Reading Partners

Michael Lombardo. Michael Lombardo joined Reading Partners in 2006 after 5 years in senior administrative positions at the University of California, Berkeley.  Under his leadership, Reading Partners has grown from serving 6 schools in Silicon Valley to 24 schools throughout the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.  In that same period, Reading Partners tripled its revenue, raised $600,000 in growth capital to fund… See full bio.

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Story: This is the story of Ashley, a first grade student who benefited from this organization’s program. Parents, teachers, and Ms. Redfern's first-grade class sat in the audience waiting to see students like Ashley perform at the annual Reading Partners recital. When it was Ashley's turn, she strutted to the front of the audience, announced her name, and began reading from "A Garden." No one from the back of the room needed to ask Ashley to speak up. She read like a ham. Every time she'd finish reading a page, she'd pause, look at her audience adoringly, and hold the book up like a teacher to show everyone the pictures on the page. First-grade teacher Kristin Redfern described Ashley before working with a tutor at Reading Partners. "Ashley was my student who would cry when asked if she would read a story," Ms. Redfern said. "She wouldn't read; she didn't have that confidence." Now Ms. Redfern says that Ashley is excited about reading and what she's learning."Ashley is a student who anytime during the day loves to come up to me and show me the words that she knows. And that wasn't there before." When you ask Ashley what she thinks about Reading Partners, she says, "It's my favorite." She says it's because her tutor, Grace, is helping her to learn. Grace Conley, Reading Partners tutor, says that she and Ashley have built "quite a relationship." Observing Grace and Ashley together, Nuree Choe, Reading Partners site director, has seen firsthand what a critical role Grace has played in helping Ashley focus and in building her self-confidence. Choe says, "I am reminded how much potential a student has that, in a lot of cases, doesn't get tapped into in a large public school." (Source: http://readingpartners.org/program/success-stories)

Evidence of Impact Summary:

Reading Partners shows impressive gains in academic achievement among students. As a truly data-driven program, its impact is demonstrable. RP is highly effective in volunteer engagement, in particular. They offer specific curriculum for volunteers to tutor students in literacy which allows for a structured session with students. Through this one-on-one literacy development model, students improve in their reading fluency and comprehension.
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Organization Strengths Summary:

Multiple experts praise Reading Partners strength in establishing partnerships within schools. Others note the organization's large footprint in the Bay as well as general operating strengths.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

Areas for improvement cited are mixed. Experts note concerns over scalability, program design, and the quality of training provided to volunteers.
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Michael Lombardo joined Reading Partners in 2006 after 5 years in senior administrative positions at the University of California, Berkeley.  Under his leadership, Reading Partners has grown from serving 6 schools in Silicon Valley to 24 schools throughout the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.  In that same period, Reading Partners tripled its revenue, raised $600,000 in growth capital to fund its statewide expansion, and increased the size of its volunteer tutor corps from 250 to over 900.  Michael serves on the board of directors for the Foundation for Self-Reliance, an organization providing educational services to refugees from Afghanistan.  He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and lives in Oakland with his wife and two young children.

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