Evidence-based literacy tools for teachers.
Photo credit: CommonLit / commonlit.org
CommonLit is a nonprofit education organization that equips teachers with literacy curriculum, a digital text library, benchmark assessments, targeted lessons, and professional development. Its materials serve grades 3–12, with free resources supplemented by paid school and district programs.
The organization began with 30 lessons published by former teacher Michelle Brown in 2013. CommonLit now offers CommonLit 360 as a full English language arts curriculum alongside supplemental and Spanish-language resources, using technology to support instruction, feedback, assessment, and schoolwide implementation.
CommonLit addresses unequal access to instructional materials by making a substantial literacy library freely available while charging schools for deeper curriculum, assessment, integration, and implementation services. This nonprofit earned-revenue model can broaden access and fund sustained product development without relying entirely on philanthropy.
CommonLit also evaluates the relationship between product use and reading growth, providing more evidence than reach figures alone. However, its large annual national studies are observational and primarily use CommonLit's own assessments; ESSA Tier 3 denotes promising evidence, not causal proof. Some stronger Tier 2 findings come from narrower studies and should not automatically be generalized to every product, grade, or school.
CommonLit's 2025 Annual Report reports more than 3,200 formal school partners and over 200,000 students deeply engaging with CommonLit 360. Its 2024–25 national study analyzed 277,626 students taught by 5,463 teachers in 1,039 schools across 46 states and Washington, D.C.; higher usage was associated with greater reading growth, and Instructure Research validated the study as ESSA Tier 3.
These are reported associations, not randomized causal estimates.
Accessible literacy library
Educators can access standards-aligned texts, lessons, questions, and instructional supports without requiring every school to purchase a core program.
Coherent core curriculum
CommonLit 360 organizes reading, writing, discussion, vocabulary, and assessment into full ELA units designed for consistent schoolwide instruction.
Actionable assessment data
Benchmark and formative assessments help teachers identify skill needs, monitor progress, and select targeted instructional resources.
Evidence and implementation support
Research studies, professional development, rostering, and LMS integrations support schools in evaluating and consistently implementing the program.
Sectors
Focus areas
