In January 2024 Collaborative Classroom welcomed fellow nonprofit FluentSeeds into our organization. With this merger, FluentSeeds becomes the newest member of Collaborative Classroom’s family of resources.
Together we will serve educators and other adults responsible for nurturing children’s language, literacy, and social and emotional learning from birth through grade 8.
With this merger, Collaborative Classroom is uniquely positioned to provide seamless support for children from birth through early childhood to ensure kindergarten readiness and long-term academic success.
In a recent conversation, Kelly Stuart, President and CEO of Collaborative Classroom, and Kate Horst, Executive Director of FluentSeeds, discussed the merger and their shared vision for the future.
This interview has been edited for length. Watch a video excerpt of the interview.
Kate, this merger brings together two mission-driven nonprofit organizations. As Executive Director of FluentSeeds, what do you appreciate about the Collaborative Classroom mission? How do you see the missions of the two organizations aligning?
Kate Horst: Well, I appreciate so much about Collaborative Classroom.
In the lead up to the merger, we’ve been doing our due diligence, and all indicators keep coming up green: move forward! Our organizations are in strong alignment about the value of the science of reading and the importance of evidence-based, proven programs.
Our organizations are in strong alignment about the value of the science of reading and the importance of evidence-based, proven programs.
Kate Horst, Executive Director, FluentSeeds
It’s exciting to know that FluentSeeds is merging with a fellow nonprofit—probably one of most dynamic nonprofits with a mission to serve children.
I’m also grateful for Collaborative Classroom’s commitment to the same children, families, and educators we’re committed to, and how they serve them with research-based strategies and materials.
Kelly, as the president and CEO of Collaborative Classroom, what do you appreciate about the mission of FluentSeeds?
Kelly Stuart: I have such respect for the FluentSeeds mission. First and foremost, I hear from everyone involved in early childhood about the impact of FluentSeeds and what this work does for kids in the long term.
In fact I’ve actually known about ©SEEDS of Learning for almost 10 years now, and I’ve heard about its powerful impact over and over again. There’s something in the SEEDS frameworks that adults working in early childhood education really internalize and understand.
What else do you appreciate about FluentSeeds: its staff, ways of work, and strengths?
Kelly Stuart: What I most appreciate about the whole FluentSeeds team is their relentless commitment to the work.
Everyone on the team really understands the mission of the organization and what they’re trying to accomplish. That has been apparent in every interaction that I’ve had with them.
Also, while we do have some early childhood expertise in our organization, everyone from FluentSeeds who is coming to Collaborative Classroom has that deep expertise.
Bringing FluentSeeds into the Collaborative Classroom family of programs is especially exciting because it allows us to support children throughout their earliest years—a long-term goal of our organization. We know how crucial the first five years are for children’s social, emotional, and early literacy development. FluentSeeds’ expertise and offerings perfectly position us to serve even more children.
Kelly Stuart, President and CEO, Collaborative Classroom
From the January 8, 2024 press release Collaborative Classroom and FluentSeeds Merge to Expand Impact from Birth Through Grade 8
That collective knowledge is going to make a powerful long-term impact on what we can achieve. I’m very excited to learn from our new colleagues from FluentSeeds and benefit from their expertise.
I also appreciate FluentSeeds’ commitment to research—how deeply they study outcomes for children.
I value evidence highly in how we run Collaborative Classroom, and that commitment to evidence and data is something that really excited me when I got to know FluentSeeds. They have done significant work to study their impact in various studies with really credible researchers.
I also appreciate FluentSeeds’ commitment to research—how deeply they study outcomes for children. I value evidence highly in how we run Collaborative Classroom, and that commitment to evidence and data is something that really excited me when I got to know FluentSeeds.
Kelly Stuart, President and CEO, Collaborative Classroom
That research is so valuable, not just to the communities that are being served, but also to build the evidence base over time. There’s already so much solid work that we are building on; the evidence is there. Next, it’s really about expanding our reach to make an even broader impact.
Finally, I appreciate the relationships FluentSeeds has built with their partners and clients. I’ve already met with many current clients of FluentSeeds, and they all love the team so much. They consider the FluentSeeds staff to be close colleagues.
I think that says a lot about the culture that FluentSeeds has built over the years and the relationships they have established and maintained.
Kate, what do you appreciate about Collaborative Classroom: its people, ways of work, and strengths?
Kate Horst: I appreciate how Kelly and the Collaborative Classroom team value relationships. I’ve seen it demonstrated in their interactions with each other and in their partnerships. Relationships really do matter. That is core to SEEDS; it’s through quality interactions that we are able to impact kids.
I also appreciate how Collaborative Classroom is committed to strong implementation.
This is a mission-driven organization, not a for-profit company. They aren’t simply making a manual and shipping it out. They care deeply about how their programs are implemented and the impact on students and educators. That is something we both value.
The people at Collaborative Classroom know that the work they’re doing is changing lives. It’s about supporting educators and serving children, and ensuring that all children become strong readers and writers.
Kate Horst, Executive Director, FluentSeeds
The people at Collaborative Classroom know that the work they’re doing is changing lives. It’s about supporting educators and serving children, and ensuring that all children become strong readers and writers.
Merging with an organization that is excited about FluentSeeds pedagogy and our impact, and for our team to be excited about their pedagogy and impact—it is a great match.
What lies ahead, now that the merger has occurred? What are your plans?
Kelly Stuart: We’ve certainly heard from FluentSeeds staff and clients, as well as experts in the field, about some desire for revisions to SEEDS. So we will be looking carefully at that and considering how to leverage the capacities we have.
Step number one is meeting with the FluentSeeds team and the clients to really understand what the needs are before any development process begins.
We do have every intention of revising the SEEDS work to make it even more usable, even easier to implement, and truly scalable. We have big plans to make SEEDS grow all across the country!
That said, we will stay true to what has been proven in the research and evidence base for SEEDS.
We are also inspired by the way FluentSeeds studies implementation. That deep study of our implementations is something that we’ve always wanted to do more of.
Seeing how FluentSeeds analyzes what’s happening with the educators serving students is a capacity we will now build up at Collaborative Classroom, thanks to this merger.
We have educators in all 50 states in over 1000 school districts using Collaborative Classroom programs; now we want to really investigate and study those implementations. This work will help us further improve our programs and our own implementation support.
Kate Horst: Looking ahead, as Kelly said, you’ll continue to see research-based programming and rigorous evaluation of implementations.
I think this merger will be transformative for the early childhood world—having these specific nonprofits come together to become one of the largest education organizations focused on birth through grade 8. Together we can be an important part of that early childhood trajectory to reading success.
[T]his merger will be transformative for the early childhood world—having these specific nonprofits come together to become one of the largest education organizations focused on birth through grade 8.
Kate Horst, Executive Director, FluentSeeds
I want to circle back to what Kelly shared about revising SEEDS. We know that research continues to provide insights about what children need for literacy and social-emotional development. SEEDS has always been evidence-based, and we want to make sure that our manuals, our training, and our coaching reflect that.
All that is to say, we’re super excited to embark on a revision. The Collaborative Classroom infrastructure gives us the opportunity to refine our work even further, ensuring it is the highest quality resource serving early childhood.
Are there any immediate changes that will affect current FluentSeeds partners?
Kate Horst: There will not be changes to current programming and partnerships. Collaborative Classroom is committed to the amazing partnerships that we have and to our high-quality training, coaching, and data collection. They are excited to learn about our work even more deeply and to get to know our partners even better.
To those partners, I can say: What you’ve had, you will continue to get from FluentSeeds as we move forward.
Kate, now that FluentSeeds is part of Collaborative Classroom, you have a brand-new role as a Senior Advisor. A bit later this year, you’ll become a member of the Collaborative Classroom Board of Trustees. What are your thoughts about your new roles?
Kate Horst: First of all, I’m honored to be an advisor and to join the board of trustees. It’s a prestigious group that represents many different domains in education.
Second, I am excited to bring my early childhood experiences with language and literacy, with early reading, and social, emotional interactions and skill development. As I’ve told Kelly, I’m open to whatever ways I can contribute!
Kelly, how do you envision this merger growing our impact? Specifically how will it help us increase equity and reach more children, especially those in need?
Kelly Stuart: I see the merger growing our impact in a couple of ways. First, we’ve already proven the power of our combined work together in several places around the country.
I’m thinking of the evidence coming out of The Oakland REACH with SEEDS tutors who also have our SIPPS® accelerative foundational skills curriculum; that is a real proof point.
The work of FluentSeeds and Collaborative Classroom also already intersect at The Literacy Lab in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in Springfield Public Schools in Springfield, Massachusetts with great success. So we have strong foundations to build upon.
Also, we often get asked, What do you offer for early childhood? Until the merger, we haven’t had a very good recommendation. Now with FluentSeeds, we can provide the school districts we already serve with a robust and proven pathway to support children entering kindergarten.
Now with FluentSeeds, we can provide the school districts we already serve with a robust and proven pathway to support children entering kindergarten.
Kelly Stuart, President and CEO, Collaborative Classroom
One common characteristic in both of our organizations is that we all come from strong education backgrounds. We’ve all worked in school districts across the country, and therefore we have a well-developed sense of the needs our clients and partners have in this work.
By marrying our proven approaches and curricula, we will be able to provide a more equitable start for children entering kindergarten.
By marrying our proven approaches and curricula, we will be able to provide a more equitable start for children entering kindergarten.
Kelly Stuart, President and CEO, Collaborative Classroom
Kate Horst: Increasing equity and reaching children in need are clearly mission-driven values for both of our organizations.
For SEEDS, 20 years ago our mission was always to serve those who were historically not served in equitable ways and getting kids the opportunities they need to get on target to become fluent readers.
SEEDS is proven to be effective, increasing school readiness for all children, including multilingual learners and children from historically marginalized families and communities. So we’re simply embracing that proven model and pedagogy and will now take that forward together with Collaborative Classroom.
With a larger infrastructure and the leadership that can take our mission to the next level, the sky’s the limit!
Related Video
Related Reading
Learn about Collaborative Classroom’s mission, approach, impact, and partners.
SEEDS and SIPPS: How these synergistic programs develop successful readers.
Read about The Oakland REACH and its success with SEEDS and SIPPS.