Reading Corps: Jackson, MS
Published on: September 2, 2025
- Issue Areas
- K-12 education
- Outcomes
- Elementary and middle school success
At-a-Glance
Summary
In 2016, the Jackson Public School (JPS) District was in crisis. Having been put on probation by the Mississippi Department of Education and given an “F” rating by the agency, the school system was at risk of being taken over by the state. Many JPS elementary students tested below proficient in reading for their grade level. Because literacy gaps are harder to close as students age—and are associated with lower educational attainment and reduced employment opportunities in the long run—increasing the percentage of JPS students performing at or above grade level in reading became a key goal in JPS’ five-year strategic plan, adopted in 2019.
Strategic external partnerships were key to JPS’ strategy for improving student reading and jumpstarting progress across the District. Working closely with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Jackson’s mayor, JPS’ leadership team decided to partner with Reading Corps. The high-impact reading tutoring program has a strong evidence base built in school districts across the country since its founding in 2003.
The program, launched in JPS schools in 2021, is designed to help K-3 students make rapid reading gains. Reading Corps tutors (who are AmeriCorps members) serve in elementary schools during regular school hours to practice key reading skills with students reading behind grade level. Tutoring sessions are each 20 minutes long, with each participating student receiving between 60 and 100 minutes of targeted support weekly.
Keys to the success of Reading Corps in JPS included data-driven student assessments and evidence-based tutoring techniques, cross-District collaboration between JPS stakeholders, and sustained philanthropic support for the program. Program outcomes were also bolstered by broad consensus in the community around the need for rapid improvement among JPS students, and the fact that JPS’ science of reading curricula and instructional approach aligned with Reading Corps’.
Results and Accomplishments
950
The number of elementary students tutored through Jackson Public School District’s Reading Corps program during the four school years spanning Fall 2021 to Spring 2025.
68.8%
The percentage of students in the Reading Corps program who exceeded target growth to close skill gaps, Fall 2021-Spring 2025.
51,585
The number of Reading Corps tutoring sessions held across more than a dozen JPS elementary schools, Fall 2021-Spring 2025. Each session occurred during regular school hours.
Substantially improving the reading levels of elementary students struggling to reach grade-level proficiency: By launching the evidence-based Reading Corps program, the Jackson Public School (JPS) District enabled students to catch-up when they were months or even years behind. More than two-thirds of the nearly 1,000 students tutored through Reading Corps since Fall 2021 exceeded targeted growth (as of June 2025).
Supporting Jackson Public Schools’ turnaround: By bolstering students’ reading levels, Reading Corps has supported JPS’ turnaround strategy. Alongside the District’s expanded investments in core instruction and coaching support for educators, Reading Corps helped improve JPS’s Mississippi Department of Education Accountability score from a “D” to a “C” in September 2022. (The District received a “D” score in 2019.) JPS has maintained its “C” score since then.
Proving the value of a targeted intervention: Reading Corps’ track record in JPS offers further evidence that targeted interventions can accelerate elementary students’ reading progress. After identifying K-3 students reading below grade level, the program provided targeted, high-impact tutoring (either one-on-one or one-on-two) during regular school hours. The Reading Corps model has been identified as having the highest level of evidence by the Evidence for ESSA clearinghouse at Johns Hopkins University. Students who receive Reading Corps tutoring demonstrate growth in phonics, reading fluency and oral reading fluency scores that are equivalent to an extra 50%-90% of a year of schooling, on average.
Overview
What was the challenge?
Low student achievement: Many JPS elementary students tested below proficient in reading for their grade level. Low literacy levels contributed to academic challenges as students moved through the district, including high drop out rates. Longer-term impacts of poor reading skills and lower educational attainment often include reduced employment opportunities and lower income.
Looming threat of a state takeover: For years, JPS was at risk of being taken over by the Mississippi Department of Education (MDOE) due to underperformance. In 2016, JPS was put on probation for failing to meet accreditation standards and given an “F” rating (the lowest possible) by MDOE. At that time, JPS’ four-year graduation rate was 67.7% and its four-year dropout rate was 21%. The possibility of a state takeover continued for years.
The need for a new strategy to improve student performance: JPS and other local leaders realized that new approaches for boosting reading levels and other educational achievement measures were urgently needed in the District. After JPS hired Dr. Errick Greene as the new superintendent in 2018, the District developed a new strategy and began searching for external partnerships to support it.
What was the solution?
Strategic external partnerships: JPS, then-Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and philanthropic organizations (the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Community Foundation for Mississippi) embraced a new approach to improve student reading and jumpstart progress across the District. A key goal in the five-year strategic plan established by JPS in 2019 was to increase the percentage of JPS students performing at or above grade level in reading (and math). JPS Superintendent Dr. Errick Greene had seen Reading Corps’ positive impact while previously working in a different school district, and pushed to bring the program to Jackson. Key stakeholders worked together to implement the new program in Jackson through philanthropic funds, minimizing the impact on the District’s regular budget.
High-impact reading tutoring program for students in grades K-3. Research has shown that students who are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade are less likely to graduate from high school compared to students who are proficient. The Reading Corps program is designed to help these students make rapid reading gains. Using the science of reading, Reading Corps tutors work in elementary schools during regular school hours with pairs of students or one-on-one to practice key reading skills. Each tutoring session is 20 minutes long and each participating student receives 3 to 5 sessions per week. The program’s tutoring, provided by AmeriCorps members who work closely with school educators, supplements core classroom instruction and integrates with existing student support systems. Beyond evidence-based interventions and the tutors that administer them, the program—offered at low or no cost to schools—provides a data system for tracking progress and expert coaching and training.
Collaboration to meet school- and student-specific needs: Working with JPS leaders (e.g., deputy and assistant superintendents) and Reading Corps coaches, elementary school staff identify students eligible for the program. (Students scoring below grade-level targets on standardized benchmark assessments administered by the tutors are eligible.) School staff members play a key role in terms of identifying high-need students, setting up school-specific operations and tutoring session schedules to support tutors and ensure program success. Tutors monitor student progress on a weekly basis to track when students have reached grade-level benchmarks (and are ready to leave the program).
Who was involved?
Jackson Public School district leaders: Superintendent Dr. Errick Greene and his team (including Deputy Superintendent Michael Cormack and four assistant superintendents) pushed for launching Reading Corps in district elementary schools to support the goal of improving reading outcomes.
Ampact: A national nonprofit that manages and scales high-quality AmeriCorps programs, Ampact helped launch the first Reading Corps program. The organization’s key activities included providing AmeriCorps members to serve as tutors in JPS schools, training tutors to deliver evidence-based interventions, tracking student outcome data to support progress and coaching to optimize impact.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation: The foundation collaborated with the Jackson Mayor’s Office and the Mississippi governor to form a plan to avoid a state takeover of JPS. It helped recruit Dr. Errick Greene to become superintendent, supported the development of his strategy to improve students’ reading levels, and has provided funding for JPS’ Reading Corps program since its inception. (Funding is awarded to the Community Foundation for Mississippi and passed through to Ampact.)
JPS elementary school principals: Principals were key Reading Corps advocates, ensuring that the program is operated in line with district goals. These principals worked closely with Reading Corps coordinators who oversee tutors in each school, collaborating to analyze outcome data and spur further progress.
JPS school-based educators: A staff member at each participating school serves as a Reading Corps Internal Coach, providing literacy support and oversight to Reading Corps tutors. These coaches ensure fidelity to the Reading Corps model while acting as a liaison between other school staff, the tutors and an Ampact Coaching Specialist.
JPS Office of Teaching and Learning: Working out of this central JPS office, assistant superintendents worked closely with Reading Corps staff to identify priority site placements for program resources. The Office’s overall role is to oversee curriculum, instruction, coaching, and professional development. With visibility into the reading instruction needs of elementary students across the district, the Office helped Reading Corps adequately align its resources to school-specific demand.
What factors drove success?
Consensus on the urgent need for change: All major stakeholders—JPS, Jackson’s mayor, Mississippi’s governor, parents/caregivers and the philanthropic community—agreed that JPS needed to better serve students. Everyone wanted to see student achievement, including reading levels, improve. The Mississippi Department of Education’s decision to put JPS on probation, raising the prospect of a state takeover of the district, created a sense of urgency for change.
Strong partnership between JPS leaders and the Kellogg Foundation: Both Superintendent Dr. Errick Greene and the foundation had experience with the Reading Corps prior to the JPS turnaround effort. Having seen its positive impact in other school systems, the foundation and Dr. Greene were able to build support for the intervention as part of JPS’ new strategy. With outside funding to support the program (from the foundation and the federal government, via AmeriCorps), JPS was able to substantially improve targeted reading instruction at no additional cost to taxpayers.
Reading instruction approach alignment: Both Reading Corps’ high-impact tutoring and JPS’ own reading curricula and instructional approach are based on the science of reading. This alignment helped facilitate the integration of Reading Corps program activities into the district. Students experienced beneficial instructional continuity as they moved from their classroom to tutoring sessions. For teachers and other staff in participating schools, Reading Corps’ science-of-reading approach helped build comfort with and buy-in with the program, which supplements classroom instruction.
School-specific oversight by principals: Elementary school principals were key on-the-ground Reading Corps leaders, helping to set up school-specific tutoring session locations and schedules, and analyzing data to find out which students should be in the program. Principals also helped ensure that tutors had the resources they needed to succeed, and collaborated with district leaders to troubleshoot challenges and communicate program successes.
Personalized tutoring with overall well-being in mind: Tutors are focused on sparking reading progress, but they’re also mindful of the larger context in which learning occurs, attending to the broader needs and well-being of the student. This is possible due to the personalized nature of the Reading Corps program: tutors work with either one or two students in each tutoring session, offering each “scholar” what one JPS assistant superintendent called a “prescription for themselves.”
A data-driven intervention: Data drives every stage of Reading Corps. Students are only selected for the program if they score below grade-level in reading assessments. Tutors use evidence-based interventions to improve phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. They use research-based assessments to monitor student progress through weekly performance measurements, working with an onsite coach and literacy experts who visit several times throughout the school year to analyze student data to determine the most effective interventions for each child.
What were the major obstacles?
Varying level of commitment to Reading Corps across the district: Elementary school principals play a pivotal role in bringing the Reading Corps model to life—in terms of building a supportive school culture, conducting data analyses to determine student eligibility, overseeing logistics and scheduling of tutoring sessions, and working with Reading Corps staff to optimize outcomes. Some principals have been more committed to the program than others, however, resulting in program activities executed with varied fidelity to the Reading Corps model.
Scheduling challenges that prevent some tutoring sessions: District-mandated student assessments and benchmarking activities can, at times, conflict with and prevent tutoring sessions from happening. Preventing these scheduling conflicts has required collaboration between school leaders and Reading Corps administrators, as well as flexibility among tutors.
Aligning tutor resources and placements to school-specific needs: The number of students eligible for Reading Corps varies across schools and from year to year. Managing fluctuating demands has at times proved challenging for the District and Ampact administrators. To maximize the impact of tutoring resources, Reading Corps and school staff maintain a waitlist at each participating school. JPS school staff communicate with Reading Corps’ coaching specialists, tutors and program staff to ensure tutor caseloads are full at all times.
Lack of full alignment between school reading assessments and Reading Corps curriculum: Elementary school principals are held accountable for a school’s reading test scores, but the Reading Corps curriculum doesn’t always align directly with school lesson plans. This means, for example, that while classroom instruction to prepare students for a state test might be focused on making inferences, while Reading Corps tutoring sessions focus on verbs. This misalignment is often inevitable, as the program aims to build the foundational skills that students need to succeed in the long term, while state assessments are testing shorter-term gains.
Timeline
Jackson Public School District is put on probation by the Mississippi Department of Education (MDOE) due to failure to meet accreditation standards and given an “F” rating due to underperformance.
A 15-member special joint “Better Together” commission is formed by then-Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, then-Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, the Kellogg Foundation and JPS to transform the District. The creation of this “third way” avoids a state takeover of JPS.
Dr. Errick Greene becomes superintendent of JPS. In his previous role, he led Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma; that district has similar demographics to JPS and had partnered with Reading Corps to improve reading levels among elementary students.
JPS releases a five-year strategic plan to improve student achievement. Specific key goals include growing the percentage of JPS students performing at or above grade level in reading and math.
Reading Corps launches in 12 JPS elementary schools to provide K-3 students with supplementary, targeted tutor-based reading instruction. (Math Corps launches simultaneously in the District, for grades 4-8.)
The Mississippi Department of Education raises its Statewide Accountability System score for JPS from a “D” to a “C.”
Reading Corps (and Math Corps) continues in JPS, expanding into new schools and helping hundreds of students move closer to or exceed grade-level proficiency.
Implementation process
What were the key components of the program’s design?
- Targeted school-based tutoring: Reading Corps tutors work inside elementary schools, with tutoring sessions occurring outside of students’ regular teacher-led classroom instruction time. Kindergarten through 3rd grade students are eligible for the program if they score “below target” on benchmark assessments administered by tutors. Participating students receive 20-minute tutoring sessions 3-5 days each week (depending on how many days per week a Reading Corps tutor is at their school).
- Evidence-based and data-driven: Reading Corps interventions are aligned with recommendations from the National Reading Panel and the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse. Tutors deliver scripted, evidence-based interventions focused on early literacy skills including phonemic awareness, phonics and fluency. Data is used to determine eligibility, track progress and monitor implementation fidelity. Students are given a weekly progress monitoring score, which (along with other data) is regularly reviewed by Reading Corps coaches. The program also collects benchmark data on students three times each school year.
- Personalized instruction that builds meaningful connections: Because Reading Corps tutoring happens 3-5 days per week, students build a routine and rapport with tutors, which helps to increase confidence and drive improved outcomes. Tutors work to understand students’ needs and sustain progress in part by collaborating closely with teachers and coaches (both a school’s internal coach as well as an Ampact coaching specialist). They also build relationships with parents by attending parent-teacher conferences.
- Committed AmeriCorps members: Serving either part-time or full-time, all Reading Corps tutors are AmeriCorps members who maintain a consistent schedule of regular hours at a school, where they are supervised by a staff member. Each tutor services between 10 and 15 students, depending on their time commitment. As AmeriCorps members, all tutors receive living stipends. Full-time tutors also receive an educational benefit based on hours of service, allowing them to pay educational expenses at qualified institutions of higher education or to repay qualified student loans.
- Cost-sharing model: The Reading Corps program is offered to schools at no cost or low cost. Federal AmeriCorps funding covers two-thirds of the cost of each tutor, with the balance coming from local matching funds. (In Jackson, these funds came from the Kellogg Foundation via the Community Foundation of Mississippi.) Ampact/AmeriCorps provides tutors, evidence-based interventions, expert coaching and training, and a data system to track student progress. The school district, meanwhile, provides space for tutoring inside schools, computers for tutors and staff to serve as internal coaches for tutors. These internal coaches, who themselves receive support from an Ampact coaching specialist, provide 6-9 hours of support per tutor each month. Internal coaches support the student selection process and observe a tutor’s tutoring sessions to ensure fidelity to the program model, among other responsibilities.
How were key partners engaged?
- Building external support for Reading Corps model: In the years leading up to Reading Corps’ launch in 2021, JPS’ superintendent and Ampact engaged key external stakeholders—such as the Jackson mayor’s office, the Mississippi Department of Education and the Kellogg Foundation—to build support for the program as a solution to improve student reading levels. After Reading Corps launched, the superintendent’s team shared strong outcome data with Kellogg, asking the foundation to provide ongoing support.
- Building internal support for Reading Corps model: The JPS superintendent made the case for Reading Corps as a key solution for improving student achievement to his leadership team and elementary school principals. Convincing principals of the program’s value was a crucial step. Assistant superintendents also played a key role in liaising with elementary school leaders around program execution and fidelity, helping to ensure that program activities worked day-to-day.
- Outreach to parents/caregivers: Ampact/AmeriCorps provided informational outreach at JPS meetings attended by parents/caregivers to explain how Reading Corps works and its goals. Parents were also kept apprised of Reading Corps activities at PTA meetings, community days and parent-teacher conferences. (Tutors attended these conferences whenever possible.)
- Collaborative teacher-tutor meetings: Teachers and tutors have weekly professional learning community meetings, during which they discuss student reading progress and review related data.
How does the program ensure universal access?
All elementary students are potentially eligible: Any JPS elementary student can receive Reading Corps tutoring interventions if determined to be eligible by scoring below grade-level targets on standardized benchmark assessments.
Reduces disparities in educational outcomes: The vast majority of JPS students are Black and/or low-income. (Ninety-four percent of students in JPS were Black as of Fall 2023, and nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.) For this reason, improving educational outcomes among JPS students effectively reduces racial and income-based disparities seen across Mississippi (and the U.S as a whole).
What were the key activities leading up to and following launch?
- Introducing the Reading Corps model to JPS leaders and Office of Teaching and Learning: Once the District made the decision to partner with Ampact and the Kellogg Foundation to launch Reading Corps, JPS leaders and the staff of the Office of Teaching and Learning learned about the model, with support from Ampact.
- Building support among elementary school principals: Strong buy-in from principals was a crucial part of effective program implementation; Superintendent Greene played an initial critical role in building this support, but deputy and assistant superintendents, along with the Office of Teaching and Learning, also engaged principals to see the value of enrolling their school in the program.
- Allocating school space and resources to support Reading Corps: Once the initial cohort of participating schools (and students) had been determined, school principals and Office of Teaching and Learning staff had to identify space for tutoring sessions and procure computers for tutors; identify a teacher or other staff member to serve as the Reading Corps internal coach in each school; and integrate tutoring and other program activities into the school’s day-to-day schedule and culture.
- Recruiting and training Reading Corps tutors: JPS and Ampact/Reading Corps collaborated to recruit residents from the community to become tutors. They could be a recent college graduate, a parent or a retiree. Tutor candidates are often referred to program administrators by the site partner—in this case, JPS, who designated a staff member to lead recruitment efforts. Once candidates become AmeriCorps members, they are required to complete training provided by Reading Corps and participate in professional development with program staff and/or their school-based Internal Coach. (Tutors are not employed by the school District.)
- Identifying students to participate in Reading Corps: School staff, Reading Corps tutors and staff collaborated to identify students in need of targeted interventions. Specifically, Internal Coaches first identify students who have demonstrated scores below proficient on school assessments or state proficiency tests. Then, Reading Corps tutors screen these students using a standardized benchmark assessment of reading fluency. Reading Corps’ coaching specialists then review student scores to determine eligibility for the program and an appropriate intervention starting point.
- Regular data reviews and outreach to evolve the program: The partnership between JPS and Reading Corps has evolved since the program’s launch in 2021. At the end of each school year, Ampact program leaders review student data with the superintendent and his leadership team to ensure Reading Corps supports the District most effectively. Additional JPS schools have launched the program (as well as Ampact’s Math Corps program in grades 4-8) as Ampact has rolled out new outreach and support approaches. At the start of the 2024-2025 school year, these approaches included providing targeted onboarding to administrators and teachers new to Reading Corps, and providing site-based in-person outreach at every participating school to ensure strong program implementation.
How was the approach funded?
Philanthropic partnership: The Kellogg Foundation has supported the Reading Corps program in JPS from its inception in 2021. (Kellogg funding directly supporting the program is awarded to the Community Foundation for Mississippi and passed through to Ampact, which oversees Reading Corps on behalf of AmeriCorps.) Other Kellogg funds support JPS’ broader strategic turnaround activities.
Federal government: Reading Corps is a program of AmeriCorps, which has historically received federal funding from the AmeriCorps agency (also known as the Corporation for National and Community Service).
- Local government (JPS): Local tax dollars also support Reading Corps in JPS, insofar as the district provides space for tutoring inside schools, computers for tutors and staff to serve as internal coaches for tutors.
How was the approach measured and refined?
Ampact/Reading Corps assessments of participating students: The program uses data to track progress and monitor implementation fidelity. Tutors record interventions provided and a weekly progress monitoring score for all participating students. They also collect benchmark data for each student three times each school year. All data are reviewed monthly by Ampact Reading Corps experts, and resulting insights inform intervention approaches for each student going forward.
JPS assessments: The district conducts benchmark reading assessments every nine weeks, as well as state-mandated tests. There is also internal progress monitoring in between benchmark tests in certain schools in need of increased attention.
Increased focus on tutor retention:Aware that continuity of tutor/student relationships was driving attendance and other positive outcomes, JPS increased efforts to retain tutors at the same schools from year to year.
Stakeholder feedback processes: At the beginning and middle of each school year, external partners (including Reading Corps) provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the schools they work in. Leaders of each participating school and each tutor take an annual survey indicating their satisfaction with the Reading Corps program. Beyond this formal collection of feedback, Ampact Reading Corps coaching specialists collect informal feedback on the program from tutors and Internal Coaches every time they visit the school (at least once per month). This feedback is collected, shared with program leaders and analyzed, supporting continuous improvement efforts.