About Us

Our sister organization, Dreamcatcher Direct Instruction Centers, was established in 1996 as a supplementary educational service to teach basic academic skills to learners of all ages. It became clear that we could not make a difference in the lives of people who could not afford our services. So in 1998, the owners created Legacy of Learning as a non-profit organization.

A simple criteria was established along with a resolve to never turn anyone away from our doors who needed help in school. After we received status as a non-profit, we asked for financial support from everyone we could: our family, our friends, our community. Dreamcatcher instructors, retired teachers, parents, seniors in high school, CU students, and graduates of our programs have both been paid and have volunteered to teach. Dreamcatcher provides in kind donations: a room for Legacy to operate, the usage of telephones, materials, snacks, photocopies and other office expenses. Legacy also receives in-kind services provided by our Certified Public Accountant, and Information Technology Consultants.

Since 1998, Legacy of Learning has addressed the pervasive issue of illiteracy in Boulder County by providing educational services to over 1,000 at-risk boys and girls of all ages. Using Direct Instruction, DI, a research-proven, multi-sensory teaching method that is fast-paced and highly interactive, our students achieve rapid academic progress. Experience has shown us that all students can learn regardless of challenging and diverse educational histories, behavioral patterns, or learning differences.

The educational achievement gap between at-risk youth and their peers is one of the most pervasive and tragic social issues in our community and across the nation. 50 million children attend elementary and secondary schools in our country, and over 60% are at least one grade below their current level in spelling, reading or math. According to the Community Foundation of Boulder County, "Year after year, the achievement gap persists as one of the most stubborn issues in our community." By 3rd grade, 50% of Boulder County's disadvantaged youth are proficient in math and reading. By 10th grade, only 14% are proficient. Without support, about half of the economically disadvantaged students in Boulder County will fail to graduate from high school. The poverty rate in Boulder County is growing twice as fast as the population and it is our enduring mission to keep these students from falling through the cracks.

Direct Instruction, the key to the success of our students, is an evidence-based, systematic, multi-sensory curriculum developed in the early 1960s. The efficacy of DI's highly structured and explicit instructional methods has been verified by over 3,000 studies worldwide. Project Follow Through, the largest controlled comparative study of teaching methods in human history, studied 79,000 students in 180 communities over the course of ten years. When the results were analyzed by researchers at the Stanford Research Institute, Direct Instruction, out of nine contemporary teaching methods, placed first academically, affectively and cognitively in reading, math, spelling, and language-"no other model came close." The structured nature of our DI programs, combined with supportive attention from our instructors, has proved to be a powerful tool to accelerate learning for diverse types of learners in a variety of settings.

Our focus is to help these young students learn how to learn, greatly improving the likelihood of attaining their appropriate grade level, graduating from high school, attending college, and finding satisfactory careers.

SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

During the last 13 years, our instructors have educated over 1,000 low-income students through year-round programs at various community centers and local schools. Legacy of Learning has been endorsed by a growing number of local organizations dedicated to serving the disenfranchised youth of our community. Our active partnerships include: the Juvenile Diversion Program of Boulder County District Attorney's Office; the "I Have a Dream" Foundation; the Resource Family Team of the Boulder County Department of Social Services; Boulder Valley Family Literacy Program; Attention Homes; AIM House, a residential treatment, counseling and safe shelter for at-risk youth and young adults; Fire Mountain's Sober Living Boys' Home, an "Interruption-Intervention-Integration" program for boys suffering from drug addiction; and Justice High School, a college preparatory school for students who are chronically truant, unsuccessful in traditional school settings or have been involved in the criminal justice system.

In order to reach our goals, we continue to strengthen and expand our community partnerships. This includes our growing support from the University of Colorado. In August 2011, we received a $20,000 contract through the University's Student Employment and Work Study Office from America Reads and America Counts programs. This has enabled us to hire and train ten CU students as Direct Instruction teachers. In addition, the School of Education and the Volunteer Resource Center have been excellent sources of highly qualified, diverse volunteer teachers.