For the first time in North Dakota, Math Corps services are being offered to students in grades K-3. The expansion of this service is significant as, up until this year, Math Corps was only available for ND students in grades 4-8. Math Corps is an evidence-based math tutoring program delivered by AmeriCorps Members that provides 20 minutes of daily tutoring to students in pairs to improve foundational math skills required for long-term academic success and algebra readiness.
Math Corps is a Tier 2 intervention program with unique grade level scopes & sequences aligned with Common Core Standards and State Math Standards related to whole and rational number understanding. The scope and sequence are curriculum neutral, but all the skills practiced in Math Corps are skills students have already been taught in the classroom.
Students served by Math Corps are typically those who have yet to reach grade level targets and need additional opportunities to practice key skills, so they can better access core instruction. Formative assessments are built into the program model to ensure tutors know when additional practice is needed and when it’s time to move on to the next skill.
An impact evaluation has not yet been conducted for K-3 Math Corps as it is still a young program only entering its fifth year nationwide (and is in its first year in North Dakota). However, the K-3 Math Corps program was designed using the same principles as the program for students in grades 4-8 which began in 2008 and has undergone impact evaluations with positive results.
Multiple studies of the 4-8 program show that students receiving Math Corps services make three more months of additional progress than students not participating in Math Corps. Another study was conducted on students' math confidence. Students working with Math Corps tutors reported a high degree of math confidence, increasing from 45% mid-year to 76% at the end of the year.
While an impact evaluation has not yet been conducted for this budding program, national benchmark assessment data for students in the K-3 program collected in the 23-24 school year (as shown above) provides evidence of positive tutoring effects. Students who grow 20 percentage points more than double their probability of meeting grade-level benchmarks, providing evidence of substantial tutoring effects.
This year, North Dakota has 8 tutors piloting the K-3 Math Corps program in the following schools:
Clara Barton Hawthorne Elementary School (Fargo)
Edison Elementary School (Minot)
Flasher Public School
Kindred Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School (Fargo)
Max Public School
Medina Public School
Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood Public School
Interested in learning more? Visit https://www.ndseec.com/page/nd-math-corps or contact Maria at 701.997.2963 or Maria.Bigelow@k12.nd.us.
By Emily Koterba, Math Corps Coaching Specialist