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. Reading scores inch upCalifornia’s reading scores have improved gradually – but significantly – since 2013. School districts that made those investments saw significant improvements in reading scores, including among English learners, she found. Some districts struggle to hire literacy coachesBut plenty of school districts hired no literacy coaches. And even if schools could hire literacy coaches, they couldn’t find enough substitutes to fill in for teachers undergoing training.