Pros
The Literacy Lab is a great job for recent grads and/or anyone wanting to explore working in education. You get extensive training and support throughout the whole school year; you don't need any teaching/tutoring experience! One of the biggest draws to this job is the Segal Education Award of almost $6000 to apply to future or past higher education. The healthcare offered is pretty decent (but no dental). The KC staff are all very helpful and friendly and make everyone feel like family. You work a regular school schedule, so you get holidays and weekends off. There is also the professional development component with lots of opportunities to earn hours volunteering and attending interesting seminars around the city and on your own (which is great for snow days and breaks). Once you start tutoring, a huge reward is interacting with some wonderful students one on one and seeing them grow as readers. There's also a lot of room for creativity, making posters, incentives, and student engagement. You can have a lot of fun tailoring the tutoring experience to the students you see.
Cons
The pay is low, but they are very upfront about this, no surprises. Tutors are considered "Americorps volunteers" with a "modest living stipend." However, it is pretty easy to manage a part time job working a few nights or weekends (and also holiday breaks!). Tutoring is also short term, so the low pay isn't forever. There are lots of professional and networking opportunities to help you move forward in your career. Another drawback is each school site is different, so some schools have better communication, funding, and behavior management than others. You have to be flexible and willing to roll with the environment. Since you aren't staff of your school, you just have to develop good relationships with teachers to help you with scheduling and behavior conflicts. The Literacy Lab staff are always there for you if any issues arise that your on-site Internal Coach can't navigate. Some people don't like how all the reading activities (interventions) are highly scripted and can't be modified, but I think it's great (especially in the beginning) because you can become really good at it.
