Introductory Remarks: Audrey Suker, CEO, ServeMinnesota
Presenters
Carrie E Markovitz, Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist, Economics, Criminal Justice, and Society Department at NORC, University of Chicago
Marc W. Hernandez, Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist, the Academic Research Centers; founding Director, the Early Childhood Research and Practice Collaborative at NORC; University of Chicago
Sadie O'Connor, Managing Director, Reading & Math, Inc.
Abstract
Reading Corps recruits, trains, places, and monitors AmeriCorps members that serve as tutors in school-based settings to implement research-based literacy activities and interventions for struggling readers in PreK through grade 3. As part of the Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant through the Department of Education, NORC at the University of Chicago, in partnership with Reading & Math, Inc., conducted a multi-state impact evaluation of the PreK and K-3 Reading Corps programs in Minnesota, Milwaukee, WI, and Miami, FL during the 2017-2018 school year. While prior independent evaluations have been conducted of the original Minnesota Reading Corps program, this multi-state evaluation assessed the impact of the Reading Corps program model on students in Minnesota, as well as two replication sites in Florida and Wisconsin. This presentation describes the findings from the impact evaluations of the Minnesota Reading Corps Program on Kindergarten through third grade (K-3) students in the state of Minnesota and the Wisconsin Reading Corps Program on Kindergarten and first grade (K-1) students in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In Minnesota and Wisconsin, NORC implemented a randomized controlled trial using a lottery system to randomly assign identified students to either a program (treatment) group, which immediately received Reading Corps tutoring, or a control group, which had to wait to receive tutoring.
Key questions guiding the Reading Corps impact evaluation study include:
- What is the impact of Reading Corps on program participants compared to students who did not receive Reading Corps?
- Does the impact vary by participant characteristics?
Closing Remarks: Jennifer Bastress Tahmasebi, Deputy Director, AmeriCorps State and National, Corporation for National and Community Service