About Minnesota Reading Corps | Closing the achievement gap in Minnesota

Minnesota Reading Corps launched in 2003, serving preschool children in four Head Start agencies. The early results showed the program model was effective. The program quickly expanded to serve children age 3–grade 3 in many more locations throughout Minnesota. Minnesota Reading Corps has grown each year to become the largest state AmeriCorps program in the country. The program places more than 1,000 tutors each year in over 700 elementary schools and preschool settings.

Program Overview

Minnesota Reading Corps is an AmeriCorps program that provides trained literacy tutors for children age three to grade three.

Americorps 

Minnesota Reading Corps is an AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs that engage more than 80,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet critical national and local needs. Serving through thousands of nonprofits, schools, and public agencies across the country, AmeriCorps members focus on six key areas: disaster services, economic opportunity, education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures, and veterans and military families. Created in 1993, AmeriCorps is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps, the Social Innovation Fund, and other programs that engage more than 5 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service each year. Individuals who serve in local programs like Minnesota Reading Corps are making a commitment to give of themselves to make an impact in our community. Though their service, AmeriCorps members gain valuable professional, educational, and life skills . To learn more about AmeriCorps, visit www.americorps.gov.

Minnesota Reading Corps 

Minnesota Reading Corps is a statewide initiative to help every Minnesota child become a successful reader by the end of 3rd grade. The program places AmeriCorps members as literacy tutors in sites across Minnesota to implement a researched-based early literacy effort to help struggling readers. The Minnesota Reading Corps strategies are designed for both preschool-aged children and K–3rd grade students.

Minnesota Reading Corps in preschool settings

Minnesota Reading Corps Preschool Literacy Tutors work with preschool-aged children in their classrooms to create literacy-rich environments, focusing on the “Big Five” emergent literacy skills. Data is regularly collected for each child in order to tailor literacy interventions for individual children, children in small groups, and for whole classrooms.

Minnesota Reading Corps in Kindergarten–3rd grade settings

Minnesota Reading Corps Elementary Literacy Tutors serve as one-on-one tutors and provide research-based interventions to students who are just below proficiency in reading. The tutors meet with each student daily for 20 minutes to build phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency skills. A Response to Intervention (RtI) model is followed. Additional Minnesota Reading Corps members, serving as Volunteer Coordinators, also recruit and train volunteers to support literacy efforts within the school.