Grant to expand work in high schools to strengthen teacher understanding of learning variation and develop schoolwide strategies for helping students who struggle with learning.

DURHAM, North Carolina – November 2, 2009 — All Kinds of Minds, a national nonprofit dedicated to translating the latest research about how students learn into training and tools that equip educators to better reach all students, today announced it received a $165,000 grant from The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to expand and enhance its work in high schools.

The grant will allow All Kinds of Minds to partner with a select group of high schools over the next 18 months. The monies will be used to help underwrite professional development for educators in these schools around understanding learning and learning variation in students, and to work with school leaders to integrate the training into broader school efforts to improve student learning. In addition, All Kinds of Minds will work with these schools to evaluate the work. Schools participating in the program will be required to contribute a 25% match for the training.

“MetLife’s latest survey on teaching reported that 49% of high school teachers believe their classes have become so mixed in terms of students’ learning abilities that they can’t teach them effectively,” said Mary-Dean Barringer, Chief Executive Officer of All Kinds of Minds. “This grant supports our mission of giving teachers knowledge and strategies drawn from the latest research about the brain and learning so that they can so they can do a better job reaching all students.”

“We are particularly excited about this opportunity to deepen our work in high schools and to identify a set of schools interested in partnering with us and each other to explore ways our approach can be applied toward building schools where all types of learners can succeed”, Barringer added.

Through its Secondary Education program, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations fund innovative professional development programs for high school teachers across the United States.

“We are very pleased to provide this support to All Kinds of Minds,” said William C. Keator, Vice President for Programs at The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. “Throughout a highly competitive evaluation process, they proved to be a strong organization, offering high quality and valuable training for teachers. Our hope is that this grant will assist them in addressing some of the unique challenges teachers face in high school settings.”

To date, All Kinds of Minds has equipped more than 48,000 teachers worldwide to better understand, identify, and manage learning differences among students. More than 20 independent studies, along with a decade of program evaluation data, show that All Kinds of Minds’ programs help students improve on multiple measures of school success and academic achievement and support greater instructional effectiveness for teachers. The organization announced new programs in June that broaden access to this valuable knowledge and tools for educators.

About All Kinds of Minds
All Kinds of Minds is a world-recognized nonprofit organization that translates groundbreaking research from neuroscience and other disciplines on how children learn – and vary in their learning – into a powerful framework that educators can use in their classrooms. In addition to delivering high-quality professional development for educators, All Kinds of Minds advocates for learning-focused education policies and reform efforts to help transform schools and school systems to better meet the needs of all students.

More information about All Kinds of Minds’ professional development programs is available on the organization’s website at www.allkindsofminds.org/pd.

More information about The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations is available at www.avdf.org.

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Press Contact:
Melanie Mason
All Kinds of Minds
(919) 933-8082 x2216