Learning Differences Programme
Unlocking the creativity and power of every young person
Overview
In the Learning Differences Programme, we believe that together we can build a world in which schools unlock the creativity and power of every young person and equip them to shape more just and equitable communities. We partner with and invest in not-for-profit organisations that improve education for all students, particularly those with learning differences who experience further marginalisation due to racism and poverty.
You can read more about how we work in our programme strategy paper.
Programme strategy paper
Oak Foundation’s Learning Differences Programme strategically partners with and invests in not-for-profit organisations that improve education for students with learning differences. Read more about our strategy by viewing or downloading the PDF document.
Our programme grant-making in 2022
We made 34 grants totalling USD 31.01 million
Rethinking ways learning happens
Our grantee partners rethink ways learning happens for students and better prepare adults to engage and support all students. We support these efforts so that students will experience learning that builds four key attributes:
1. A sense of belonging through strong relationships that promote acceptance, connection, support and empathy in their learning environment;
Video: 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.
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.
Racial equity Resources
In 2018, Oak’s Learning Differences Programme partnered with OpenSource Leadership Strategies to conduct a racial equity assessment of the LDP and to gather insights about the broader field of learning differences. To inform the equity assessment, the LDP invited its current grantee partners to participate in a survey and asked OpenSource to analyse the findings, conduct interviews with more than a dozen leaders in the learning differences and racial equity fields, and bring their own expertise and analysis to shape their assessment.
The LDP initially shared the findings of this assessment through a July 2018 webinar hosted by OpenSource Leadership Strategies.
Would you like to see more videos? Please visit our YouTube channel.