{"id":406419,"date":"2026-07-21T10:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406419\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:10:24","slug":"california-reading-scores-are-up-thanks-to-literacy-investments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406419\/","title":{"rendered":"California reading scores are up, thanks to literacy investments"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not quite the \u201cMississippi Miracle,\u201d but California\u2019s reading scores have been inching upwards since the state poured billions into changing the way students learn to read. A shortage of literacy coaches, however, may be preventing students from improving even more.<\/p>\n

In 2013, before California overhauled its literacy program<\/a> in K-12 schools, the state ranked 47th nationally<\/a> for fourth grade reading skills on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation\u2019s Report Card. Only 27% of students scored \u201cproficient\u201d or \u201cadvanced\u201d on the reading test, given every two years to students across the country.<\/p>\n

The following year California released a new English language arts framework that encourages schools to focus on phonics, vocabulary and other nuts-and-bolts methods when teaching children to read. Phonics-based instruction won\u2019t become mandatory<\/a> until next year, but most schools have been gradually adopting the method.<\/p>\n

Next came new curriculum materials, a dyslexia screener<\/a> and updates to teacher credential programs. The state also expanded transitional kindergarten<\/a> and implemented new guidelines for English learners. <\/p>\n

But perhaps the biggest literacy investment came in 2023 with $500 million in grants set aside for schools to hire literacy coaches and take other steps to boost reading skills. The coaches \u2013 typically, former classroom teachers with extra training in reading \u2013 work directly with teachers to help them effectively teach children to read. Last year the state added $215 million, and the most recent budget includes an additional $350 million<\/a> for literacy coaches.<\/p>\n

Mississippi, whose reading scores went from 49th in the country in 2013 to 9th in 2024, partially credits the turnaround to literacy coaches and other teacher training tactics. Mississippi\u2019s reading framework is similar to California\u2019s, but Mississippi invested heavily in training teachers to implement it, while California rolled out its training program over several years.<\/p>\n

Reading scores inch up<\/p>\n

California\u2019s reading scores have improved gradually \u2013 but significantly \u2013 since 2013. Last year, California ranked around the middle of the pack<\/a> nationwide, with 13 states scoring higher and the rest scoring the same or lower. This happened at the same time that national scores began falling.<\/p>\n

On statewide tests, the number of fourth graders reading at grade level jumped from 40%<\/a> in 2014 to 46%<\/a> last year. Before the pandemic, the percentage was close to 50%, dropped a few points when schools switched to remote learning, but has been inching back up since then. <\/p>\n

Fourth grade is a key benchmark for literacy because by fifth grade, students need reading skills sufficient to understand other subjects such as history and science. Students who aren\u2019t proficient readers by fourth grade are more likely to lag academically in other subjects. Studies<\/a> have found that adults with low literacy skills are more likely to be unemployed, incarcerated or face other challenges.<\/p>\n

Sarah Novicoff, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California, conducted a study<\/a> that found that California\u2019s literacy investments have paid off \u2013 with a caveat. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve absolutely had a positive impact,\u201d Novicoff said. \u201cBut we have an opportunity to do an even better job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novicoff found that nearly 60% of school districts used their grant money to hire literacy coaches to work with teachers, reading specialists to work directly with students, or otherwise arranged for teacher training related to literacy.<\/p>\n

School districts that made those investments saw significant improvements in reading scores, including among English learners, she found. Results varied by district, but in general students scored 6 points higher on state tests within two years of the investments, she found. She expects the scores to rise further over time.<\/p>\n

Some districts struggle to hire literacy coaches<\/p>\n

But plenty of school districts hired no literacy coaches. Not because they didn\u2019t want to, but because there were none to hire. In fact, 42% of districts said they had trouble hiring coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to hire a literacy coach,\u201d said Patricia Gunderson, superintendent of the Lassen County Office of Education. \u201cIt\u2019s great the state is offering the money, but we just can\u2019t do it. We don\u2019t have the capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

In remote and rural parts of the state, finding literacy coaches has proved to be nearly impossible \u2013 and has hindered improvement, Novicoff found. For example, Lassen County, along the northern Nevada border, can barely find enough credentialed teachers, let alone education professionals with advanced specialty degrees. And even if schools could hire literacy coaches, they couldn\u2019t find enough substitutes to fill in for teachers undergoing training.<\/p>\n

But Lassen has been creative in finding ways to boost literacy. In 2023, for example, it held a weeklong summer training course for teachers, where teachers were paid to learn the new curriculum and the course didn\u2019t interrupt the school year. Gunderson said it was a big success; state reading test scores jumped more than 7 percentage points, although still lag behind the state average.<\/p>\n

In Siskiyou County, along the Oregon border, county superintendent Allan Carver said he welcomes the state\u2019s investment in literacy coaches, but it\u2019s created another problem: Teachers are opting to become literacy coaches, possibly because it\u2019s less stressful or pays a bit more, leaving vacancies in the classroom. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe work to solve one issue and further exacerbate the teacher shortage,\u201d Carver said. \u201cWe have to develop the literacy coach pipeline before we simply allocate funds and expectations for training.\u201d <\/p>\n

In Baldwin Park, in the San Gabriel Valley, principal Laura Rodriguez said literacy coaches have been instrumental in turning around her school\u2019s reading scores. Using state grant money, Tracy Elementary has added a literacy coach who works closely with the school\u2019s teachers, aides and reading specialist. <\/p>\n

The literacy coach, Claudia Barba, holds workshops for teachers and parents, trains the aides, assesses the students, analyzes data, and gives feedback to teachers. She\u2019s also devised a literacy plan that looks closely at the causes for the low scores and specifically addresses the reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is amazing,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen such a difference since we started this. It has changed our campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracy Elementary, a Spanish-English dual immersion school, is mostly low-income. More than 30% of students are English learners. The literacy plan teaches children to read in Spanish first, then English, by focusing on vocabulary and phonics in both languages. By third grade, when the state first tests students\u2019 reading skills, students are fairly fluent readers in both languages. <\/p>\n

In just two years, after hiring the literacy coach, Tracy\u2019s reading scores jumped more than 10 percentage points. Even English learners saw their scores significantly increase. Other metrics also improved: Chronic absenteeism dropped from 44% just after the pandemic to 11% last year. Math scores are increasing, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiteracy is the key to everything. If a child can read, they can access knowledge. They start to enjoy school,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cThey can get a better education.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by CalMatters<\/a> and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not quite the \u201cMississippi Miracle,\u201d but California\u2019s reading scores have been inching upwards since the state poured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[162940,7,9,8,2305,162941,15,18,162942,4453,34107,162943,162939,1997,162938,17],"class_list":["post-406419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-allan-carver","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-children","tag-claudia-barba","tag-education","tag-general-news","tag-laura-rodriguez","tag-mississippi","tag-ms-state-wire","tag-patricia-gunderson","tag-sarah-novicoff","tag-schools","tag-tracy-elementary","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}