August 2018: Introducing the New NapaLearns.org
NapaLearns has a fresh new look
Published on August 28, 2018
We’re very excited to be sharing the latest transformation of NapaLearns.org! And, in the spirit of introducing our new website, we’d like to share a bit about how we got here.
It’s been five years since we last refreshed our site, during which time our organization, programs, audiences, and results have evolved considerably. When we looked, we recognized that our website hadn’t kept up with how we’ve evolved to meet the needs of the community we serve.
We took a step back and worked on our communications strategy
Why does NapaLearns exist? How do we work with the school districts to improve educational outcomes in Napa? What are the values that we hold dear? Going through this process helped us rewrite, realign, and recommit to our mission, vision and values.
We defined our raison d’etre
We act as a catalyst that accelerates innovative teaching methods and improves learning outcomes in Napa Valley’s public schools.
We clarified our investment strategy
NapaLearns is unique in the way we identify and invest in disruptive innovations that make a significant difference in student learning. First and foremost, we focus on teacher professional development. And as a program yields successful results in a pilot implementation, it is then scaled and owned by the districts. This investment model epitomizes the successes of Silicon Valley startups.
We focused on the reasons students don’t finish college
Money, math, and motivation are key factors that lead to success in college. Organizations like the Napa Valley Community Foundation offer scholarships to students in need; our priorities target programs that improve math results, and provide access to STEM and robotics and the essential communication, critical thinking, and collaboration skills obtained through project-based learning.
Thanks to our amazing board, staff, and school district partners, we are in the midst of developing our three year plan, and we are exploring new programs for career and college readiness, training for teachers to learn and teach coding, and more. We’ll be announcing those new initiatives to you over the next few months.
Eight years since our founding, It has been a long road, and we’re happy to have arrived here today. Feel free to take our new website for a spin at www.napalearns.org.
Peg Maddocks, Ph.D.
Executive Director
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