The focus at Hamlin Robinson School is, first and foremost, on our students. Our mission to ignite the academic and creative potential of students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences increasingly extends far beyond the walls of our school. We are simply not content unless we’re doing our utmost to extend our expertise and resources with the wider community. 

As we have grown over the past decade, the HRS Learning Center has kept pace. First conceived to extend the expertise of HRS into tutoring services for students, the Learning Center now encompasses much more. I hope that you’ll read about the amazing outreach going on through our Learning Center.

It’s amazing to see how much the energy and activity at HRS is impacting our wider community. Through the HRS Learning Center, we are connecting with community non-profits to benefit under resourced students. We’re planning grant-funded teacher education workshops for colleagues from other educational settings. We’re sharing books and literacy resources with students in the Rainier Valley. We’re partnering with other organizations to offer special opportunities to HRS and non-HRS students.  

It’s not just through the HRS Learning Center that we’re extending our impact. In 2023, Hamlin Robinson School became a founding member of the Association of LD Schools (ALDS.org). ALDS is an association of schools that specialize in the education of students with dyslexia and language-based learning differences. ALDS connects the people, resources, and events of these schools so that our collective impact on students and families is magnified.  

Several members of our faculty and staff are also actively engaged with the Slingerland® Literacy Institute. Because our teachers are experts in the use of the Slingerland® Approach – the classroom-based instructional model used at HRS – many serve on committees that are updating Slingerland’s extensive teaching resources and creating new print and digital resources to better meet the needs of educators throughout the U.S. and beyond. 

With the full support of our Board of Trustees, HRS also recently hired Jonathan Lee as our new Director of Equity and Belonging. We’ll share more about this role in our next issue of the Scoop, but our goal is to foster an inclusive environment and promote equity throughout the internal and outward-facing programs of HRS.  

I am proud to be a part of a community that not only excels at educating and supporting our students, but also cares deeply and proactively about the community beyond our walls. Thank you for supporting us in this work.