OUR BROAD IMPACT
The Learning Community is achieving remarkable success — 88% of our families live in poverty, yet nearly 80% of our 
students read at the national benchmark. We are now transforming from a single charter school into an engine for broader reform by offering targeted and practical professional development to educators from other schools.
The Learning Community has a bold strategy to reach 500 teachers who will
teach 13,000 students in the next 5 years.
Download our bold strategy for school renewal in Rhode Island (pdf)
OUR CURRENT WORK
The Growing Readers Initiative in Central Falls is redesigning reading instruction in every elementary school in Central Falls. Our early work in offering coaching and training with classroom teachers and is reaching 800 students. And we are showing strong results: In the pilot year 86% of participating students were reading at or above the national benchmark in reading after six months. >> learn more
Tipping Point Cohorts offer a new kind of teacher professional development to dramatically improve student achievement. Tipping Point Cohorts gather small grade-level groups of teachers over time to observe instruction, discuss their teaching and try teacher-tested lessons and tools. The tipping point is the moment when the momentum for change becomes unstoppable. Great teachers make change every day. Let’s get to the tipping point. >> learn more
The Learning Community has worked with a number of schools and districts on a client basis including Sophia Academy, Hull Public Schools, Leominster Public Schools, and Tufts University. We actively seek new clients interested in tailored professional development, data-driven instruction, and sharing what is working to close the achievement gap.
A FOCUS ON TEACHER QUALITY
“From the moment students enter a school, the most important factor in their success is not the color of their skin or the income of their parents, it’s the person standing at the front of the classroom.” – President Obama
There is growing evidence that the single most important factor in improving student achievement is effective teaching. While hundreds of places across the nation offer training and professional development for educators, only a few are based in practicing, successful, urban schools. Examples:
- Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in High School: A Cross-Subject Analysis with Student Fixed Effects, Urban Institute, 2007
- Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job, Brookings Institute, 2006
- September 15, 2008 Report to the Joint Task Force on Basic Education Finance, Washington State Institute for Public Policy, 2008
- School Quality and the Black-White Achievement Gap, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2006
SUPPORTERS
We are grateful to The Rhode Island Foundation for investing in research to support our broad impact strategy and to the RI Department of Education for their support for our systemic approach. The Central Falls Public Schools, their teachers, students and administrators are an early and significant partner in this work. To support the growth of our impact we are pursuing available federal stimulus funds, seeking private philanthropic investors and inviting teachers and school to partner with us.
RECENT PRESS
Providence Journal: In Central Falls, the goal is getting pupils to read better
WRNI: Weighing the Benefits of Charters
Providence Journal: Partnership Rewarded in Central Falls
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Contact Andrena Mason, professional development coordinator at andrena @ thelearningcommunity.com
or 401-475-1801.
