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County reports major growth in Footsteps to Brilliance literacy platform; board hears usage and cost details
Summary
County education staff reported rapid expansion of the Footsteps to Brilliance early‑literacy platform, citing nearly 85,000 county enrollments and billions of words read; the board asked for clearer links to state test outcomes and for accounting details related to the license purchase.
San Bernardino County—s early education staff told the County Board of Education on Wednesday that the Footsteps to Brilliance literacy platform is now being used by tens of thousands of county children and families and showing measurable skill gains in the platform—s in‑app assessments.
Heather Smith, director of early education and development at the county superintendent—s office, said Footsteps to Brilliance is available free to county children in English and Spanish and can be used with or without internet access. She told the board the county—s contract and outreach work have resulted in steady growth: as of Feb. 28 the platform showed 84,997 enrolled users in the county, more than 1.2 million hours of use this school year, roughly 3.7 billion words read, and more than 7.7 million books accessed through the service.
Smith said the platform—s skill‑based games target foundational reading skills and that county analysis of in‑platform assessments showed increases in language, logic and reasoning, reading comprehension, phonics and phonological awareness across age bands. "They're not just playing games," Smith told the board; "they're actually engaging in literacy and foundational skills." She asked members to view the platform as a supplemental, home‑based resource rather than a state‑adopted ELA curriculum.
Board members asked for more evidence tying Footsteps to Brilliance use to later state test results. Smith said linkage is possible but technically challenging because preschool student identifiers do not always match elementary school student IDs and because the COVID era disrupted multi‑year trends; she recommended sampling approaches to measure longer‑term impact.
The board also discussed the platform—s procurement and funding. The superintendent—s staff said the county made a final, one‑time payment to acquire the platform—s license in perpetuity. The final payment discussed in the meeting was $2,166,000; county reimbursement covered roughly half of that amount in recent contract arrangements, county staff said.
Board members asked about the county—s ongoing costs and whether media promotion contracted with public‑media partners was an appropriate use of ESSER funds. Staff said promotion was narrowly tied to a "transmedia" literacy project connecting local broadcast partner KVCR to the platform and that fund source details and reimbursements would be provided to members.
Why it matters: Early literacy investment targets the county—s youngest learners and can affect long‑term outcomes. The board sought both quantitative evidence of impact on reading skills and clear accounting of public funds used to expand access.
What comes next: Staff said they will provide additional analysis showing how Footsteps to Brilliance performance data could be matched to longer‑term state measures, a breakdown of the final perpetual license payment and the county cost share, and a summary of outreach and media expenditures linked to federal ESSER awards.
Speakers and sources for this article are the county—s early education staff and presentations made at the March 5 board meeting.
