Licensed to Learn Inc.

Barry Wansbrough, President
barry@l2l.ca
415-730-1741
Charitable number: 86796 1013 RR0001

About this organization

Mission

Licensed to Learn (L2L) is a not-for-profit organization that trains and certifies volunteer student tutors. L2L has developed a unique training system to instruct high-achieving student volunteers to help their underachieving peers to identify personal strengths on which to build academic skills and success.

History of Organization

L2L was incorporated in 2001 and started the program in one school in 2002 with 7 tutors. By 2009, some 700 tutors were certified in 30 schools. In 2006, L2L entered a formal partnership with the Toronto District School Board and is recognized as ‘ a vehicle for improved Student Success.’

In 2009, the L2L Board approved a new plan that focuses on building community clusters of schools - each centred at one high school and including all the related feeder schools. This way a community of tutors can build from early elementary school through the middle and secondary schools. Seven clusters have been identified in critical areas of the city for the 2010 – 2011 school year.

Accolades and Accomplishments

L2L is pleased to be endorsed by the TDSB’s partnership program, and by the award of an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant in 2007 for the major growth in the program. L2L has been recognized in the province and internationally by educators who see the students themselves as the solution to higher academic standards.

L2L has an internal evaluation process run with the advice and help of a TDSB senior educational program evaluator. From all levels of schools, and with one school from outside Toronto, the results are uniformly positive. At risk students who are not meeting the provincial standards of numeracy or literacy and who attend the program under the tutoring of the L2L trained tutors have an over 80% chance of attaining a passing grade. But more than that, they have big gains in self-respect and self-confidence, and the main thing for them is the building of positive relationships and making new friends.

Programs

>Tutor Training and Certification Program

Tutor Training and Certification Program

Traditional teaching and tutoring has as its main focus the explanation of subject content from the teacher to the student. All students are assumed to learn in the same way, some are just slower than others, and if some students cannot keep up, they are left behind. Currently, some third of the students fit that category.

L2L has demonstrated that all students, in fact, learn in different ways and that it is possible to identify the learners’ Personal Learning Profiles. About 30% of the students have profiles that easily learn in the classroom setting. Another 30% have profiles that make classroom learning difficult, and sometimes impossible. L2L’s program gives the tutors the tools to help those with the school unfriendly profiles to build on their strengths to bridge that gap.

L2L’s methodology starts with finding the students’ learning styles, multiple intelligences and personal interests so that the learning can be built on personal strengths and success rather than the discouraging task of repairing failure. The tutors and their at risk peers will likely have different profiles, so the tutors’ jobs are to identify those profiles and then to build strategies to bridge the knowledge into the school structured learning environment.

Funding and Program Partners
L2L started as the Peer Tutoring Organization, and it was originally funded by the Harbinger Foundation. Subsequently, major help has been given from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the McLean Foundation, the Paloma Foundation, the Raptors Foundation, Sharpe Blackmore Advertising, TAXI Advertising, HydroOne, Telus, the International Development and Relief Foundation, and Staples.

L2L is working collaboratively with Frontier College and Pathways to Education.

Program Impact

To date, L2L has trained approximately 1500 tutors who have given over 20,000 free, informed, one-on one tutoring sessions. Besides raising the self-worth and achieving levels of their students, a huge contribution to the individuals and society, there is a recognized social financial gain.

One third of the students in elementary school fail to meet the provincial standards in numeracy and literacy and one quarter drop out before high school graduation. While traditional authorities recognize this deficiency, the statistics have not significantly changed over the years, despite the huge sums invested.

Each student who just passes high school will earn $600,000 more lifetime earnings, and the welfare and incarceration costs drop significantly.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“18.6% of those 15 years old and over had not completed their secondary education in 2008.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

L2L releases the potential not just for achievers, but for those who can achieve but don’t have the chance.

Participant Vignette

Heather Kingsley is a remarkable fourth grade teacher in downtown Toronto.

She has 34 students in her class. A significant number needed serious help. They are among the 30% of all the students who have no help outside of school. They were failing.

After the winter break new Vice-Principal Peppi Minos joined the school administration. With her experience, and strong support from Principal Lillian Hanson, a new L2L/PALS partnership program started at Bowmore Jr. and Sr. Public School. Heather’s struggling students were paired with tutors under L2L training from grades 7 and 8.

Over the winter and into the spring the pairs met once a week. The initial challenge was to learn spelling and fractions. These topics defeat many students very early in their school days. They were getting the better of Heather’s students. She immediately saw the promise of having informed tutoring help for her students.

Here are the very positive results she witnessed form the paired students:

“grades rocketed”
self-esteem grew
new friendships formed
students were “excited to do multiplication” (Really!?!)
“almost in tears about learning”
great weight off teacher’s shoulders

Zenobia Omerali, a guidance teacher at SATEC Secondary in Toronto ran a credit recovery course for students who had previously failed the credit. She offered the L2L training to the students. Of the 73% of the students accepted the tutoring. They all passed. 27% of the students did not accept the tutoring. They all failed.

Giving Opportunity

Activities a donation will support

Each school cluster is budgeted for approximately $10,000. This supports six schools and 15 tutors with double that number of tutored students who receive 15 tutoring sessions each. L2L is planning to activate 7 community clusters this school year, but added support would increase that number. To cover all the schools and students in need, there would be some 25 community clusters.

Donation impact

The impact on learning, leadership, civic engagement and belonging is the core of the L2L program. Where the program has had the support, the results have been very positive. Again, these elements are the key to the Toronto communities’ futures. Without programs like this, the alternative future for the city is evident from the stories of violence read each day in the media.

The critical impact will be on the participants in the program as they built a more successful future for themselves. The real key is that the students are the means to their own success.

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