CommonLit Usage Positively Related to Students’ Scores on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA)
Students who completed more digital CommonLit lessons than their classmates in a New Jersey school district scored modestly higher on the state ELA test.
An urban school district in New Jersey partnered with CommonLit to examine how students’ use of digital CommonLit lessons related to their performance on the state ELA test. This study was reviewed by Instructure’s Research team, an external research group, and validated as meeting ESSA Level 3 (“Promising Evidence”) standards.
About the Sample
The study included 2,495 students in Grades 4-9 who took the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA) ELA in both 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 and submitted at least one digital CommonLit lesson (CommonLit 360, Library, or Target lessons) in 2024-2025. These students were taught by 84 teachers across 18 schools. About 80% of the students were Black (not Hispanic/Latino), while the remaining 17% were Hispanic/Latino, 1% were White (not Hispanic/Latino), and 2% were Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or two or more races. On average, students submitted 19 digital lessons over the year, with usage ranging from 1 to 127 lessons. Student demographics were provided by the district.
Key Finding: Students Who Submitted More Lessons Than Their Classmates Scored Modestly Higher
We compared students within the same classroom, accounting for baseline NJSLA scores from the prior year, grade, and student characteristics such as gender, race/ethnicity, and special education status. Students who completed more digital lessons than their classmates tended to score higher on the state test. The difference was modest, translating to a score of 1.2 points higher on the NJSLA for a student who completed 5 more lessons than their classmate with similar baseline scores (see Figure 1).
When looking at performance levels, the predicted chance of meeting or exceeding expectations on the NJSLA rose 4 percentage points (from 35% to 39%; see Figure 2). The results held up when we excluded very small classrooms, students with the most usage, and classrooms with an outsized influence on the results. Results also held across student demographic groups. In sum, this study showed a positive relationship between students’ CommonLit usage and their performance on a state ELA test. For more information about this study, see the technical report.
CommonLit is evidence-based
Studies like this one add to CommonLit’s growing evidence base. To ensure that CommonLit’s programs are aligned with the mission to close the literacy achievement gap, both external evaluators and researchers on CommonLit’s evaluation team are constantly monitoring student outcomes. CommonLit’s evidence-based approach directly supports districts by giving them confidence in our programs through Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)-rated studies.
About CommonLit
CommonLit offers several educational resources for teachers and schools. CommonLit 360 is CommonLit’s free English Language Arts program that includes a year-long curriculum, assessments, professional development, and data dashboards. EdReports rated CommonLit 360 as all-green for Grades 6-8, or “meets expectations,” as a quality curriculum. CommonLit also offers a Text Library that includes a wide variety of standards-aligned texts as well as supplemental lessons and Target Lessons designed to support the learning needs of all students. To address inequities in access to technology in classrooms, CommonLit materials are available to teachers and students both online on the digital platform and offline as downloads.
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