Reading and Math

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 2017-18 program year, Reading corps served 23,788 students in Minnesota, Wisconsin, michign and Florida. The program utilized 114 volunteers in one-time and ongoing roles.

The innovative approaches to literacy (ial) grant implements literacy-rich academic activities aligned with college and career-ready standards that ultimately result in significant Reading gains for high-need children. Through the ial project, Reading corps was able to increase the number and quality of books given to high need children - successfully distributing more than 22,600 books to prek 3rd grade students in nine states and the district of columbia. Reading corps tutors provided early intervention services to more than 6500 at-risk students, with more than 800 of those students being served through the intense total learning classroom (tlc) model. All participating schools and tutors received coaching to build capacity in their ability to make data-driven instructional decisions through the use of new online student data systems.

Minnesota Math corps is designed to help 4th-8th graders achieve proficiency in Math, a critical gateway skill for high school graduation, college admission and college completion. During the 2017-18 school year, Math corps members served in 120 schools where they provided tutoring to students at risk for not achieving proficiency. Program data indicates students receiving Math corps tutoring are catching up to their peers. 30% of students served exceeded their expected growth targets. These results are particularly encouraging given that 100% of students tutored by Math corps were at risk for not achieving proficiency. The program utilized 4 volunteers in one-time and ongoing roles.