Pros
Reading Partners is full of talented, dedicated staff and AmeriCorps members who are deeply invested in working collaboratively with school partners and supporting student growth. Student progress is watched closely and instructional strategies are adjusted based on the skills that students are still working to master. People at Reading Partners work to be agents for change when it comes to both student literacy and community/civic engagement. More recently, Reading Partners has made an explicit commitment to diversity and equity, though the specifics around this work remain undefined.
Cons
The Executive Team is often ineffective and serves as a bottle-neck in the decison-making process. It is often unclear which decisions need to be made by the Executive Team alone and which decisions have been delegated to other leaders in the organization. The CEO (Karine Apollon, not Michael Lombardo), despite being very generously compensated, has not effectively articulated her vision for the organization, has failed to cultivate authentic and healthy partnerships with regional Executive Directors, has focused little to no energy on building and improving the organizational culture, does not seem to see fundraising as a core function of her job, and has repeatedly intervened to "micromanage" individual decisions (such as individual promotion and salary decisions) that should be delegated to regional and national leaders. It is a real shame because there are so many dedicated and talented people at Reading Partners, and the program works, but these shortcomings in the highest levels of leadership can be extremely frustrating and demoralizing.
