Blogg[ed]MN: The Benefits of Investing Early

This blog post originally appeared on the Minnesota Department of Education website blogg[ed]MN. 

Since taking office, Governor Mark Dayton has made a number of critical investments in early education. One significant investment came in 2011 when Governor Dayton and the Legislature invested $5.45 million in the Minnesota Reading Corps to expand the program and help more students gain access to one-on-one tutoring.

In fact, 30,000 students benefited from the Minnesota Reading Corps AmeriCorps individualized, one-on-one tutoring to kindergarten through third grade students and using proven literacy interventions last year.

And the best part is: It’s working.

Today, a new report shows that this work is resulting in big improvements for the state’s youngest learners.

The study, conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, analyzed the impact of the Minnesota Reading Corps on improving student achievement in reading. It looked at a sample of 1,350 Minnesota students from Kindergarten through 3rd Grade, and followed their performance over a 16-week period in the 2012-2013 school year.

Check out some of these amazing highlights from the report:

• The average Minnesota Kindergarten student with a Minnesota Reading Corps volunteer tutor performed twice as well as students without one
• Minnesota Reading Corps tutors helped the average first grade student perform 26 percent better than the expected level for on-track students
• Students with higher risk factors who received Minnesota Reading Corps tutoring significantly outperformed students who did not

Interested in reading more about the study? Here are some links to materials from today’s report:

• Press Release
• Minnesota Reading Corps Impact Evaluation landing page
• Research Brief