Our Theory
of Change
Advancing early childhood education
is no longer just about access. It’s
about access to what works best
for all children.
Ideal learning meets children
where they are and helps them
realize their potential.
With growing public investment in early childhood education, we must be able to adapt
and deliver the best programs and best outcomes across very different communities—
complete with infrastructure, curriculum and educators.
Trust for Learning’s mission is to make ideal learning real for all children,
regardless of background, and that means engaging providers of high-quality
models and programs.
Ideal learning is what you want for your own child: evidence-based, curriculum-rich
learning that is child-centered, emotionally and intellectually engaging, structured
and accountable for developing the whole child. Ideal learning programs have
demonstrated they can elevate all children—they must be readily available to
underserved families and communities to reduce inequality through opportunity.
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We balance and accelerate
supply and demand by building
community and communications.
We advance the delivery of ideal
learning programs while helping their
practitioners build public demand
through advocacy and marketing, and
foster collaboration among providers
and funders alike.
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Our Theory of Change: Intended Impact
More ideal learning models have the
capacity to implement/codify, market and
scale their programs
Widespread implementation of ideal
learning models in early childhood
education settings
Collective action/collaboration among
existing and new ideal learning providers
Ideal learning culture with shared values
and distinct behaviors
Field alignment among early childhood
education funders and other stakeholders
Broad stakeholder buy-in and adoption of
ideal learning principles as critical to early
childhood development
PUBLIC
Parent understanding of ideal learning
and its benefits for their children
Parents demand ideal learning
options in their communities and choose
exemplar providers
POLICYMAKERS
Educate policymakers on the value of
ideal learning principles
Policymakers act on education and public
pressure to make policy change
Direct Support (Supply)
PRACTITIONERS
Exemplar ideal learning
providers, existing ECE
providers looking to redirect
or strengthen curricula,
new ECE providers
PROPONENTS
Indirect Or Catalytic
Support (Demand)
Champions, funders,
researchers
Parents
Federal and state
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Ideal learning
is the early
childhood
education
approach of
choice in the
public and
private markets,
and there
are readily
accessible
models for all
children
and parents
regardless of
socioeconomic
status.
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We bring communities
together by:
• Helping ideal learning providers rally around a common understanding of their
different developmental approaches
• Helping ideal learning providers build bridges (or a community of practice) so they
can learn from one another and build their collective voice
• Identifying and investing in place-based ideal learning communities to foster
professional learning and demonstrate the impact when multiple partners work
in concert
• Tackling implementation and scaling challenges
• Codifying family and community engagement practices
• Articulating curriculum
• Articulating the teacher training and workforce needs
• Helping like-minded investors work collectively to support ideal learning providers
more effectively and advance the field more rapidly
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We identify and support ideal learning models to foster
professional learning and build capacity so that more
programs can be implemented, marketed and scaled.
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We move exemplar programs into a community of
practice and connect them with other like-minded
providers to create sector-network collaboration.
I.E.
MONTESSORI LEADERS
COLLABORATIVE:
IDEAL LEARNING
ROUNDTABLE:
ECE NETWORK OF
KNOWLEDGE SHARING:
NCMPS
AMS
MEPI
AMI
MACTE
NAMTA
Montessori Leaders
Collaborative
Reggio Emilia
Bank Street
Friends
Tools of the Mind
Ideal Learning Providers
Clayton Early Learning
Appletree
Acelero
SW Human Development
CAP Tulsa
Educare
Save the Children
and others
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Our exemplar providers reflect only a small portion
of the field, so it is imperative to collaborate with other
conveners in the field. We work to leverage and nurture
funder and practitioner working groups that can
accelerate the scaling of high-quality programs in order
to bring the benefits of developmental early learning
opportunities to all children and families.
Early
Childhood
Funders
Collaborative
Infrastructure
and advocacy
initiatives
Trust for
Learning
Other
stakeholders
Independent
early childhood
funders
DOE, HHS,
other gov’t
stakeholders
Other funder
collaboratives
Alliance for
Early Success
First Five
Years Fund
BUILD Initiative
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Better communications
articulates the value of ideal
learning to parents, voters and
policymakers by:
• Providing consumer-based research on how to drive demand for ideal learning
programs through advocacy and choice
• Developing a message framework that connects ideal learning values with what
parents and voters ultimately value
• Creating marketing and communications materials to help providers build the
influence necessary for scaling
• Training exemplar programs on how to use messaging to build influence with
parents, voters, policymakers and community-based organizations
• Creating an open source web hub for marketing and communications materials
that solve the communications capacity problem of many providers
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Collaboration is critical to this field
and to our work.
Leadership
Stephanie Miller, Executive Director
Marianna McCall, Founding Partner
Laurie McTeague, Founding Partner
Board of Advisors
Joan Lombardi (Emeritus)
Serena Connelly David Nee Alex Johnston
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Eric Buchanan
James Walton
Anna Czekaj-Farber
We support and advocate for ideal learning: child-centered,
emotionally and intellectually engaging, structured and accountable for
developing skills for life success. www.trustforlearning.org