The Power of Community Reading Corps Helps Schools Produce Successful Readers Senate E-12 Education Finance and Policy Committee Monday, January 28, 2019

Does Reading Corps work? As a resource for the state and as an effective intervention for individual students.

Evaluation Overview What is the impact of Reading Corps program on K-3 students? Conducted by the University of Chicago Impartial evaluators Methods as rigorous as possible Re-affirmed and extended prior evaluation.

Evaluation Overview What is the impact of Reading Corps program on K-3 students? Statistically significant, meaningful effects for all grades Equivalent to an additional 50%-85% year’s worth of literacy growth. Key Findings Continued strong impact for Kindergarten and First Grade 1st grade saw skill transfer from phonics to connected text. 2nd/3rd grade had improved effects (3x greater than previous evaluation) Evidence for closing the achievement gap

Sample Finding First Grade—Phonics Skills (e.g., /t/ /a/ /m/ … “tam”) Effect Size: 0.81*

Sample Finding Skill Transfer: First Grade Reading Fluency Effect Size: 0.61*

Trimethoprim An adult example: The Reading Corps Impact is Meaningful RECENT RESEARCH SHOWS: “…direct effects from kindergarten nonsense word fluency and letter naming fluency to tenth grade reading comprehension” Florida Center for Reading Research—Stanley, Petscher, & Catts (2018)  An adult example: Trimethoprim Simplify

79% greater 79% 89% The Reading Corps Impact is Equitable Impact on Students from Diverse Background The impact on Black students is 79% greater than the average Reading Corps student The impact on English Language Learner students is 89% greater than the average Reading Corps student 79% 89% Historically, in every subject, in every state, it has been difficult to move those two populations, as well as children living in poverty…especially relative to “AVERAGE”. And talka bout this being a consistent finding. Remember…the average Reading Corps student significantly outperformed their non-Reading Corps peer

Projected annual savings for Minnesota READING CORPS DELIVERS SPECIAL EDUCATION SAVINGS $9 MILLION Projected annual savings for Minnesota Students who participate in Reading Corps are nearly less likely to be referred to special education compared to non-participants 3x Princeton Example: Over five years, as Reading Corps reached a broad scale, 50% fewer students were identified as needing Special Education support, which translated to a savings of $300,000 per year, or $1,500,000 over five years.