The continued senseless violence perpetrated in communities of color must stop. It starts with all of us. Our organization is committed to doing our part in facilitating productive conversations about social injustice and racial equity.

We've created new resources to help teachers, coaches, and families continue
to provide the early literacy instruction our children need at home.

The world has changed, but our mission remains the same. 

Help us create powerful readers, writers and thinkers. 

We stand out from other organizations providing books and professional development – our programs are independently evaluated and proven to transform learning outcomes for children.

We coach teachers in-person, virtually and through blended learning, stock classrooms, and provide workshops & seminars on research-based early literacy best practices to improve instruction so children become powerful, readers, writers and thinkers.

Founded in 1988, CLI helps educators serving high-need student populations learn high-impact instructional strategies and nurture dynamic professional learning communities that continue the trajectory of improvement in schools.

Schools served by CLI’s i3 Validation project in Philadelphia and Chicago are still outperforming the control schools from that study on third grade, standardized assessments.

The American Institutes of Research report on a randomized control trial evaluation of CLI’s i3 Validation project found statistically significant results for our impact on teacher practice and student learning. Our approach and results are now part of the What Works Clearinghouse.

In 2010, CLI won a highly competitive $21.7 million Validation grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund to implement its program in 38 schools in four urban cities.

Pivoting its 30+ years’ experience while facing the COVID-19 pandemic, CLI provided teacher coaching and training to support schools and early literacy instruction in the virtual world. Shifting from an in-person model, CLI met the unique needs of educators and students as they transitioned to distance learning.

Using results from i3 Validation, CLI in 2015 won, as the highest-scoring applicant, a prestigious, $19 million i3 Scale-up grant to expand into 27 public schools across the country in Broward County (FL), Denver, Elizabeth (NJ), and Houston.

Click here to see our impact, how we help both teachers and children, and how your donations make that possible in the communities we serve.

A NEW comprehensive Pre-K curriculum from Children's Literacy Initiative.

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