Fresno High and K-2 Reading Programs Drive Sharp Literacy Gains

After a two-year partnership with TNTP, Fresno Unified reports first-grade students reading on grade level increased from 7% at the start of 2023-24 to 52% at the end of the 2024-25 school year across the Fresno High Region. TNTP says every grade in K-2 showed significant growth and that gains in 2024-25 outpaced those from the prior year.

TNTP began working with Fresno Unified in 2023 to build educator and leader knowledge and capacity in the science of reading for grades K-2, with explicit attention to multilingual learners and students with individualized education plans. The district serves about 70,000 students, more than 20 percent of whom are multilingual learners and more than 14 percent of whom have IEPs. TNTP emphasizes sustained coaching over one-off workshops and argued that teacher knowledge must improve: “If we want better reading results, we have to start with the adults. Most teachers didn’t learn how reading works... They need real training that builds real knowledge.”

Fresno Unified has folded the TNTP work into a broader Fresno Regional Literacy Plan spanning 2023-24 to 2027-28 and budgeted $4,828,929 for the 2023-24 scope of work. Phase 1 in Fall 2023 focused on diagnostics - focus groups, surveys, site walks and data analysis - while Phase 2 in 2023-24 prioritized leadership and coach capacity building, a pilot asynchronous Science of Reading course, and curriculum-focused communities of practice. Community partners named in the plan include Reading CORPS and Every Neighborhood Partnership Read Fresno mentors, and Parent University modules are scheduled for family learning throughout the school year.

District leaders have set measurable targets tied to the literacy work. GVWire reported four new district goals and guardrails including a promise to have 80 percent of first graders reading by 2030 and a literacy intervention program to advance third- through eighth-grade students who arrive behind at least one grade level per year. The district’s career and college readiness goal is 64 percent of students ready by graduation, up from a current 43 percent. GVWire quoted the superintendent, referred to in their report as “Her,” saying, “Our goal is to make sure that while they are with us, that we improve them at least one grade level for every year that they are with us.”

At the high-school level, Fresno is piloting the Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum, a program whose origins Dr. Lisa Benham traces to a 2004 convening of college professors and whose first grant arrived in 2011. KSEE/KGPE described the classroom scene: “This 9th grade english class at Central High School is not like any other. Students rarely sit at their desks, reading or writing; they actively engage with one another.” The story names Heather Cinfel as “English Teacher at Central East High School” and quotes her: “The current module we’re working on is social media, if celebrities and influencers should have the privilege to speak out on their platforms.” Student Daniel Mohoff described the material as engaging: “She’s using really engaging stories. Taylor Swift, some people might not like her, but still it’s a super interesting story because you don’t see her facing backlash every day.” Dr. Benham recalled earlier evaluations: “The research showed that students that were in the ERWC courses outperformed students that were not,” and she argued, “If students have interest and feel that they can engage with it and get to know something, they’re much more apt to want to read about it and learn about it.” KSEE/KGPE uses both “Central High School” and “Central East High School” in its coverage.

TNTP says Year 3 will prioritize developing and expanding targeted strategies for students with IEPs and multilingual learners, and its case study notes that “This fall, the state of California will require new universal K-2 screenings for reading difficulties so that every student can receive the literacy support they need to thrive.” With a nearly $5 million regional allocation in 2023-24 and publicly stated targets through 2030, Fresno Unified has tied funding, coaching, and curriculum pilots to measurable literacy benchmarks as it scales both K-2 science-of-reading work and the ERWC high-school pilot.