Program areas at Ampact
Reading corps is a national literacy program designed to help more children become proficient readers by the end of third grade. A rigorous and independent evaluation by norc at the university of chicago revealed the program is closing the achievement gap. Students of color, students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and english learners are achieving outcomes equal to or better than their peers. In fact, those with higher risk factors actually made stronger gains. Further research conducted by the center for learning solutions has indicated that Reading corps participants are three times less likely to be assigned to special education than non-participants, creating a permanent benefit to children and a significant ongoing savings to schools. During the 2020-21 program year, Reading corps served 20,288 students in Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, and Florida. An additional 17,450 students received student-centered supports that were incorporated to address individual school needs due to covid-19.
Adult program offerings at Reading & Math, Inc include Minnesota opportunity corps, Minnesota recovery corps and community forestry corps. Minnesota opportunity corps works to address employment disparity; Minnesota recovery corps provides peer support and navigation for individuals in recovery from substance use disorders and additional organizational capacity for organizations working to address the opioid epidemic in Minnesota; community forestry corps works to preserve and protect Minnesota's environment. In 2020-21, 92 members served at 61 partners sites.
Math corps is a national program designed to help 4th -8th graders achieve proficiency in Math, a critical gateway skill for high school graduation, college admission and college completion. An independent evaluation funded by the laura and john arnold foundation found that Math corps students made significantly larger gains in Math skills than students who did not receive Math corps tutoring. At the conclusion of the study, Math corps students were a semester ahead of their expected trajectory. In addition, Math corps students were 2x more likely to achieve Math fact fluency and 2x more likely to meet end-of-year Math benchmarks. During the 2020-21 school year, Math corps launched a pilot to extend the program to students in kindergarten - 3rd grade. In total, Math corps members served 4,837 students in Minnesota, California, and Georgia. An additional 3,083 students received student-centered supports that were incorporated to address individual school needs due to covid-19.
Reading & Math, Inc. Provides technical assistance for the delivery of Reading corps and Math corps to national replication partners, ensuring the model is implemented consistently and with fidelity across the country. Reading & Math, Inc. Initiated a planning process to design new programs to address emerging needs in Minnesota, specifically in homelessness.