Minnesota Reading Corps and Minnesota Math Corps are programs that are working to ensure that Minnesota children are on track to read by the end of third grade and are algebra-ready by the end of eighth. We do this by training and placing AmeriCorps members in preschools, Head Starts, elementary, middle and junior high schools across Minnesota.

Americorps Overview: Minnesota Reading Corps and Math Corps are AmeriCorps programs. AmeriCorps is often called the “domestic Peace Corps.” It is a national service organization that engages people in a year-long commitment to service. More than 75,000 AmeriCorps members serve throughout the United States each year. To learn more about AmeriCorps, visit www.americorps.org.

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 work with each student for 20 minutes at a time to build phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency skills. A Response to Intervention (RtI) model is followed, and data is regularly collected for each child in order to tailor instruction to individual needs. Some members also recruit and train volunteers to support literacy efforts within the school.

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 instruction for individual children, children in small groups, and for whole classrooms.

Minnesota Math Corps in elementary and middle school settings: Minnesota Math Corps members work with pairs of 4th through 8th graders and follow a reserach-based curriculum with students who are below proficiency in math. The members tutor each student for 30 minutes at a time to build skills in number sense, measurement, geometry, statistics and ultimately algebra. Progress is tracked to better meet students' individual needs.

History: 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 to become one of the largest AmeriCorps programs in the country, with plans to place over 800 Literacy Tutors across the state in August 2011. Minnesota Math Corps began in 2008 to an even higher need in Minnesota. Even though algebra is a "gateway" course to entering college, over 40% of Minnesota eighth graders are not proficient in this area of math. Math Corps has responded by training tutors in research-based curriculum, and plans to double to 100 Math Enrichement Tutors in various Minnesota schools in August 2011.