California: Governor Newsom joins Compton students to announce the Golden State Literacy Plan and deployment of literacy coaches statewide
The Californer/10316058

Trending...
News

Jun 5, 2025

Governor Newsom joins Compton students to announce the Golden State Literacy Plan and deployment of literacy coaches statewide

What you need to know: Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the Golden State Literacy Plan — a step-by-step strategy to improve student reading achievement across California, building on existing efforts and proposing bold new investments. The Golden State Literacy Plan includes the deployment of over one thousand literacy coaches and specialists to the state's highest need schools.

COMPTON – Standing alongside students and educators at Clinton Elementary School, Governor Gavin Newsom today launched the Golden State Literacy Plan, a step-by-step plan to boost literacy outcomes for California students. The plan builds on California's recent progress in reading achievement while expanding investments to ensure every student — in every zip code — has the support they need to learn to read and read to learn. Implementation of these reforms over the coming years will mean that all students receive the comprehensive literacy instruction they need to read and analyze diverse texts, think critically and express their ideas orally and in writing, as students today and as citizens tomorrow.

"Literacy is the pathway to success – all of California's kids deserve to discover the joys and benefits of reading and the power to formulate and express their ideas. I'm proud to unveil the Golden State Plan for Literacy today to give teachers, schools, and students the power to read – and succeed."

Governor Gavin Newsom

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond: "Literacy has the power to unlock countless doors for our students and transform their lives. We are implementing a strategy to move the needle on literacy, which has already funded literacy coaches and reading specialists at 803 sites across 45 counties and has provided professional learning to nearly 4,000 educators within just this past year. I thank Governor Newsom for his partnership in this work and for proposing a budget this year that builds upon these critical investments in our children's futures."

State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond: "The Golden State Literacy Plan is an encouraging milestone in our ongoing quest to improve literacy education, making sure it's effective, meaningful, and engaging for all of our students. We know effective literacy instruction requires early language development; diagnosis of student needs and progress; high-quality curriculum and materials; and preparation, professional development, and coaching for teachers so that they understand the reading process thoroughly and become adept at addressing diverse student needs, including those of English learners.  As all of these elements are being strengthened in California, we are seeing progress that will accelerate in the years to come."

Current landscape

While California, like all states, experienced setbacks during the pandemic, the state's progress in literacy since the adoption of our curriculum framework has been noteworthy.
  • Between 2011 and 2022, California's 8th grade reading achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) improved more than any other state in the nation.
  • California was one of three states that had the nation's largest gains in 4th grade reading on NAEP over that decade.
  • California was one of only a few states whose NAEP reading scores did not decline during the pandemic (2019-2022).
  • While these indicators are positive, there is more work to be done to ensure all students achieve literacy success.

Literacy initiatives under Governor Newsom

More on The Californer
The Newsom Administration in partnership with the Legislature has made significant investments in evidence-based literacy and professional learning to support the implementation of the ELA/ELD standards. Among these initiatives are:
  • Literacy Coaches: To date, the State has invested a total of $500 million for Literacy Coaches in the 2022 and 2023 Budget Acts, funding 818 of the state's highest needs schools to hire and train literacy coaches and reading specialists.  
  • Screener for Reading Difficulties: Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, California's 1.2 million kindergarten, first, and second grade students will be annually screened for reading difficulties, including dyslexia. $25 million is allocated to support administration of literacy screenings.
  • Teacher Recruitment and Retention: Well-prepared educators are essential to delivering high quality literacy instruction, and the state has invested $1.3 billion in recent years to recruit and retain quality educators.
  • Literacy Roadmap: Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, elementary grades educators have literacy blocks to guide instruction with evidence-based strategies to support comprehensive literacy instruction.
  • Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant: The State has allocated a total of $6.8 billion for the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant (LREBG) to support LEAs in addressing the academic and emotional impacts of the pandemic, including low ELA test scores.
  • Universal Transitional Kindergarten (TK): . In 2025-26, the state will provide universal access to TK, which will provide pre-kindergarten to more than 300,000 additional four-year-olds (compared to the 2021-22 school year).
  • Before School, After School, and Summer School: The Expanded Learning Opportunities Program provides before, after, and summer school instruction and enrichment for students in grades TK-6, including high-impact tutoring.

Proposed investments in literacy

The Governor's Budget builds on the existing literacy initiatives and includes the following additional investments:
  • $500 million for TK-12 Literacy and Mathematics Coaching, which builds upon and expands the existing Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists Grant Program and includes a new opportunity to support mathematics coaching.
  • $378.6 million in additional LREBG funding for LEAs.
  • $40 million in additional funding to support annual reading difficulties screenings for kindergarten, first, and second grade students.
  • $25 million to launch Literacy and Mathematics Networks to support implementation of state reading and mathematics initiatives.
  • Directs the Instructional Quality Commission to initiate an adoption for ELA/ELD instructional materials.
  • $1.7 billion for the Student Support and Discretionary Block Grant which prioritizes professional development on the ELA/ELD Framework and the Literacy Roadmap.
  • $2.1 billion to support the full implementation of universal TK, so that all children who turn four years old by September 1 of the school year can enroll in TK, and an additional $1.2 billion to support lowering the average student-to-adult ratio in every TK classroom.
  • $525.5 million to support full implementation of the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program, increasing the total ongoing funding for before, after school and summer school instruction and enrichment to $4.5 billion.

In addition, the Governor's May Revision includes:
  • $200 million one-time funding to support evidence-based professional learning in literacy instruction for elementary school teachers. This proposal stems from AB 1454 by Speaker Robert Rivas that has brought together a broad coalition to support evidenced-based literacy teaching.

$10 million one-time funding to support the expansion of the Multitudes reading difficulties screening tool in additional languages.

More on The Californer
Press releases, Recent news

https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkur..." rel="nofollow external noopener">https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/x?linkurl=https...">https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=h...">https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/copy_link?linku...">Recent news

Governor Newsom statement on court ruling restoring AmeriCorps funding

Jun 5, 2025

News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement today after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must restore funding to AmeriCorps in California. This comes after Governor Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of...

Governor Newsom provides eligible homeowners $20,000 through new CalAssist Mortgage Fund for California disaster survivors

Jun 5, 2025

News What you need to know: California is launching the CalAssist Mortgage Fund on June 12, 2025, to provide $105 million in relief offering up to $20,000 to homeowners whose homes were destroyed in recent disasters, including the Los Angeles firestorms. LOS ANGELES —...

New data shows California is adding more clean energy capacity to the grid faster than ever before

Jun 4, 2025

News What you need to know: California added a record of nearly 7,000 megawatts of new clean energy capacity in 2024, marking the largest single-year increase in state history and the third consecutive year of unprecedented growth. SACRAMENTO – California has achieved...

Filed Under: Government, State
Show All News | Report Violation

0 Comments

Latest on The Californer