Report for Minnesota Reading Corps Pre-K Program Cost Analysis

The Minnesota Reading Corps (MN RC) program is a statewide AmeriCorps early literacy initiative. It aims to foster early literacy skills of children to ensure reading proficiency by the end of third grade. MN RC and its host organization, Reading & Math, Inc. (RMI), aim to address the resource gaps within under-resourced schools by bringing AmeriCorps members into preschool (Pre-K) classrooms to provide literacy enrichment and tutoring services for specific at-risk students.

Study Goals:

There was an impact evaluation of the MN RC Pre-K program in the 2013-2014 school year that found that the program had significant positive effects on literacy for three-, four-, and five-year-old children. The purpose of this study is to estimate the economic costs of providing the MN RC preschool program that are associated with the impacts measured by the 2013-2014 evaluation.

Research Questions:

The research questions were:

• What is the average cost per site and average cost per student for the MN RC Pre-K program?
• How were these costs financed? Specifically, what portion of the costs was covered by schools and what portion by other entities?
• How do costs, description of services, and allocation of resources differ among evaluation sites?

Findings:

The report found the following:

• The total cost of the MN RC program as evaluated in 2013-2014 in 25 sites, serving 1,261 children, is $2,124,480 per year.
• The average cost per site is $84,980, with each site serving between 17 to 164 students.
• On average, the cost per student is $1,690.
• Average personnel costs per site are $51,680, while average training costs per site are $29,860.

For more information, download the full report.