Our Mission

Collaborative Classroom is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization committed to ensuring that all students become readers, writers, and thinkers who learn from, care for, and respect one another.

Our Approach

Collaborative Classroom’s evidence-based programs help children develop as proficient readers and writers, appreciate the ideas and opinions of others, learn to agree and disagree respectfully, think critically about big ideas, and become responsible citizens of the world.

How we teach matters as much as what we teach. Our commitment to continuous, embedded professional learning empowers educators to grow their teaching practices, build school community, and create the conditions for authentic, student-centered learning.

Core principles:

• Relationships are fundamental. A child’s sense of community is essential to healthy development and academic growth.
• Students come to school intrinsically motivated to learn. Motivation is essential for engagement.
• Literacy and a sense of connectedness are two foundational elements upon which all other learning builds.
• The quality of teaching matters.

Impact

Since the organization’s founding in 1980, our work has reached more than 8 million students and 328,000 teachers in classrooms across the country, developing fluent readers and skilled writers, supporting instructional equity, transforming discipline practices, and bolstering student and teacher engagement.

District partners and independent researchers have documented and assessed the changes our work has produced. Review the research.