ND Reading Corps

Until third grade, students are learning to read. After that, they are reading to learn, applying their skills to other subjects such as math, science, and history. Once students fall behind, it can be nearly impossible to catch up.

North Dakota Reading Corps, a program of AmeriCorps and an initiative of the South East Education Cooperative (SEEC) and a partnership with CREA to prevent students from falling behind in the first place. Reading Corps blends science and service to create a real, positive impact, with a vision that 100 percent of students will be confident, proficient readers by the end of third grade. 

The program is divided into two age groups: pre-K and K-3 students. Reading Corps for pre-K students, now called Early Learning Corps,  is a Tier 1 intervention focused on embedding early literacy into a preschool classroom. Early Learning Corps works with teachers to add additional curriculum-neutral strategies and improve overall class instruction and environment. The “tutor” in Early Learning Corps is a teacher or staff member at the preschool or child care center.

Reading Corps for K-3 students is a Tier 2 intervention program focused on supporting students who are not currently reading at grade level. If literacy is a stoplight, students in the green are reading on target, while those in the red are significantly behind. North Dakota schools refer students who fall within the yellow range to Reading Corps. These students are then paired with trained AmeriCorps tutors—who may be recent college graduates, retired educators, stay-at-home parents, or anyone in between with a passion for helping kids succeed.

These tutors meet one-on-one with students for 20 minutes a day to provide research-based interventions focused on skills such as phonemic awareness, letter sound knowledge, and oral reading fluency. Tutors monitor and chart student progress weekly until the student exits the program. 

Because tutors are community members, not school staff, Reading Corps is able to have a significant impact on students without placing any additional burden on schools. Additionally, all materials, assessments, and coaching comes directly from Reading Corps. 

“The real value is that this is an entire model that exists, rather than a program that the school must develop. Reading Corps provides a readily packaged program that is easy to implement,” said Jolene Garty, Director of Student Services at SEEC. “There is still an investment, but you are not starting from scratch. All of the pieces are there.”

Reading Corps tutors are building brighter futures for North Dakota students, one word at a time. In the 2020-2021 school year, North Dakota Reading Corps tutors provided 949 students with a total of 720,571 minutes of tutoring. 95 percent of pre-K participants made growth on three or more literacy skills, while 75 percent of all students in grades K-3 exceeded target growth