Reading Partners
Cause Area
- Children & Youth
- Community
- Computers & Technology
- Education & Literacy
Location
National Office638 3rd StreetOakland, CA 94607 United StatesWebsite:
http://www.readingpartners.org
Organization Information
Mission Statement
Our mission is to help children become lifelong readers by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction with measurable results.
Description
Reading Partners is a national education nonprofit that partners with students, their families, schools, and communities to provide students with individualized literacy support and the foundational skills they need to read at grade level by fourth grade. We do this by training community volunteers to deliver one-on-one, literacy lessons, using our structured and easy to follow, evidence-based curriculum. Volunteer tutoring happens in-person via our Reading Partners Traditional program and virtually via our Reading Partners Connects program. Programming varies by region. We currently serve twelve regions, nationwide: Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Denver, North Texas, Tulsa, Twin Cities, South Carolina, Washington DC, Baltimore, and New York.
Reviews
Would you recommend Reading Partners?
28 reviews
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(March 2, 2025)
Excellent materials to assist volunteers.
(December 12, 2024)
(February 10, 2021)
Very easy to input personal location information and where you are looking to volunteer. You take a short quiz to highlight your strong points, and then it gives you multiple volunteer options.
(May 7, 2019)
Rewarding, structured, and a simple way to incorporate volunteering into a busy schedule. The learning curve is a little steep at first but after a few weeks, the curriculum begins to make sense and it's nothing overly complicated. It's wonderful to build a relationship with a student and see them begin to progress.
(February 16, 2018)
Unfortunately, this does not fit well with my schedule. I can only help on weekends.
(January 28, 2018)
Reading Partners Organisation give the volunteers plenty of support, the reading packs on the day make the job easy and most of the kids appreciate that you're there and try hard once you get them into it. I volunteer at Sherman with Kelly as the volunteer organiser and she's brilliant with communication and has given me a little extra help/tips whenever I've needed. It's a very rewarding experience as you see the children improve over time. Would thoroughly recommend.
(January 10, 2018)
Reading Partners is a great program that has been shown to improve student's reading. They rely on community volunteers and have a great process designed to allow the tutor to work on different aspects reading (fluency, comprehension) regardless of experience. I have volunteered for 4 years and every year my students catch up to grade level. I always look forward to my time at school!
(January 5, 2018)
As a newly retired teacher, I was searching for something that was both flexible and worthwhile. Reading Partners fit the bill perfectly. They permitted me to pick the day of the week and time that I preferred to come in. The paired me with a boy in a one on one tutoring situation. They provide the curriculum that is easy to follow. Everyone is extremely kind. Most importantly, I truly feel that I am helping a student who would not have received that help.
(August 15, 2017)
Americorps volunteers who administer the program have scant educational experience, but see themselves as instructional leaders, and rigidly attempt to impose uniformity, which detracts from the potential benefits of tutoring. (That's not their fault, but a problem with the program's structure.) The curriculum is unengaging; for example, students are meant to watch as the volunteer spells, writes and pronounces a lengthy list of unrelated words.
(May 26, 2017)
Friendly environment and the staff are amazing.
(April 1, 2017)
I've been volunteering at this location for almost four years now and it's changed my life. The coordinators are so organized and simply amazing to work with. Watching these students learn is by far the most rewarding thing I've done in my life. If you're looking for a great way to make an impact on your community, this is a fabulous way to do so.
(December 22, 2016)
Excellent program! This is my second year with RP. Very well organized at my location. Site coordinators are helpful and clearly committed to helping kids succeed.
(November 12, 2016)
Reading is a passion of mine and I want to share my abilities in order to inspire youth to become literate. Hopefully they'll become excited about reading; a hobby which can expand their views of the world and allow them to enter exciting places of fantasies and mysteries, as well as learn history and imagine a better future. I think it's a wonderful opportunity to gift a child with a life long interest and ability to read.
(May 7, 2016)
It seems interesting
(April 18, 2016)
I have been a reading partner to a 9 year old for the last 3 months and will continue doing this after summer break. It is very rewarding to read with a child and see their progress. Books open the doors to the world. Books are wisdom. As am mom myself I love being around children and as a Psych. Major I am planning to work with children and families in the future. Reading Partner's is wonderful.Every child is important and deserves a chance to succeed.
(March 17, 2016)
The staff is pleasant and the children are amazing and eager to learn. I was very fortunate to be matched with a bright and eager to learn child who throughout the year improved her reading skills tremendously.
(February 1, 2016)
It's a great opportunity and leaves a great impact on the children
(January 19, 2016)
I enjoyed working with the kids, helping them to read, noticing the progress that they made throughout the year, and I enjoyed the Spelling Bee competition. I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoy helping children and the joy of reading.
(January 6, 2016)
I enjoyed this experience immensely. It was deeply fulfilling to partner with a child and help them in their discovery of learning. The quality of the experience depends on the quality of the site manager, and this has varied. Some site managers are less organized than others, but being given the opportunity to connect with and encourage a young reader is worth it!
(December 13, 2015)
Whether or not I would recommend this organization to a friend would have to depend on how the program I would participate in (If I am accepted) carried out its goal. Also how the neighborhood is, I wouldn't like someone I recommend this program to, to be in any sort of danger. If I think that the organization is doing a good job and it's actually achieving its goal of helping out these children with their reading troubles then I would definitely recommend a friend to partake in this program and even volunteer more of my time if possible and according to the hours that this program will be taking place.
(October 23, 2015)
An amazing experience, everything is very organized and easy to get into, the other volunteers are friendly and supportive, it's great working with kids and making a difference, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who might like teaching!
(September 28, 2015)
I'm most likely to tell my friends and family about this program because its very rare to find an opportunity with working with children at our age (being under 18). My friends and I really have a passion for children and this will be a great opportunity to see if this is what we really want to do for a career in the long run.
(March 17, 2015)
I've been working with the Reading Partners program for several months now and I find it to be the most rewarding volunteer program I have experienced. They are very organized, helpful and working with students one on one is such a treat. I highly recommend this program for anyone who wants to help kids.
(January 7, 2015)
This is a great organization that really cares about improving the reading skills of children! I feel as if I'm a part of something that is really making a difference. I'm glad a program like Reading Partners exists. They treat their volunteers very well.
(April 30, 2014)
I have been a Reading Partners tutor for two years. I am just a citizen with no teaching experience. Each tutoring session is structured and easy to follow. Staff is available for questions and provide excellent support. The environment is relaxed and the students enjoy coming. I highly recommend Reading Partners. I plan to continue next year.
(April 3, 2014)
Both the schools and the reading partners staff are friendly and helpful, and the children, for the most part, are ready to learn and want to make progress. There are obviously children who do not want to learn, but that is why reading partners is there. Over the course of volunteering with the group, I tutored three children, and found that they all made incredible progress, and after speaking with other tutors, that their children did as well. That is what makes the program so rewarding and fun.
(March 19, 2014)
Having previously volunteered with organizations that seemed too frazzled by their workload to utilize a volunteer, I was very pleasantly surprised by Reading Partners' friendly and supportive staff and structured approach. I came in first for a training session with my site coordinator in the school that I would be volunteering in, where she walked me through each step of a tutoring session with a child and answered any questions that I had. For my first session, she showed me where to pick up my student and was available for help throughout. I've often seen other Reading Partners staff on-site as well, and they have always been only encouraging and helpful. For once - a volunteer commitment that I can genuinely look forward to (and who wouldn't want to hang out in a school library and read fun books with kids?)!
(May 15, 2013)
Excellent program. Great support, great kids, very rewarding!
(August 29, 2008)
Reading Partners (YES Reading), really blew me away. Their system is organized, the staff is friendly and helpful and working with the kids couldn't be more rewarding.
(August 29, 2008)
This is such a great experience--the program is right in the school with a staff person on hand to help coach you. My student made incredible gains even after just a few tutoring sessions. If you want to help improve schools in your community, this is a great way to make a real difference.