Learning Differences Programme
Unlocking the potential of all learners
Overview
We believe that together we can build a world in which schools unlock the creativity and power of every young person and equip each learner to shape more just and equitable communities. We provide grants to not-for-profit organisations that create learning environments to improve education for students with learning differences, particularly those who are furthest from opportunity.
Where we fund
We support education not-for-profit organisations in the United States as well as a limited number of global networks and initiatives.
Our definition of learning differences
For Oak Foundation, the learning differences population includes students who have specific learning disabilities (such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia) as well as individuals who may have other related neurological processing challenges that can impact learning (such as attention deficits, sensory processing disorders, and executive function challenges). Oak includes both those who have been formally identified for special education and related services as well as those who do not meet diagnostic criteria but who experience challenges between the ways they best learn and the ways classrooms and instruction have typically been designed.
What we fund
Building knowledge and understanding of what works
We support efforts that build knowledge and understanding of what works best for students with learning differences. We support organisations that: conduct research; analyse data to improve learning environments; and share research findings to improve teaching and learning for students with learning differences, ensuring they have access to the resources and support they need to succeed.
Transforming knowledge into educator practice
We support initiatives that transform knowledge into educator practice to help students with learning differences thrive. This includes connecting research with the needs of these students, training educators, and engaging young people in developing social, emotional, and cognitive skills, focusing on relationships, youth leadership, and supportive environments. Additionally, we support the development and sharing of tools and resources of evidence-based strategies with stakeholders.
Creating enabling conditions for schools to adopt supportive practices
We support efforts that create the enabling conditions for schools to adopt supportive practices that help students with learning differences. We support organisations that build movements to advance the needs of students with learning differences, develop and adopt broader measures of student success, and elevate the voices of students with learning differences and their families.
Publications
Rethinking the way learning happens
Based on interviews with students, families, teachers, and leaders, the LDP identified several attributes we believe are critical to realising our vision of building a world in which schools unlock the creativity and power of students with learning differences – along with every young person – and equip them to shape more just and equitable communities. To learn more about these attributes, click on the document below. Within the document, you can find links to a Resource Library aimed at supporting practitioners working to build those attributes and an Assessment Library to identify metrics and assessments for monitoring student development of the attributes.
Partner Resource Guide
The Learning Differences Programme is committed to Oak-supported resources being freely available to help diverse learners thrive. In this resource guide you can learn of some of the tools and resources that support students with learning disabilities and learning differences and their educators and families. We hope you will find them useful.
Research to Action: Improving K-3 Literacy Instruction
Oak Foundation partnered with Education First, a national education strategy and policy consulting organisation, to research efforts to improve students’ literacy in the early grades of their schooling, with special attention to supporting students with learning differences.
Discover our partner stories
Would you like to read more stories like this? Please visit our “Stories” page.
Watch our latest videos
A coming together of the Learning Differences field
After more than two years of limited travel and virtual gatherings, the Learning Differences Programme (LDP) convened its grantee partners in person for three days of learning, reflection, and connection in September 2022. The Partner Convening, delayed twice because of the Covid-19 pandemic, was our first invitation to our partners for an in-person gathering since 2017. And, what a success it was – more than 70 of our partners joined us from across the US, including Hawai’i, as well as from South Africa, Ethiopia, England, and Switzerland.
Bringing educational opportunities to North Carolina
There is a growing awareness among teachers in North Carolina that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to teaching will not prepare students for success in school and in life. This is thanks, in part, to the work of EdNC, an online, daily, independent newspaper that works to expand educational opportunities for all children in North Carolina, increase their academic attainment, and improve the performance of the state’s public schools. EdNC elevates stories, tools and resources that equip teachers, principals and other education leaders to better understand and meet the diverse and unique learning needs of their students.
Helping to ease the transition to distanced learning
2020 was a most unusual year that brought unprecedented challenges for students and families alike, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As schools were required to shift to distance learning nearly overnight, Oak’s Learning Differences Programme supported organisations that worked to: protect the rights of students who learn differently; support teachers and school leaders; and offer guidance on how to meet students’ needs remotely, and how to re-open schools in trauma-sensitive ways.
Would you like to see more videos? Please visit our YouTube channel.