May 28, 2026 – Today, the Walton Family Foundation announced more than $220 million in active grants to improve K-8 literacy and math outcomes for students across the United States. Aligned with the foundation’s new five-year strategy, these investments seek to strengthen student achievement, targeting the classroom, school, and system levels.

Only 31% of U.S. fourth-grade students are proficient in reading, and only 39% are proficient in math, according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress from the National Center for Education Statistics. Research shows that strong literacy and math foundations in the early grades are critical to long-term success, resulting in higher academic achievement, increased high school graduation rates, greater postsecondary readiness and more economic opportunity.

The grants support teachers with high-quality instructional materials and professional learning; help states build capacity to implement effective literacy and math strategies; and back innovators developing new approaches to help students – especially those from low-income communities – build essential reading and math skills.

“Literacy and math are not just academic priorities – they are gateways to agency, opportunity, and belonging,” said Romy Drucker, Education Program Director at the Walton Family Foundation. “With confidence in these foundational skills, students can thrive the classroom and beyond.”

Select grantees include:

• Accelerate provides funding and implementation support through the State Implementation Fund to help school systems spark, scale, and sustain successful interventions. In Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, and South Carolina, Accelerate is working with state leaders to improve early literacy and math outcomes.   

“Improving student achievement takes more than good intentions - it takes implementation, accountability, and a commitment to what works. Louisiana has focused on evidence-based literacy instruction, tutoring support, and empowering educators and parents, and we’re already seeing meaningful progress for students across our state," said Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry.

“Creating better outcomes for young people requires partnership, innovation, and a willingness to rethink how we support students and families. This work reflects a shared commitment to ensuring every student has access to meaningful opportunities, strong support systems, and pathways that align with their goals and talents,” said Maryland Governor Wes Moore.

• Renaissance Philanthropy launched LEVI Literacy to develop and scale low-cost AI tools that seek to cut in half the number of struggling young readers over the next five years. LEVI Literacy will apply the same rigorous, five-year roadmap of continuous experimentation and improvement as the inaugural LEVI Math program, which aims to develop tools to help double the rate of middle school math learning.   

“Technology can empower teachers to meet each student where they are,” said Kumar Garg, President at Renaissance Philanthropy. “We’re using cutting-edge AI to develop and scale low-cost tools that diagnose reading difficulties, get learners back on track, and cumulatively cut the number of struggling readers in half.”

• Modern Classrooms will equip 4,000 math teachers with curriculum-aligned support, coaching, and AI-enabled tools that help teachers deliver innovative, differentiated instruction to more than 272,000 students and ensure that each one gets the support they need. 

"I am able to meet more one-on-one or in small groups with students. And this helps foster teacher-student communication and build relationships,” said Michelle Gross, seventh grade mathematics teacher at Spencer County Middle School in Taylorsville, Kentucky. "I have better personal relationships with students now."

The Walton Family Foundation’s investments in strong teaching and learning are part of its broader 2030 education strategy to help more young people thrive. The strategy continues to include ambitious investments in charter schools, high school innovation, data and systems supports, leadership development, and narrative change, all aimed at creating the conditions for students and educators to succeed.

About the Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses work together to lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X.