Math fluency is a crucial component for student success. It’s closely linked to high school graduation, college enrollment rates, and higher paying jobs. Helping students build strong math skills means multiplying their future opportunities! We are thrilled to announce a generous grant from the Overdeck Family Foundation that will help expand Math Corps for kindergarten through third grade (K-3) students across the country.
“We’re really excited about working with the Overdeck Foundation, and so thankful for this for this funding,” says Lindsay Dolce, Chief Policy and Growth Officer at Ampact. “They’re the preeminent funder of math research in the country and we would love for this to be the first collaboration of many.”
Early Interventions, Strong Skills
First launched 15 years ago, Math Corps has served more than 63,000 students to date. Although the program’s initial focus was on serving students in fourth through eighth grades, when a growing body of evidence began to suggest earlier intervention is even more effective, Math Corps started exploring opportunities to bring Math Corps to younger students.
During the 2020-21 school year, a small cohort of Math Corps tutors began their service focused exclusively on K-3 students. More than 500 students received tutoring during the first year and the results were encouraging enough to support additional expansion. The following year, Math Corps began supporting K-3 students in Georgia and in 2023-24, they expanded to New York.
A Perfect Pair
The Overdeck Family Foundation was started by John and Laura Overdeck in 2011 with the goal of fostering educational programs and efforts that allow children to reach their full potential. Among programs and models, they focus on those that “build a strong evidence base” and can validate that evidence to prove their impact. With Math Corps’ commitment to research-based interventions and industry-leading efficiency, it is a natural fit for Overdeck’s support.
This past June, Executive Director of New York Programs, Katrina Gobins, accompanied a team from the Overdeck Foundation to an elementary school in Poughkeepsie to demonstrate the program in action. The younger demographic of students distinguishes Math Corps from most other similar programs in Overdeck’s portfolio, as does the service aspect AmeriCorps.
“It’s so great to be able to take funding partners to see firsthand the transformative impact that high-dosage tutoring has on both students and members alike,” says Gobins of the visit. “Our members loved diving into why they joined AmeriCorps and sharing their experiences helping students learn. And the students were so excited to show off the skills they’ve developed throughout the year!”
Overdeck’s Crucial Support
Thanks in part to the new support from the Overdeck Foundation, Math Corps is hiring a dozen more tutors in New York and more than 100 additional tutors nationally to support kindergarten through third grade students. The average Math Corps tutor helps more than 20 students per year, which means that potentially thousands of students will improve their skills thanks to Overdeck’s investment.
“It has been a true team effort bringing Math Corps to younger learners across the country,” says Dolce. “It was the hard work of everyone from the program design team to the coaches, supervisors, and tutors that made the initial pilots such a success. And now with the Overdeck Foundation and our other partners, we can amplify that success to more students than ever.”
If you want to support students in your community, Math Corps is still hiring tutors for this school year! Visit join.readingandmath.org to view openings and read the full position description. Or if you want to bring Math Corps to your elementary school, visit readingandmath.org/get-involved/schools to learn more.