in math.