October/November 2025

Featuring Families in Schools, Learnings from their Reading Campaign, and Passage of AB 1454

Dear CA-FEN Members and Partners:

On October 9, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1454 (Rivas, Muratsuchi, Rubio) which dramatically changes the policy landscape on early literacy. AB 1454 requires the use of evidence-based methods for reading instruction based on the "science of reading". The bill, championed by Families In Schools, won decisively after a hard-fought battle to gain support, passing 78-0 in the Assembly and 38-0 in the Senate.

Debates around reading instruction have historically been divisive and AB 1454 was no exception in its early stages. Its unanimous, bipartisan passage demonstrates what's possible when advocates find common ground around evidence-based practices and positive student outcomes. Now that the bill is law, it signals a statewide commitment to ensuring that all students achieve literacy. Impact will take time; ongoing evaluation of both outcomes and any unintended consequences will be essential to realizing the bill’s promise.

We take this opportunity to learn from Families In Schools’ campaign to identify lessons that will help strengthen and expand our movement for meaningful family engagement in education.

About

(*Excerpts from the FIS website)

Families In Schools (FIS) was established about 25 years ago and its mission is to ensure student success by building authentic partnerships between families, educators, and system leaders, and through parent-led advocacy. FIS has been a leader in elevating and honoring parent voice, and improving early literacy in Los Angeles has been a long-standing priority for the organization.

As President and CEO, Yolie Flores is building on FIS’ legacy and taking FIS to new horizons in its commitment to ensure equitable partnerships between families, schools, and community partners, an implicit promise that their children are prepared to take the path to success, from birth through college and career.

Yolie is the daughter of working-class immigrant parents, was an English learner, and spent most of her childhood overcoming challenging medical conditions. As the first in her family to graduate college, Yolie has spent her 35-year career boldly working to dismantle systemic barriers that deny children the opportunity to succeed in school and in life. She has held various leadership, management, consultant, and policy positions in city and county government, non-profit organizations, philanthropy, and elected office.

She stands among the best of champions for children and parents.

“With AB 1454 now law,

California is declaring that literacy

is a right, not a privilege.”

- Yolie Flores

FIS' Reading Campaign

When Yolie took the helm of FIS in 2023, she brought together her knowledge, wisdom and networks to be part of a national reading initiative that would lead to the reading instruction policy we have today. The campaign, strategically organized to secure this policy within just two years, was structured as follows:

1.  Coalition Building

The campaign work required strengthening old relationships and building new ones, hosting meetings and coordinating communications, and advocacy work shouldered by four leading core organizations: FIS, EdVoice, Decoding Dyslexia CA, and NAACP. In the end, more than 90 organizations joined to advocate for reading instruction reform. For nearly two years, coalition members held weekly meetings to align efforts and coordinate the campaign’s progress.

2.  Launch a District-Focused Literacy Campaign

Given that FIS’ core work is rooted in Los Angeles, FIS launched the ReadLA! Campaign with a clear goal: ensure that 70% of Los Angeles third-graders are reading at or above grade level by 2030. The campaign:

A)  Serves as a critical partner of the Los Angeles Unified School District, advocating for needed change, backing forward-looking district initiatives, and ensuring LAUSD stays on the course on students receiving evidenced-based literacy instruction aligned with the science of reading.

B)  Emphasizes that while parents play a critical role in helping their children with literacy skills, the literacy crisis is not a parent problem - it is a system problem!

C) Engages and equips families to help their children with literacy skills at home and learn how to advocate for them at school through its Literacy Ambassadors program, Read LA! app, and Storytime initiative.

• Recruited donors to gift over 75,000 books to families.
• Launched the ReachWell app!, an all-in-one platform to provide families with curated, high-impact literacy tips by grade. Key features include no barriers entry, resources in 130 languages, a calendar of events, and surveys related to continuously meet family and student needs.

D)  Helps address other barriers to children’s literacy development, including monitoring the implementation of the California reading risk screener.

E)  Equips and supports parents and caregivers to advocate for local policies and state legislation that supports children and parents in schools.

3.  Sponsoring Legislation

Built upon this foundation and to set the context for AB 1454, FIS released a report on “The Literacy Crisis in Los Angeles and Beyond.” When the first version of the bill was introduced in 2023-2024, it died in the Assembly education committee because of initial strong opposition. State legislators strongly advised education advocates to find common ground on the issue.

One of the conflicts emerged around a misunderstanding of the science of reading, which represents a vast body of knowledge of how children learn to read. Concerns centered around English learners and the need to go beyond foundational elements like phonics and vocabulary, to include broader components such as comprehension, background knowledge and oral language development – which are part of the science of reading. Some of the skepticism stems from past efforts to implement phonics-based curricula, whose narrower focus and rigidity failed to engage students and did not fully support the needs of English learners.

To amplify and illustrate the impact of districts whose reading instruction is aligned to the evidence, FIS released its second annual literacy report focused on “Bright Spots” in Los Angeles County. The report featured literacy data for all districts across the county and includes inspiring stories from two “bright spot” districts that have significantly out-paced the rest of the state on literacy for all groups of students, including English learners, and two “districts to watch” that are advancing literacy through evidence-based policies and practices rooted in the science of reading. 

 AB 1454 was introduced in the 2024-2025 Legislative session. Legislators were instrumental in helping advocates find common ground and navigate key negotiations, ultimately shaping a version of the bill that earned broad support from all community leaders.

4. Evaluating the Implementation of the Policy

FIS and the coalition are now focused on monitoring how the policy is put into practice. They are developing a partnership with USC and Stanford University to monitor and track the implementation of AB 1454.

Key Lessons and Recommendations from Yolie

• Secure influential and powerful state champions. This was essential to getting a bill passed. These champions included Speaker Rivas; the original author of the bill, Assemblymember Rubio; Assemblymember Muratsuchi, chair of the Assembly Education Committee; and ultimately, Governor Newsom.

• Build a broad and diverse coalition. Design a structure that sets clear expectations and enables varying levels of participation. Share the work and credit among core leaders to maintain momentum and sustain a campaign over time.

• Never close a window on collaboration. Always be clear and transparent with your intentions. Start conversations with a mindset of collaboration and shared purpose.  Although getting buy-in, negotiating and compromising throughout the campaign is intense and can be emotionally demanding, maintain your perspective and stay focused on the impact you seek to achieve.  

• Be creative about how to bring a human face to the issue you are addressing. Yolie shared that a pivotal moment in the campaign came when key legislators went to visit schools in their own districts. They could see first-hand the differences between effective and ineffective reading instruction in classrooms with teachers and students. These visits along with continuously putting a face to the data on reading outcomes showing that the literacy crisis was disproportionately impacting Black and brown kids, English learners, and kids from low-income communities, ultimately led to commitments from prominent legislators to champion the bill.

Source: Interview with Yolie Flores on 10/22/2025

AB 1454 changes literacy instruction by requiring the adoption of evidence-based instructional materials and updating standards for educator training. 

The bill explicitly states reading instruction must be an evidence-based means of “teaching foundational reading skills, which shall include explicit and systematic instruction in print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency, and attending to oral and written language development, vocabulary and background knowledge, and comprehension, including tiered supports for pupils with reading difficulties, English learners, and pupils with exceptional needs” to ensure the field embraces comprehensive literacy instruction rather than narrowing practices to phonics alone. 

Key provisions:

• Instructional materials: The State Board of Education is required to adopt a new list of instructional materials for grades 1 through 8 that reflect evidence-based approaches to literacy instruction. School districts may choose materials from this list or, alternatively, certify that any other materials they select independently meet the state's established criteria.

• Educator training: The bill updates program standards to ensure that administrator and reading specialist credential programs include training on how to support teachers in delivering effective literacy instruction.

• Professional development: While not included in the bill itself, the state is allocating $200 million to support its implementation through professional development for elementary teachers focusing on evidence-based literacy practices.

• Alignment: The new curriculum and training must be aligned with the state's English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework and focus on foundational reading skills which include phonics, vocabulary, oral language, writing, and comprehension.



• Support for all students: The updated approach includes targeted measures to support English learners, students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties, and students with special needs. 

References: (Bill 1454, FIS, Ed Source, Cal Matters, and AI Google search,)

To improve reading outcomes in Los Angeles, FIS envisions a collective effort involving school leaders, teachers, parents, caregivers, community-based organizations, and community members. Parents have played two key roles in the campaign: fostering literacy at home and advocating for students both within schools and through policy efforts in Sacramento and, at the local level, in Los Angeles.

To reach parents, FIS launched a Literacy Ambassadors program based on the "promotora" model, where parent leaders and community members actively “promote the importance of early literacy and equip families by providing information and tools to help their children at home and advocate for them at school.” 

Literacy Ambassadors commit to a nine-month term beginning with a one-hour orientation and a two-day training on the science of reading and LAUSD's strategy for boosting third-grade reading proficiency. Ambassadors commit to engaging at least 35 parents monthly—totaling 315 parents over nine months—encouraging them to sign the Read LA! Pledge and access the Read LA! app. While these roles are volunteer-based, incentives are offered to support participation.

FIS has trained 88 Literacy Ambassadors who are supporting families throughout the various regions of Los Angeles.

After receiving the information from the Literacy Ambassadors, parents are often surprised to learn how widespread reading struggles are among children and found the insights into brain development especially valuable.  Three key resources provided in the training are included here:

· 6 Pillars of Early Literacy

· How the Brain Learns to Read

· Questions Parents Should Ask (about Literacy)

In addition to these learning sessions, Literacy Ambassadors and fellow parents participated in advocacy days to support AB 1454 in Sacramento. Watch and enjoy these powerful parent testimonies captured on video last October!

THANK YOU

We want to appreciate all the education advocates, legislators, and the more than 90 organizations who engaged in this campaign. Again, the unanimous, bipartisan support for AB 1454 reflects a shared commitment to help all students achieve literacy.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ca-fen.org

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