Tucked on the shores of Hill Lake in central northern Minnesota sits Hill City, a rural and tight-knit community. Hill City is a small town of about 600 people and home to a single K-12 school, which serves a few of the surrounding communities as well. The school serves about 250 students across all grade levels, of whom over half qualify for free or reduced lunch. Serving the needs of such a wide variety of ages on a tight budget can be a challenge, says Principal Zac Erickson.
“Rural schools in Minnesota face several unique challenges, including recruiting qualified teachers and population decline, leading to fewer students and reduced state funding,” he says. “Our partnership with Reading Corps and Math Corps has been incredibly valuable.”
Small Communities, Big Impacts
Erickson serves as the early childhood through eighth grade principal for Hill City School, which has partnered with Reading Corps and Math Corps since 2020. Across the state, fewer than half of students are reading and doing math at grade level. That means there is a tremendous need for individual support. The rural teacher shortage makes this especially difficult for communities like Hill City and Reading Corps/Math Corps are an essential part of the solution.
“One of the biggest benefits has been targeted interventions for struggling students,” explains Erickson. “Having trained tutors working with students daily in evidence-based interventions ensures that those who are behind in reading or math get the extra help they need to catch up.”
Using scripted interventions, tutors provide extra practice and skill building to help students build their skills. They carefully monitor the needs and progress of each student with the goal of getting them to grade-level proficiency. The high-impact tutoring and personal attention helps students build both skills and confidence. Erickson has seen that progress firsthand. He’s not just Hill City’s principal; he’s also the internal coach for the school’s three tutors.
As the internal coach, Erickson helps orient new tutors to the school’s culture, assists teachers in choosing which students receive tutoring, and reviews student data as they progress through tutoring sessions. The data at Hill City has shown stellar improvement among the students who have received support from Reading Corps or Math Corps.
“Overall, kindergarten through fourth grade early reading scores have increased by 24% in the past three years!” he says. And even as math scores nationally have declined sharply since 2019, Hill City has stayed level. “Kindergarten through twelfth grade math scores have been steady at 60% proficient with gains every year.”
Powerful Personal Connections
For Erickson, the impact that Reading and Math Tutors make isn’t just measured in scores and test results: It’s also the newfound confidence and sense of achievement that students gain through tutoring. One memory that will stay with him forever is about a first grader who started the year behind in reading.
“She was quiet, hesitant to participate in class, and often avoided reading altogether because she felt she wasn’t good at it,” he remembers. She started getting one-on-one support through Reading Corps early in the year. “The daily, structured interventions built her phonics skills and reading confidence. By mid-year, not only had she caught up to her peers, but she also started volunteering to read aloud in class—something she never would have done before!”
Her success story is one of dozens that Erickson has seen thanks to Reading Corps and Math Corps. Looking ahead to next year, there will still be a number of challenges facing Hill City: retaining teachers, falling local populations, budget crunches, and more. However, the school will also have three tutors there every day, ready to make a difference on behalf of their students.
Erickson knows Hill City isn’t the only one with hard questions to answer and believes other school leaders should seriously consider partnering with Reading Corps and Math Corps as well.
“I would highly recommend the programs to other principals in rural communities,” he says. “They provide a level of support that can be difficult to find in smaller districts, especially given the challenges of teacher shortages, limited funding, and fewer intervention resources.”
Committed to Serving Students Everywhere
Building strong partnerships and success stories like those in Hill City is part of our commitment to supporting students in communities of all sizes.
“We know that proficiency isn’t an urban, suburban or rural issue,” explains Anne Sinclair, Chief Learning Officer for Reading Corps, Math Corps and Early Learning Corps. “Students everywhere need extra support building strong skills. What’s unique here is that we have a family of proven programs that can be implemented in any size community to make a tangible difference for students.”
We’re proud to offer a proven solution by partnering with schools in urban, suburban and rural communities. For 2024-25, Reading Corps, Math Corps, and Early Learning Corps are partnering with schools in an equal balance of urban, suburban and rural communities. Of the more than 1,000 schools with tutors this year, about 37% serve in a suburban location, 35% rural and 28% in urban.
As we continue to work to support more students across the nation, Reading Corps, Math Corps and Early Learning Corps are committed to ensuring all students have the foundational skills they need to succeed, no matter where they live. If you want to learn how our education programs help students make faster progress and greater gains, or if you want to become a partner school, visit readingandmath.org/get-involved/schools.
Or if you’re interested in personally supporting the students in your community by becoming a tutor, visit join.readingandmath.org to see openings near you. school can become a partner, visit readingandmath.org/get-involved/schools.