A study described and evaluated the Early Literacy Learning Initiative (ELLI), a collaborative effort between individual schools and school districts and the Ohio State University. The overall goal of ELLI is to significantly raise the level of literacy achievement of kindergarten, first, and second grade students by implementing instructional approaches and safety nets for students needing additional support. Four measures were used to evaluate the program. Five schools met selection criteria: has been an ELLI school at least 4 years; the ELLI training model has been followed and implemented; and the literacy coordinator has been at the school since the beginning of his/her training. Preliminary results reveal that the majority of these schools is demonstrating a consistent pattern of improved standardized test results in reading, through the Fall of 1997. Recommendations include: (1) full implementation of the ELLI training model appears to be necessary to achieve good results; (2) teachers need to be sure that children are engaged in reading and writing instruction for sufficient amounts of time each day; (3) efforts with schools to improve home-school communication should be continued; and (4) literacy coordinators need administrative support to produce the desired change. (Contains 12 references, and 10 figures and 5 tables of data.) (EF)