California’s Early Literacy Initiative Shows Promising Results

By Xue Wang, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University

California’s Early Literacy Support Block Grant (ELSBG) provided substantial support to 75 of the state’s lowest-performing elementary schools. A quasi-experimental study examined the program’s impact during its first two years of implementation (2021-2023).

The ELSBG combined several key components: professional development grounded in the science of reading, approximately $1,000 per student in additional funding, school-specific literacy action plans developed with community input, and ongoing support from a competitively selected Expert Lead in Literacy. Schools had flexibility in spending within four categories: high-quality literacy teaching, support for literacy learning, pupil supports, and family/community supports.

Using synthetic difference-in-differences methodology, researchers found the program increased Grade 3 English Language Arts achievement by +0.14 standard deviations—equivalent to nearly 25% of a year’s learning. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards increased by 6 percentage points, representing a 20% improvement from baseline. The program also produced spillover benefits in Grade 3 mathematics (ES=+0.11) but showed no effects for Grade 5 students outside the targeted grades.

Implementation data revealed that schools allocated 71% of funds to staffing, with the largest portion (28%) going to literacy coaches trained in science of reading practices. The Sacramento County Office of Education, serving as Expert Lead, provided 36 professional development sessions reaching 3,300 participants and sponsored 336 teachers in an Online Elementary Reading Academy.

The intervention proved highly cost-effective at $1,144 per pupil annually, delivering 0.13 SD improvement per $1,000 spent—substantially outperforming other interventions like class-size reduction. Notably, these gains occurred during pandemic recovery in schools serving predominantly economically disadvantaged students (90% eligible for free/reduced lunch) and high percentages of English learners (43%).

The researchers cautioned that sustainability remains uncertain, as results cover only the first two implementation years. However, the findings suggest that combining evidence-based literacy practices with adequate resources, local flexibility, and expert oversight can produce meaningful improvements even in challenging contexts.

Updated Meta-Analysis Shows Consistent Benefits of Classroom Management Interventions

By Xue Wang, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University

A comprehensive update to a 2016 meta-analysis examined classroom management interventions in elementary education, adding 22 new studies (2014-2022) to the original 54 studies, for a total of 76 controlled trials spanning 20 years. The research team analyzed interventions implemented by teachers for whole classrooms, coding each intervention regarding teacher behavior, teacher-student relationships, student behavior, and social-emotional development.

The updated analysis found a small but significant average effect size (ES = +0.23), consistent with the original meta-analysis findings. This effect held steady across academic, behavioral, social-emotional, and motivational outcomes, suggesting classroom management interventions have broad rather than targeted benefits.

A notable shift emerged in intervention focus over time. Programs published between 2014 and 2022 were significantly more likely to emphasize teacher-student relationships (36% vs. 4% in earlier studies), reflecting evolving approaches to classroom management that prioritize relationship-building over compliance-based strategies.

Among specific programs evaluated in multiple studies, the analysis compared the Good Behavior Game (8 studies), PATHS (14 studies), and Incredible Years (9 studies). The newer version of Incredible Years, which uniquely addressed all four coded intervention categories, showed somewhat lower effectiveness than more focused programs, tentatively suggesting that overly broad interventions may be less effective than targeted approaches.

Shorter interventions (fewer than 13 weeks) proved more effective than longer programs, possibly due to sustained engagement challenges over time. The interventions showed equal effectiveness across socioeconomic groups, confirming that all students can benefit from improved classroom management.

Effects of Zearn Math and balancing analyses in large-scale trials

A new EdWorkingPaper from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University highlights not only the effects of Zearn Math, a digital K–8 platform, but also how education researchers balance confirmatory and exploratory analyses in large-scale trials. Conducted by the RAND Corporation, the two-year randomized controlled study involved more than 10,500 students in Grades 3 to 5 across 64 schools in a large urban Texas district. The study focused on the STAAR state assessment as its preregistered confirmatory outcome, given the test’s central role in Texas accountability policy and its alignment with grade-level standards. The NWEA MAP served as a preregistered exploratory outcome. Researchers use confirmatory outcomes in preregistration to indicate the primary outcomes they will use to test their key questions and interpret as the main evidence of impact. Exploratory outcomes can still have hypotheses and be preregistered, but they are typically secondary measures (like a district test vs. the state test) and are interpreted with more caution, helping researchers see if patterns replicate across measures without overclaiming from secondary data.

The study provides important context on Zearn Math’s implementation and usage patterns. Schools received beginning-of-year training, biweekly coaching for instructional leads, and classroom-level incentives to promote engagement. In the second year, usage increased substantially. By the final semester, most students met recommended weekly usage goals, and half completed the full sequence of on-grade-level lessons for the year. On the confirmatory STAAR outcomes, students in Zearn schools showed small positive effects, with effect sizes of +0.07 for all students and +0.10 for those who were below proficient at baseline. Although these results were not statistically significant, they may suggest improvement relative to business-as-usual practice.

Exploratory analyses of the MAP adaptive math assessment revealed larger and statistically significant effects, including an effect size of +0.13 for students who began below proficiency. While these results fall outside the preregistered plan and are reported with caution, they suggest that Zearn Math may support broader math learning that extends beyond grade-level benchmarks. Clearly identifying preregistered versus exploratory outcomes helps ground the study’s conclusions in rigor while still surfacing insights that can inform future research. Together, the consistent direction of the findings, strong second-year implementation, and significant exploratory gains suggest that Zearn Math holds promise for helping students, especially those below proficiency, build foundational skills and make progress in math.

Evaluating the long-term effects of a partial-day Pre-K program

By Carmen Pannone, University of Cagliari (Italy)

Research shows that early childhood education (ECE) can strongly influence children’s learning and development. Universal prekindergarten (UPK) offers free access to all age-eligible children, yet by 2019–2020 only 10 states and the District of Columbia had adopted it. Despite growing interest, evidence on its long-term academic impact remains limited. A recent study examined Wisconsin’s partial-day UPK program, known as 4K, and its effects on third-grade reading and math scores, focusing on differences by economic status and race/ethnicity. Using administrative data from 292 school districts, the study analyzed trends in standardized test scores (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination – WKCE) from 2001 to 2014, applying a difference-in-differences model to estimate the program’s effects.

Results from the intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis, based on whether districts offered 4K, showed a modest but positive effect on reading scores overall (up to +0.10 SD). Gains were particularly strong for Hispanic students (+0.33 SD), potentially reducing the White-Hispanic reading gap by nearly 40%. When looking at treatment-on-the-treated (TOT) effects, based on actual participation, the estimated impact was larger. Full district participation in 4K was associated with a +0.13 SD increase in reading overall, and a +0.49 SD gain for Hispanic students. Effects for Black students were also positive, though not statistically significant after adjusting for other factors. In math, overall effects were small and not significant (+0.03 SD). However, Black students saw the largest benefits: a +0.25 SD gain in the ITT analysis and +0.39 SD in the TOT analysis – an improvement equivalent to a 38% increase in math proficiency and a narrowing of the Black-White math gap by about 40%. Math outcomes for other groups were not statistically significant.

In sum, Wisconsin’s part-day UPK program had modest overall effects but showed stronger and more sustained benefits for Hispanic and Black students. The limited duration, access, and quality of the program may have reduced its full potential. Expanding to full-day schedules, improving standards, and reducing barriers to participation—especially for students of color—could help strengthen equity and maximize long-term academic benefits.