Foundation Makes $5 Million Grant to The Learning Accelerator

Posted on March 11, 2013

San Francisco, CA – March 11, 2013 – The Learning Accelerator (TLA), a nonprofit organization based in the Bay Area, has received a $5 million grant from the Jaquelin Hume Foundation to jump start the implementation of blended learning in the nation’s schools. “This is the biggest grant the Foundation has ever made and the first time it made an exception to its policy of giving anonymously,” said Jerry Hume, President. “The Foundation considers TLA’s mission so critical that we chose to make our commitment public.”

“We are extremely grateful to the Foundation for this endorsement of our mission,” said Scott Ellis, CEO of TLA. “This investment by the Jaquelin Hume Foundation is another significant step towards our goal of mobilizing $100 million to accelerate the implementation of blended learning across the country.” The Jaquelin Hume Foundation shares TLA’s view that while many districts are investigating blended learning and service providers are emerging to offer some of the necessary components, these efforts are fragmented, slow, expensive, and risky. The Foundation is making this investment to help TLA overcome these challenges in a timely manner.

The Learning Accelerator has two primary objectives:

1. Create several robust implementations in districts
2. Establish solutions that can be replicated nation-wide

It will accomplish these goals by identifying the barriers that prevent districts from carrying out blended learning.  It will develop solutions to overcome these barriers.  It will then implement and continuously improve these solutions in partnership with districts.  

“Blended learning is the transformative educational innovation of our time and has the potential to significantly improve K-12 education in America,” added Joe Wolf, president and founding board member of TLA. “Over the next five years, we will partner with organizations across the country to make this happen faster, more effectively and with high quality. Students and teachers will receive the benefits every day in their classrooms.”

For more information about the Jaquelin Hume Foundation, contact Gisèle Huff at ghuff@baf.com.  For additional information about The Learning Accelerator, contact Scott Ellis at scott.ellis@learningaccelerator.org or www.learningaccelerator.org.