California’s Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) has been a game changer for students—bringing enrichment, arts, and extended learning hours to schools across the state. But while enrichment sparks curiosity, a critical gap remains: literacy.
📊 The challenge:
- According to California’s 2025 Smarter Balanced results, over 50% of 3rd graders are still not meeting reading standards.
- Despite billions invested in enrichment and expanded learning, literacy achievement has only inched upward in many districts.
- English learners and low-income students remain disproportionately affected, widening the engagement-to-achievement gap.
💡 Why it matters:
Enrichment builds engagement, but reading is the gateway skill that determines whether students thrive in all subjects. Without targeted reading intervention embedded into ELOP hours, students risk falling further behind—even while being actively engaged in after-school enrichment.
✅ What districts can do now:
- Allocate a portion of ELOP funds specifically to structured literacy intervention.
- Partner with providers who bring evidence-based phonics instruction and bilingual support.
- Blend literacy with enrichment so students grow academically and creatively.
As schools reopen this fall, the real measure of ELOP’s success isn’t just participation—it’s whether students are reading at grade level. Talentnook’s Reading Intervention ensures that ELOP hours deliver both engagement and achievement.