J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0

REPORT 1: Alumni reflections on their service year(s)

Leslie M. Anderson

Julie Meredith

Jeanine Hildreth
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Alumni Reflections on their Service Year(s)

Program & Study Overview

Reading Partners is a national literacy nonprofit that partners with under-resourced schools

and engages community volunteers as tutors. Trained volunteers work one-on-one with

students for 45 minutes twice a week, following a structured, research-based curriculum.

AmeriCorps and VISTA(Volunteers in Service to America) members are instrumental in

delivering the Reading Partners program and serve in five different roles in the organization:

□ AmeriCorps Site Coordinators (SCs) & AmeriCorps Regional Site Coordinators

(RSCs) coordinate and lead all site-based activities of the program at reading centers.

□ SCs manage all site-based operations, administer literacy assessments, and provide

individualized coaching to volunteer tutors.

□ RSCs, unlike SCs, are not assigned to a particular school but instead rotate among

larger schools with the greatest need and provide additional direct service support.

□ AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinators (VCs) recruit volunteers to provide

individualized instruction to students who are struggling with reading. VCs prepare

volunteers for tutoring by providing orientations, managing background checks, and

setting expectations.

□ AmeriCorps Literacy Leads (LL) are placed at schools where it is more challenging to

recruit volunteers and deliver tutoring sessions in tandem with volunteers.

□ AmeriCorps VISTA members build organizational capacity toward the ultimate goal of

ending poverty. VISTA members serve in various contexts at the national and regional

levels to build systems and strengthen Reading Partners' ability to serve students and

communities.

Reading Partners’ theory of change asserts that, as members serve in these roles, they develop

important professional and leadership skills. Moreover, Reading Partners believes that member

experiences in the communities where they serve will influence their educational and career
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pathways as well as their attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs related to civic engagement.

Reading Partners’ AmeriCorps program is designed to impact members during and after their

service terms. While in service, members cultivate in-depth relationships and witness the

impact they have on students, while also engaging in a year-long training schedule that

provides opportunity for civic reflection and exposure to other national service networks. 

In spring 2018, Reading Partners contracted with Policy Studies Associates(PSA) to design and

conduct the Reading Partners AmeriCorps Alumni Study, intended to deepen the

organization’s understanding of the quality of the Reading Partners AmeriCorps service

experience and its effects on the civic engagement and educational and career pathways of

their AmeriCorps and VISTA alumni. The outcome areas of interest are summarized in the

figure below.

Specifically, the study sought to address the following research questions:

1. What outcomes do Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni attribute to their Reading

Partners experience? Do these alumni perceive that serving as a Reading Partners

AmeriCorps member helped them develop professional and interpersonal skills or

influenced or change their career and/or academic pathways?

a. In what ways, if any, do perceived member outcomes vary by member characteristics,

including age, race/ethnicity, educational background, years of service with Reading

Partners, role with Reading Partners, geographic region where they served, prior service

with another AmeriCorps program, cohort year, or early vs. late cohorts?

2. Controlling for other factors, do Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni demonstrate

stronger professional and interpersonal skills and/or greater levels of civic engagement

than similarly situated members of the national population?

The study analyzed patterns among respondents overall, as well as by key characteristics,

including race/ethnicity, educational attainment, age when Reading Partners AmeriCorps

alumni began their service, number of service years completed, or region of the country (i.e.,

east coast, west coast, central U.S.). Where differences by subgroup were observed, they are

highlighted throughout.
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The study used a two-part mixed-methods design that included surveys and focus groups

conducted with Reading Partners AmeriCorps and VISTA alumni.1 We also conducted

comparative analyses using data from (1) a 2015 AmeriCorps alumni survey conducted for the

Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)(Cardazone et al., 2015)2, and (2) a

statistically matched comparison group of similarly situated members of the national

population. (See the text box on the following page and Appendix A for additional details

about the study methodology.)

Findings from the study are described in a series of three reports, plus a technical appendix.

This report, the first in the series, focuses on describing alumni experiences and reflections on

their service year. It begins by providing a profile of the common characteristics of Reading

Partners AmeriCorps alumni and then describes the extent to which alumni believed that their

Reading Partners experience affected their attitudes, beliefs, skills, and abilities. In particular,

this report uses the focus group interviews to provide illustrative examples of the influence

their service experiences had on their overall life perspective.

Where possible, responses from Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni are placed in context

with resultsfrom a 2015 Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) AmeriCorps

alumni study.

1 Throughout this report, the term “Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni” includes alumni who were members of VISTA.

2 Cardazone, G., Farrar, A., Frazier, R, Gabbard, S., Hernandez, T., Houston, S., LaTaillade, J., Lovegrove, P., Pratt, D., Vicinanza,

N., and Willey, J. (2015). AmeriCorps Alumni Outcomes: Summary Report. Washington, DC: Corporation for

National and Community Service.
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Methodology

Online survey: 526 alumni responses/59 percent response rate

The study surveyed 898 Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni who completed their service term 

between 2010 and 2018. The survey asked Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni about their service

experiences and whether they believed those experiences influenced their subsequent educational

and career pathways as well as their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward community and civic

engagement.

Focus groups: 50 respondents

To collect illustrative examples of the experiences, attitudes, and behaviors of Reading Partners

AmeriCorps alumni, the study team conducted 12 focus group interviews with a sample of 50 such

alumni (i.e., on average, each focus group included 4-5 participants) who represent the variation in

alumni characteristics and experiences. Interviewers asked Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni to

elaborate on their services experiences, as well as their educational, employment, and civic

experiences in the years following their completion of the program.

Comparison groups: To put the Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni findings into context, the

study compared the survey responses of Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni with those of the

following similar groups:

CNCS alumni. The study compared the responses of Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni

with responses of AmeriCorps alumni who participated in the 2015CNCS AmeriCorps Alumni

Outcomesstudy.CNCS surveyed a nationally representative sample of AmeriCorps alumni

whose service experience ended in 2012, 2009, or 2004.

National cohorts. To better understand what Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni’s

experiences, attitudes, and behaviors would have been had they not participated in the

Reading Partners program, the study used publicly available, national data sets, including the

AmericanNational Election Study (ANES) and the General SocialSurvey (GSS) to create a

synthetic comparison group very similar to the Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni 

population in terms of age, race/ethnicity, income, marital status, educational background, and

other factors associated with their propensity to serve (e.g., volunteerism and religiosity). The

extent to which there are measurable differences in the attitudes, behaviors, and life

experiences of Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni compared with those of a statistically

matched comparison group is one indicator of the program’s impact.

Limitations: Key limitations of the study design are (1) the data collected through the Reading

Partners AmeriCorps alumni survey and focus group interviews reflect only the perspectives of

individuals who served in the Reading Partners program and who were willing to participate in the

study, so the results may not represent the views of all Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni; (2) the

results of the quasi-experimental design comparing the career pathways and civic engagement of

Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni with a “statistically matched” comparison group should be

interpreted with caution because the design does not include a baseline equivalency measure nor is

it a true random assignment and thereby does not allow us to infer with certainty what would have

happened to Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni had they not participated in the Reading Partners

program. Nevertheless, this analytic strategy provides a useful comparison with similar nonparticipants, puts their career pathways and civic engagement in useful comparative perspective,

and provides insight into the potential impact of the Reading Partners program.
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Key findings:

□ Almost all (87 percent) Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni were satisfied with their

Reading Partners service experience and were more likely to report their service as

satisfying or very satisfying than were AmeriCorps alumni who participated in the 2015

CNCS study.

□ A majority (>60 percent) of alumni agreed that their Reading Partners AmeriCorps

service experience caused them to re-examine their beliefs about themselves or about

other people (65 percent); about two-thirds reported that they did things during their

service year(s) that they never thought they could do.

□ At least 90 percent of alumni agreed that their Reading Partners AmeriCorps service

experience helped them feel as though they made a contribution to the community

where they served, and that they made a difference in the life of at least one person (95

percent); Reading Partners alumni were more likely to agree with these statements than

were AmeriCorps alumni who participated in the 2015 CNCS study.

□ At least 80 percent of alumni agreed that their service experience helped them gain an

understanding of the community where they served and exposed them to new ideas and

ways of seeing the world.

□ Most (>50 percent) Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni said that their service

experience helped them figure out their next steps in terms of their career and

professional goals; slightly more than half said the same about their educational goals.
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Reading Partners Alumni Profile

Most of the 526 Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni who responded to the survey were

female; about half were persons of color; and the vast majority were between the ages of 22

and 34. As of early 2019 when the survey was administered, almost all responding alumni

reported having a bachelor’s degree or higher (95 percent). Nearly three-quarters (73 percent)

had never married; 36 percent reported annual income between $40,000 and $70,000; and 61

percent reported having remained in the community in which they served after completing

their service (Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1: Characteristics of Reading Partners AmeriCorps and VISTA alumni

Based on 526 of 898 completed or partially completed surveys administered to Reading Partners alumni (response rate: 59 percent).

Source: Reading Partners AmeriCorpsAlumni Survey (2019).
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Alumni who responded to the online

survey were well-distributed across

Reading Partners region and service year

(from 2010-11 to 2017-18), as shown in

Exhibits 2A and 2B. Further, the

distribution of survey respondents by sites

and service years was very similar to that

of the overall population of Reading

Partners alumni, as described in detail in

the Appendix.

Exhibit 2B. Reading Partners AmeriCorps

alumni, by service year

Based on 526 of 898 completed or partially completed surveys administered to Reading Partners alumni (response rate: 59 percent).

Source: Reading Partners AmeriCorpsAlumni Survey (2019).

Exhibit 2A. Reading Partners AmeriCorps

alumni, by region
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The Reading Partners Service

Experience

Almost all (87percent) Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni

were satisfied with their Reading Partners service experience.

The vast majority of Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni reported that they were satisfied or

very satisfied with their service experience. Moreover, Reading Partners alumni were more

likely to report their service as satisfying than were AmeriCorps alumni who participated in the

2015 CNCS alumni study (87 percent versus 84 percent), and this difference wasstatistically

significant.

Alumni agreed that their service experience caused them to

re-examine their beliefs and attitudes about themselves and

others.

A majority of alumni agreed or agreed strongly that their service experience caused them to

re-examine their beliefs about themselves (75 percent) or about other people (65 percent). In

addition, around two-thirds (61 percent) said they did things during their service year(s) that

they never thought they could do, suggesting that their courage and sense of self-efficacy was

enhanced through their service experience with Reading Partners (Exhibit 3).

Alumni felt that they made a difference through their service

experience.

A majority of alumni agreed or agreed strongly that their Reading Partners AmeriCorps service

experience helped them feel as though they made a contribution to the community where

they served (96 percent), and that they made a difference in the life of at least one person (95

percent). In addition, 82 percent of alumni reported that their service experience made them

feel as though they were part of a community (Exhibit 3). Moreover, survey results suggest that

the Reading Partners service experience may have been more rewarding then other

AmeriCorpsservice experiences. That is, compared to AmeriCorps alumni included in the 2015

CNCS study, Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni were more likely to agree that they felt they

made a contribution to the community and that they made a difference in the life of at least

one person (Exhibit 3).
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Exhibit 3: Whether alumni experienced personal growth and felt they made a difference

through service, by Reading Partners AmeriCorps vs. CNCS AmeriCorps alumni

Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni agreed that their service

experience had helped broaden their perspective on their

community and the world.

Most Reading Partners alumni agreed that their service experience helped them gain an

understanding of the community where they served (93 percent), and exposed them to new

ideas and ways of seeing the world (82 percent). In addition, about two-thirds of alumni (65

percent) reported that their service experience helped them learn more about the “real” world

or “the rest” of the world. When compared with alumni in the 2015 CNCS study, Reading

Partners alumni were less likely to agree that they had learned more about the “real” world or

the rest of the world from their service experience (76 percent vs. 65 percent) and the

difference was statistically significant(Exhibit 4).

*Difference is statistically significant, p ≤ 0.05.

Sources: Reading Partners AmeriCorps Alumni survey (2019); CNCS 2015 alumni survey.
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Most alumni reported that their service experience helped

them figure out their next steps in terms of their career and

professional goals; slightly more than half said the same

about their educational goals.

Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni generally agreed that their service experience had helped

them identify next steps in terms of their career or professional goals (71 percent). Slightly

more than half the alumni (58 percent) reported that their service experience had helped them

determine next steps in terms of their educational goals (Exhibit 4). When compared with

alumni in the 2015 CNCS study, Reading Partners alumni were slightly more likely to agree that

their service experience had helped them plot a future course in their careers or educational

goals, but these differences were not statistically significant.

Exhibit 4: Alumni who believed service helped them broden their perspective and plot

their future course, by Reading Partners AmeriCorps vs. CNCS AmeriCorps alumni

In their Own Words

What alumni say about their service experience

In focus group interviews and open-ended survey responses, alumni described an overall satisfying

service experience that provided valuable training, as well as significant opportunities to develop

*Difference is statistically significant, p ≤ 0.05.

Sources: Reading Partners AmeriCorps Alumni survey (2019); CNCS 2015 alumni survey.
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leadership and professional skills and chart a course for their future. The following quotes illustrate

some of the Reading Partners service experiences

AmeriCorps alumni valued:

□ I liked the fact that once the school year started, we just

had to do it; there wasn't anyone holding our hand along

the way,which I appreciated. I definitely stumbled a lotat

first, but at the same time, the support was always there.

□ I had anopportunitythrough ReadingPartners towork

one-on-one with students, write behavior plans, work with

community members, anddoprogressmonitoringto help

students improve. All these very specific things directly

translated tothe counselingprofessionthatI'mgoinginto

now.

□ I oversee a team ofAmeriCorps members with a different

non-profit[now] and I had such a great experience with

Reading Partners; that helped me lead the team I'm

currently leading now.

□ I learned that I reallyhad to beproactive and intentional

about building relationships and establish goodwill. I think

those [skills] are really important in various job settings. If I

see somethingcomingdownthe pipeline that couldbe a problem, rather than just waitingfor something

to happen—I [try]togetout ahead ofit.

Summary

Most Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni reported that they were satisfied with their service

experience. In addition, most alumni agreed that their service experience caused them to reexamine their beliefs and attitudes about themselves and others; a majority felt that they made

a difference in the life of at least one person as well as contributed to the community where

they served. In addition, most alumni agreed that their service experience helped broaden

their perspective on their community and the world. Finally, most Reading Partners alumni

reported that their Reading Partners service experience helped them decide on next steps for

their career and professional goals. In focus group interviews and open-ended survey

responses, alumni described an overall satisfying service experience that provided valuable

training, significant opportunities for leadership and professional skills development, and that

helped them chart a course for their future.

Reading Partners made

me feel more

empowered to act; [to

know] what I could do

as an individual.

Reading Partners

showed me that I could

be a real part of the

action being taken.