Mississippi State University’s America Reads – Mississippi (AmeriCorps) Program continues to help students statewide

Contact: Camille Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.— This fall, the Mississippi State University region of the America Reads – Mississippi (AmeriCorps) program will commemorate the program’s 20th year of service, helping students statewide.

Established in 1998, America Reads-Mississippi (ARM) is an AmeriCorps program administered through the Academic Affairs Office of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL), and today includes over 80 members throughout three regions in the state.

“IHL saw a need for greater access to higher education and the opportunity through AmeriCorps to make it available, and wrote the first grant for the program,” said Theresa Hall-Brown, Regional Coordinator for ARM-MSU. “Research says that if a child can’t read by third grade, then they’re more likely to become high school dropouts. The reasons for the program’s implementation were two-fold; to help boots students’ reading scores by adding a support person in the school that is trained to help with reading, and to increase access to higher education for Mississippians.”

Members serve students based on their scores in school assessment and are placed statewide in schools, where they tutor students in grades K-3 in reading. Before Corps members are placed in the school districts, they go through a three day tutor training where they become familiar with the materials they use with their students. Before they can begin tutoring students, they must demonstrate effective implementation of the interventions.

ARM members can serve up to two years unless they serve as a team leader, which then allows them to serve for one additional year. Members serve as either a reduced-time member at 1200 hours or a full-time member at 1700 hours in the school. Members serve in the schools the majority of the day tutoring students and also assisting with classroom rotations. Other service activities include planning and implementing community service projects and volunteer recruitment. 

Established in 1903, MSU’s College of Education is now home to six academic departments, one research unit and numerous service units. For more about the college, visit //www.educ.msstate.edu/.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.