Evidence Brief

Effective CNCS-Funded Education Programs 

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8

CNCS Office of Research & Evaluation 
EVIDENCE BRIEF: EFFECTIVE CNCS-FUNDED EDUCATION PROGRAMS November 2018  2

Evidence Brief: CNCS-Funded Education Programs 

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is the federal agency that leads service and 

volunteering in the United States, helping millions of Americans improve their lives and the lives of their 

fellow citizens through service. Through AmeriCorps and Senior Corps, national service members work handin-hand with local communities to tackle their most pressing challenges. Among the interventions and 

national service programs CNCS has funded in the education area, those with positive results from highquality, independent, and rigorous impact studies are featured in this brief.1 Through AmeriCorps, Senior 

Corps, and other programs2, the agency has made sustained investments in students, schools, parents, 

teachers, and communities across the country.

Who did these programs serve? 

The AmeriCorps and Senior Corps interventions span a 

range of target groups. They cover early childhood 

education, pre-kindergarten through grade 12, after-school 

and summer programs, as well as postsecondary education 

including college access enrollment, persistence, completion, 

and job readiness. Funded programs serve low-income, lowperforming, and at-risk target groups with diverse racial and 

ethnic backgrounds, in communities all over the country.3

What did these programs 

accomplish? 

The education-focused programs supported by CNCS have 

produced favorable and measured outcomes in the areas of:

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Kindergarten or school readiness

Improved socioemotional skills

Emergent literacy skills

Improved reading and math achievement

Improved attendance and behavior

Reduced school dropout rate

Improved standardized test scores (e.g., ACT or SAT)

High school completion

Increased access to college and careers, college 

enrollment, persistence and completion, and others.

1 Based on an independent meta-synthesis study conducted in 2018 (S. Richman, N. Maxwell, A. Streke, K. Needels, and K. Eddins. “Evidence of Effectiveness in 

CNCS-Funded Interventions: Benchmark Findings.” Prepared for the Corporation for National and Community Service, Office of Research and Evaluation. Chicago, IL: 

Mathematica Policy Research, 2018), these programs had a range of effect sizes from 0.05 to 0.50 and an average, statistically significant, effect size of 0.26 across 

these impact studies. This corresponds to a 10-percentage-point increase on favorable outcomes for participants and means the average person in the treatment 

group would score higher than 60 percent of a control group that was initially equivalent.

2 For more information, see www.nationalservice.gov

3 More details on target groups can be found in Table 2.

4 These programs had an average effect size of 0.22.

5 These programs had an average effect size of 0.38.

6 This program had an effect size of 0.23.

How did these programs do it? 

The evidence-based AmeriCorps and Senior Corps

programs employ a variety of models, including inquirybased curriculum, one-on-one tutoring/mentoring/coaching/

counseling, summer programs, high school/college dual 

enrollment, professional development, comprehensive school 

reform, residential programs, training for parents or new 

teachers, life skills training, home visits, and general student 

academic support.

Two service delivery modes are common across the effective 

programs: (1) formal education and training delivered 

individually or in a group setting and/or (2) one-on-one 

individualized support. The dosage, intensity, and duration of 

these interventions vary. Of the 13 interventions in the 

education area that provided solid evidence of working:

▪ Ten focused on K–12 success. These interventions

provided a wide range of services for different age groups,

from literacy development programs in elementary school

to one-on-one tutoring for high school students.4

▪ Two focused on school readiness. These interventions

included literacy development support in preschools and

home-visiting for parents with young children to develop

their literacy skills.5

▪ One focused on postsecondary preparation and providing

college preparation support in high schools.6
EVIDENCE BRIEF: EFFECTIVE CNCS-FUNDED EDUCATION PROGRAMS November 2018  3

TABLE 1. EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS FUNDED BY CNCS AND THEIR KEY FINDINGS 

INTERVENTIONS KEY FINDINGS

Blue Engine places AmeriCorps members trained as 

teaching assistants into classrooms to provide tutoring and 

extra learning time for students and to implement a social 

cognitive curriculum.

Blue Engine students' scores on Common Core algebra tests were 4 to 5 points 

higher than their peers, and their pass rate was 18 to 20 points higher.

Citizen Schools improves student academic engagement 

and performance, as well as high school graduation rates, 

by providing an after-school program supported by 

AmeriCorps members to low-income youth.

Students were twice as likely as their peers to select a top-tier high school, and 

three times as likely to complete four years of high school in a top-tier school. 

Students also had significantly higher attendance rates, were more likely to 

graduate in four years, and outperformed their peers in early high school math.

College Possible supports AmeriCorps members as

coaches for low-income students to overcome financial, 

academic, and social/cultural barriers through ACT and SAT 

test preparation, college application assistance, financial aid 

consulting, guidance during the transition from high school 

to college, and ongoing support toward degree completion.

Research indicates the immediate college enrollment rate for students from lowincome families is 52 percent, compared to 82 percent for high-income families. 

Low-income College Possible students' immediate enrollment rates ranged from 82 

percent to 88 percent, eliminating the income achievement gap for immediate 

college enrollment.

Experience Corps is an intergenerational volunteer-based 

tutoring program that engages AmeriCorps members to help 

young readers who are reading below grade level to read at 

grade level by third grade.

Third-grade children in the program had significantly higher scores on a 

standardized reading test than children in the control schools. Office referrals for 

classroom misbehavior decreased by about half in the Experience Corps schools, 

but remained the same in the control schools.

Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters 

(HIPPY) Corps uses a home-based early intervention model 

with a curriculum delivered by AmeriCorps members trained 

as paraprofessional home visitors and large-group 

facilitators and aims to ensure both children’s and parents’ 

school readiness.

Children in the HIPPY program showed a gain of 11 points on early-language 

assessments, compared to 5 points for those who were not in the program. 

Mothers in the program reported significantly more involvement with their young 

children at home.

Jeffco Summer of Early Literacy (JSEL) is a summer 

literacy program that engages AmeriCorps members trained 

as tutors to transform summer from a time when students 

lose reading skills to a time when students gain academic 

skills.

Students participating in JSEL demonstrated improved literacy skills relative to 

students who did not participate. On average, JSEL students scored at the 54th 

percentile while non-JSEL students scored at the 50th percentile–equivalent to a 

statistically significant effect size of 0.10. Students who participated in three years 

of JSEL, on average, scored at the 61st percentile.

Jumpstart engages AmeriCorps members to prepare

children for preschool and kindergarten in under-resourced 

communities.

On a scale of 1 to 5, Jumpstart children averaged gains of 1.47 points on 

assessments that measure oral language and early literacy skills (compared to 

1.1 points by their peers, an increase of 29 percent).

Minnesota Reading Corps (MRC), a K–3 program, 

improves early literacy by placing trained AmeriCorps 

members in early learning centers and elementary schools 

to provide evidence-based reading interventions.

MRC kindergarten students produced more than twice as many correct letter 

sounds after one semester, and first grade students demonstrated more letter 

sounds than students without tutors.

Playworks improves student academic performance and 

school climate by placing full-time AmeriCorps members 

trained as coaches into low-income schools to facilitate 

organized play during recess.

Teachers in Playworks schools reported less bullying and exclusionary behavior 

than teachers in schools without Playworks, and students were more likely than 

their peers to report better behavior and attention in class after sports, games, 

and play.

Reading Partners aims to improve elementary student 

reading proficiency by engaging AmeriCorps members to 

leverage community volunteers to provide one-on-one 

reading tutoring.

Reading Partners had a positive impact on three different measures of student 

reading scores equivalent to 1.5 to 2 months of additional growth. Reading 

Partners is a low-cost option for under-resourced schools. Schools pay $710 

per student, compared with an average of $1,690 per student for other reading 

programs offered in the same school.

SEED School of Washington, DC is an urban, public 

charter boarding school focused on academics and college 

preparation, as well as on basic life skills for high school 

students.

SEED students’ math scores were 76 percent higher than typical annual gains in 

the first year. In the second year, students improved by the equivalent of 1.5 years 

of typical growth. Students saw no increase in reading improvement the first year, 

but in the second year their test scores exceeded non-SEED students by the 

equivalent of one year of typical growth.

SPARK uses AmeriCorps members to provide in-school 

tutoring and family engagement to develop the literacy skills 

of early-grade students and to support families as they learn 

to support the literacy development of their students.

Sixty-two percent of SPARK students who started below benchmark met 

benchmark at the end of the study, compared with only 10 percent of their 

tutorless peers. SPARK students were absent from school 5.8 fewer times and 

were 27 percent less likely to be chronically absent from school.

Teach for America (TFA) improves educational outcomes 

by placing AmeriCorps members into high-poverty schools 

in hard-to-staff subjects.

TFA teachers were more effective than the teachers with whom they were 

compared. On average, students assigned to TFA teachers scored higher on 

end-of-year math assessments than students assigned to comparison teachers 

by the equivalent of an additional 2.6 months of school.
EVIDENCE BRIEF: EFFECTIVE CNCS-FUNDED EDUCATION PROGRAMS November 2018  4

TABLE 2. PROGRAM BY INTERVENTION CORE COMPONENTS, OUTCOMES, TARGETED 

POPULATIONS, AND AMERICORPS/SENIOR CORPS ROLES

Program 

(Site Evaluated)

Core 

Components Outcomes

Targeted 

Population AmeriCorps/Senior Corps Role

SCHOOL READINESS

HIPPY Corps

(San Diego, CA)

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Instructional home visits

Parent/child literacy 

activities

Parent monthly group 

meetings and instruction

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▪

Enhanced emergent 

literacy skills

Increased parenting skills

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▪

3 to 5 years old

Hispanic

Low income

Parents of young 

children

AmeriCorps members deliver 

school readiness and literacy 

interventions to families with 3-, 4-, 

and 5-year-olds

Jumpstart

(San Francisco, Fresno, 

Los Angeles, CA)

Whole-class and smallgroup language and 

literacy activities

Individual language and 

literacy activities

Family involvement/ 

communication

Volunteer engagement in 

projects

Enhanced emergent 

literacy skills

3 to 6 years old

Low income 

AmeriCorps members deliver the 

evidence-based early education 

program and serve as site 

coordinators to leverage community 

volunteers. 

SCHOOL READINESS AND K–12 SUCCESS

Minnesota Reading 

Corps

(MN)

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▪

Whole-class literacy 

enrichment activities

One-on-one or small-group 

literacy tutoring

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▪

Enhanced emergent 

literacy skills

Increased reading/English 

Language Arts (ELA)

achievement

Ready to enter 

kindergarten

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▪

K to 3rd grade

Low income 

AmeriCorps members work with 

children one-on-one and in small 

groups daily, providing literacy 

interventions that are tailored to 

each learner’s needs.

K–12 SUCCESS

Blue Engine

(New York, NY)

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Tutoring or supplemental 

instruction

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Increased math 

achievement

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▪

▪

▪

▪

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▪

9th grade

Hispanic

Low income

AmeriCorps members partner with 

teachers to lead small-group 

instruction in class and one-on-one 

tutoring outside of the classroom.

Citizen Schools

(Boston, MA)

Apprenticeships 

High school application 

support

College preparation

Leadership skills 

instruction

Alumni program

Improved attendance 

Increased high school 

completion

Increased math 

achievement

Increased reading/ELA 

achievement

6th to 8th grade

African American 

and Hispanic 

Low income 

AmeriCorps members develop 

trusting relationships with students 

and their families, foster student 

academic and leadership skills 

through hands-on projects, help 

students make connections 

between current learning and future 

opportunity, and engage volunteers 

at the participating schools. 

Experience Corps

(Baltimore, MD; 

Bay Area, CA; 

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; 

Boston, MA; Philadelphia, 

PA; New York, NY; 

Portland, OR; Washington, 

DC; Port Arthur, TX )

Literacy tutoring Increased reading/ELA 

achievement

6 to 9 years old

African American 

and Hispanic 

Low income 

AmeriCorps members serve as 

reading tutors.
EVIDENCE BRIEF: EFFECTIVE CNCS-FUNDED EDUCATION PROGRAMS November 2018  5

Program 

(Site Evaluated) 

Core 

Components Outcomes 

Targeted 

Population AmeriCorps/Senior Corps Role 

Jeffco Summer of Early 

Literacy Program

(Jefferson County, CO)

▪ Literacy instruction

▪ Professional support

for teachers

▪ Parenting events

▪ Increased reading/ELA

achievement

▪ K to 6th grade

▪ Hispanic

▪ Low income

Struggling readers work daily, oneon-one, with trained AmeriCorps 

members to develop key literacy 

skills. AmeriCorps members helped 

students practice the five key 

building blocks to literacy: phonemic 

awareness, phonics, fluency, 

vocabulary, and comprehension.

Playworks

(Anonymous for

confidentiality)

▪ Organized recess activities

▪ Class game time

▪ Youth leadership program

▪ After-school activities

▪ Improved socio-emotional

skills

▪ Improved BMI/fitness level

▪ Specific

populations not

identified

AmeriCorps members provide a 

schoolwide evidence-based 

program, utilizing play to create 

supportive environments with 

reduced bullying. 

Reading Partners

New York, NY; 

Washington, DC; East Bay, 

South Bay, Los Angeles, 

Sacramento, CA)

▪ One-on-one tutoring

▪ Dedicated school space

and use of materials

▪ Structured and

individualized curriculum

▪ Student assessments for

data-driven instruction

▪ Rigorous and ongoing

training

▪ Instructional supervision

▪ Improved reading/ELA

achievement

▪ Improved socio-emotional

skills

▪ K to 5th grade

▪ Hispanic

▪ Low income

AmeriCorps members manage 

volunteer recruitment and day-today operations of the literacy 

tutoring program. 

SEED School 

(Washington, DC)

▪ Individualized curriculum

as needed

▪ Student life program

▪ College counseling

▪ Student support services

▪ Increased math

achievement

▪ Increased reading/ELA

achievement

▪ Increased high school

completion

▪ Improved socio-emotional

skills

▪ 6th to 12th grade

▪ African American

▪ Low income

Research funded through Social 

Innovation Fund (2009-2017)

SPARK Literacy Program

(Greater Milwaukee, WI)

▪ Individual literacy tutoring

▪ Family engagement/

communication

▪ Improved reading

achievement

▪ Improved attendance

▪ K to 3rd grade

▪ African American

▪ Low income

AmeriCorps members serve as 

reading tutors.

Teach for America 

(Anonymous for

confidentiality)

▪ Highly selective admission

criteria

▪ Pre-service training

▪ Training and professional

development while

teaching

▪ Increased math

achievement

▪ Specific

populations not

identified

AmeriCorps members serve as fulltime teachers in district and charter 

public schools

POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION SUPPORT

College Possible

(MN; NE; OR; WI)

▪ SAT and ACT preparation

▪ College admissions

consulting/support

▪ Financial aid

consulting/support

▪ Improved ACT scores

▪ Increased college

enrollment

▪ Increased college

applications

▪ High school and

college

▪ Hmong

▪ Low income

AmeriCorps members provide 

consulting for college preparation, 

including admission, financial and 

test preparatory support. They 

serve as near-peer coaches to high 

school or college students.
EVIDENCE BRIEF: EFFECTIVE CNCS-FUNDED EDUCATION PROGRAMS November 2018  6

TABLE 3. KEY STUDIES THAT FORM BASIS FOR EVIDENCE

Intervention Document Evaluator

Blue Engine Casciano, R. (2015). Estimating the Impact of Blue Engine Program on Common Core 

Algebra Scores 

Glass Frog Solutions

Citizen Schools Arcaira, E., Vile, J. D., & Reisner, E. R. (2010). Achieving high school graduation: 

Citizen Schools’ youth outcomes in Boston. Policy Study Associates: Washington, DC. 

(Link)

Policy Studies 

Associates

College Possible Howley, C., & Uekawa, K. (2013). Evaluation of College Possible postsecondary 

outcomes, 2007-2012. Corporation for National and Community Service. (Link)

ICF

Avery, C. (2013). Evaluation of the College Possible Program: Results from a 

Randomized Controlled Trial (No. w19562). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of 

Economic Research. (Link)

National Bureau of 

Economic Research

Experience Corps Rebok, G. W. (2004). Short-Term Impact of Experience Corps® Participation on 

Children and Schools: Results from a pilot randomized trial. Journal of Urban Health, 

81(1), 79–93. (Link)

Johns Hopkins 

School of Medicine

Lee, Y. S., Morrow-Howell, N., Jonson-Reid, M., & McCrary, S. (2012). The Effect of 

the Experience Corps® Program on Student Reading Outcomes. Education and 

Urban Society, 44(1), 97–118. (Link)

Washington 

University in St. 

Louis

HIPPY Necoechea, D. M. (2007). Children at-risk for poor school readiness: The effect of an 

early intervention home visiting program on children and parents. University of 

California, Riverside. (Link)

University of 

California, Riverside

Jeffco Summer of 

Early Literacy 

Program

Augenblick, Palaich and Associates. (2015). An Evaluation of the Jeffco Summer of 

Early Literacy (JSEL) Program. Corporation for National and Community Service. 

(Link)

APA Consulting

Jumpstart Grant, B.J., Shannon, L. (2015). An Evaluation of Jumpstart: Effects on Preschool-age 

Children in California. Corporation for National and Community Service. (Link)

Magnolia Consulting

Minnesota 

Reading Corps

Markovitz, C. E., Hernandez, M. W., Hedberg, E. C., & Silberglitt, B. (2014). Impact 

Evaluation of the Minnesota Reading Corps K-3 Program. Corporation for National 

and Community Service. (Link)

NORC

Playworks Fortson, J., James-Burdumy, S., Bleeker, M., Beyler, N., London, R. A., Westrich, L., 

& Castrechini, S. (2013). Impact and implementation findings from an experimental 

evaluation of Playworks: Effects on school climate, academic learning, student social 

skills and behavior (No. 8b2d9e64d91647a795a9ee93ab265c15). Mathematica Policy 

Research. (Link)

Mathematica Policy 

Research

Reading Partners Jacob, R., Armstrong, C., & Willard, J. (2015). Mobilizing volunteer tutors to improve 

student literacy: Implementation, impacts, and costs of the reading partners program. 

(Link)

MDRC

SEED School of 

Washington DC

Unterman, R., Bloom, D., Byndloss, D., & Terwelp, E. (2016). Going away to school: 

An evaluation of SEED DC. Corporation for National and Community Service. (Link)

MDRC

SPARK Jones, C., Christian, M., & Rice, A. (2016). The results of a randomized control trial 

evaluation of the SPARK literacy program. Milwaukee, WI: Society for Research on 

Educational Effectiveness (SREE). University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. (Link)

SREE

Teach for America Clark, M. A., Chiang, H. S., Silva, T., McConnell, S., Sonnenfeld, K., Erbe, A., & 

Puma, M. (2013). The Effectiveness of Secondary Math Teachers from Teach For 

America and the Teaching Fellows Programs. NCEE 2013-4015. National Center for 

Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. (Link)

Mathematica Policy 

Research