Mission Statement

To empower at-risk individuals to take charge of their own learning and be competent, caring members of society; and to provide training opportunities for families and professionals to support those efforts.

You have heard it many times before: Millions of kids aren't learning in American schools. Every year, millions drop out of school and into stunted lives of frustration, anger and dependency. It is nothing less than a tragedy.

The economic costs are equally as tragic. In Los Angeles alone, costs related to school dropouts total $488 million for a single year! That includes judicial, penal, welfare, employment and health service costs directly related to kids who don't finish school--kids in many cases severely impacted by learning disabilities and serious emotional and behavioral problems.

The good news is that many of these problems can be addressed by the implementation of more effective educational programs. One way or another, we will all pay for the next generation. We do have a choice, however, about how we will pay. Certainly, we need to invest our money more wisely. Instead of paying ever-increasing sums for policing, prison and welfare, we should be working to reach our youth in their early years--to give them the help they need to succeed, both in school and in life.

Many kids of this new "lost generation" don't actually drop out: they're pushed out. They are taught how to fail and not how to succeed.

The Institute for the Redesign of Learning was created to help these kids learn about success. By building on more than thirty years of experience at The Almansor Center, we are dedicated to helping young people--deemed hopeless by others re discover their innate ability to learn.

The Institute advocates a systemic transformation of the education of our nation's at-risk individuals. We conduct continuing research on and development of innovative methods of learning, including those pioneered by The Almansor Center; train professionals and parents in these methods; produce and provide training and curriculum materials through our Taking Charge™ program. We also operate The Almansor Center as a site for hands-on research, training and community service.

Our notion of what it means to be a teacher and a learner must be radically changed if we are to turn this troubled generation into winners who can meet the complex demands of the future, and help bring our society together in the process. The Institute for the Redesign of Learning is working to make those goals a reality. We would like your help.