Learning to read is the gateway to knowledge and success in life. Despite that, only half of Minnesota's children are ready for kindergarten and one in five third graders is not reading at grade level. Research shows when students are not proficient in reading, they rarely catch up and become “in-school dropouts” as early as 4th grade. Illiteracy is also linked to other negative outcomes, including teen pregnancy, substance abuse, delinquency and criminal activity.

From preschool through 3rd grade, children learn to read. Beyond 3rd grade, students read to learn. This window presents either an opportunity to build a foundation for education and economic success or puts a child at risk for lifelong negative consequences.

Reading Corps has a proven track record of transforming literacy outcomes for struggling students and is aligned with CNCS’s Education focus. By combining the people power of AmeriCorps with the science of how children learn to read, they catch kids before they fail. Currently, nearly 800 AmeriCorps members are providing intensive tutoring to more than 20,000 children in nearly 500 Minnesota sites. 2011 evaluation results include an increase in third grade reading proficiency from 69 to 80 percent. These students, who were at risk for failure, surpassed the 78 percent pass rate for all Minnesota students. In addition, nearly 7 out of 10 Reading Corps students are making more than a year’s worth of growth, an enormous step toward achieving grade level success. Results also show a decrease in special education referrals.

Several components set Reading Corps apart. It is highly replicable – using AmeriCorps to implement a data-based problem-solving model. It uses research-based interventions for helping children achieve reading proficiency. It is heralded as the “gold standard” of implementation fidelity because of its superlative training, coaching, use of data and continual improvement.

It also is accumulating an impressive cadre of private and public support. With unprecedented bipartisan support from both the governor and the state legislature, Reading Corps received an appropriation of $4.1 million, and is now a fully integrated part of Minnesota’s policy solution to early childhood illiteracy. Reading Corps was also cited as a strategy in Minnesota’s successful Race to the Top application.

Private funders have identified Reading Corps as their lead partner in the largest school districts in Minnesota: Greater Twin Cities United Way is taking the program to scale in Saint Paul and Bloomington districts; Target has done the same for Minneapolis. With this growing support, Reading Corps is recruiting more than 1,000 members next year, a 25 percent increase in Minnesota.

Interest is increasing at a national level too. Target announced a $500,000 grant to replicate the Reading Corps in Washington D.C. and Colorado. Several other states have expressed interest including Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin.

Reading Corps has been cited by several organizations as a best practice including the ASC June 2010 report: Transforming Communities through Service, New America’s Early Ed Watch – November 2010, 2011 Aspen Institute Education Innovation Forum, and the 2012 GradNation report.