Emergent literacy skills are a critical base for later academic success. Since gaps in reading skills appear as early as kindergarten, pre-K programs are compelled to increase the quality of whole class literacy instruction and to provide additional personalized support as needed. Given that additional personnel are needed to do both, there is a policy tension: hiring certified specialists that follow an evidence-based approach or utilizing a more affordable option that uses unpaid volunteer instructors where quality may be mixed. In this study, we explore an alternative emergent literacy model called the Minnesota Reading Corps (MRC) Pre-K Program and analyze its associated costs. The MRC Pre-K model places stipend AmeriCorps members into existing pre-K classrooms and integrates coaching and supervisory support from certified instructors, making enhanced whole-class literacy instruction and at-risk support possible. Using the ingredients method (Levin et al., 2018), we estimate that the average incremental cost per student of the MRC Pre-K Program is approximately $1,300 per year. We find that the majority of costs are borne by the MRC program (38%), with a much smaller portion of the costs borne by schools (25%), primarily from a reallocation of school staff time. These results demonstrate the opportunity of MRC with trained AmeriCorps members to increase early literacy support at a low-cost to schools.

新兴的读写能力是以后学业成功的关键基础。由于阅读技能的差距早在幼儿园就出现了，因此学前班课程被迫提高全班识字教学的质量，并根据需要提供额外的个性化支持。鉴于两者都需要额外的人员，因此存在政策紧张：雇用遵循基于证据的方法的认证专家或使用更实惠的选择，即使用质量可能参差不齐的无偿志愿讲师。在这项研究中，我们探索了一种替代的新兴识字模型，称为明尼苏达阅读团 (MRC) Pre-K 计划并分析其相关成本。MRC Pre-K 模式将津贴 AmeriCorps 成员安置到现有的 pre-K 教室中，并整合来自认证讲师的指导和监督支持，使增强的全班识字教学和风险支持成为可能。使用成分法（Levin 等人，2018 年），我们估计 MRC Pre-K 计划每位学生的平均增量成本约为每年 1,300 美元。我们发现，大部分成本由 MRC 计划承担（38%），学校承担的成本要小得多（25%），主要来自学校员工时间的重新分配。这些结果表明 MRC 有机会与训练有素的 AmeriCorps 成员一起以低成本为学校增加早期扫盲支持。我们发现，大部分成本由 MRC 计划承担（38%），学校承担的成本要小得多（25%），主要来自学校员工时间的重新分配。这些结果表明 MRC 有机会与训练有素的 AmeriCorps 成员一起以低成本为学校增加早期扫盲支持。我们发现，大部分成本由 MRC 计划承担（38%），学校承担的成本要小得多（25%），主要来自学校员工时间的重新分配。这些结果表明 MRC 有机会与训练有素的 AmeriCorps 成员一起以低成本为学校增加早期扫盲支持。