What is LEARNING-FOCUSED?

Max Thompson
Feb 05, 2007

What is the Learning-Focused Schools Model? The Learning-Focused Schools Model was developed by Dr. Max Thompson in response to national, state, and local efforts to increase achievement for all students and to reduce achievement gaps.  The Model provides comprehensive school reform strategies and solutions for K-12 schools based on exemplary practices and research-based strategies.  These practices and strategies focus on five areas: Planning, Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and School Organization.  The Learning-Focused Schools Model has provided state of the art professional development and innovative instructional resources, products, and technology to over 2000 schools, districts, and educational agencies across the nation.

What Makes Us Different? We specialize in "Making Connections" to increase student achievement. There is a great deal of research on how to raise student performance. Typically, a teacher or administrator is given bits and pieces of things to try in their classroom or school. Now, using our models and resources, schools are provided frameworks, strategies, instructional methods, and leadership processes to organize and connect the techniques, research, and systems that are most effective for raising student achievement. If you are want to see achievement gains and an organized system for learning, then you are ready to discover how the Learning-Focused Schools Model and exemplary practice solutions can make the connections for your school or district.

Why the Learning-Focused Schools Model and Solutions? The Learning-Focused Schools Model is a comprehensive school improvement model that provides schools with a consistent language for learning that is organized into a framework designed explicitly for raising student achievement. Our framework organizes the US Department of Education's exemplary schools evaluations and the research-based strategies that impact achievement the most: (1) Planning through team-based or learning communities, (2) Prioritizing and mapping curriculum, (3) Effective use of graphic and advance organizers, (4) Instructing vocabulary in context, (5) Using summarizing strategies, and (6) Extending thinking strategies.  Moving beyond those effective strategies, the Learning-Focused Schools Model also specializes in connecting reading comprehension, writing across the curriculum, accelerating and scaffolding learning, balanced literacy, differentiated assignments, and more focused primarily on learning and raising achievement.  Our learning framework rapidly and effectively raises student achievement.

Our services, professional development, resources, products, technology support, and friendly and knowledgeable consultants are of the highest quality. And we look forward to assisting and working with you to increase student performance in your school or district.

Max Thompson is the founder of the Learning-Focused Schools Model and author of many books on raising achievement and school improvement reform.