Nationally recognized as a leader in educating Grades 2–12 students with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and other language-based learning differences (LD), Westmark School is seeking visionary partners to change lives through our need-based tuition assistance program.
Lack of equal access to effective, evidence-based educational methods for LD children is a profound social injustice. An estimated 12% of students in the United States have dyslexia. Many of them remain undiagnosed and underserved throughout their school years. In neurotypical learning environments, neurodiverse learners frequently face the misery of failure early in their lives. Instead of being celebrated for their skills and given strategies to succeed, they are often labeled as lazy or disruptive by teachers who lack the training to adapt their methods to meet these learners’ needs. These experiences hinder LD students’ motivation and deplete their self-esteem.
Students with LD can achieve at the same level as their non-LD peers in school if given appropriate instruction and support. Ensuring LD youth have the support to thrive through high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce is critical to establishing an equitable, inclusive, innovative, and productive society.
Research shows that without early intervention, LD youth are at risk of dropping out of school, abusing drugs and alcohol, and experiencing mental health issues and low self-esteem. It is perhaps unsurprising that 41% of incarcerated individuals have dyslexia. As children, they were likely intelligent, creative, and curious, but their learning needs were never met, and their potential was stifled. Without early support, students with LD like dyslexia are twice as likely to be unemployed and struggle financially as adults.
Although public schools in California are mandated to provide support services to LD children, they face significant challenges, including insufficient funding and training. At these schools, LD students often fail to maintain grade-level standards in reading, writing, and math, while also struggling with mental health issues. Too often, public schools leave LD students behind.
While many public and independent schools have hired learning specialists in an attempt to support students with LD, these schools remain primarily focused on neurotypical students. The auxiliary support provided is often irregularly scheduled and not at the expert level required for student success. Moreover, in neurotypical schools, working with a learning specialist is typically a pull-out or push-in service, which separates LD students from their classmates and thereby limits their sense of inclusion and belonging. Challenges abound in special-education classes as well: all too often, because the needs and abilities of their students are wide-ranging, special-education teachers tend to focus on those with more visible learning differences and deprioritize students with language-based LD, since their areas of strength and need are more “hidden” or “invisible.”
Committed to setting neurodiverse learners on a new path, Westmark School provides a nurturing and stimulating environment for LD students. We turn their struggles into strengths and challenges into opportunities. While children with LD may need specialized support in reading, writing, or math classes, they do not have a lack of intellect. We inspire our students to love learning again and to believe in themselves. We empower them with the knowledge that they can succeed and achieve their dreams.
Unlike at neurotypical schools, Westmark students learn together with their peers, often without the need for costly after-school support. Spending less time in educational therapy or tutoring means that Westmark students enjoy the gift of time—that is, they can spend their afternoons and weeks discovering and developing their talents and interests outside of the classroom as well.
Using our methods, we have witnessed remarkable transformations in our students’ lives, and we believe that every LD child deserves access to this unique educational environment.
Westmark has remained at the forefront of schools meeting each student’s distinct needs by forging key partnerships with renowned universities and institutions. We are honored to collaborate with experts at the University of California, San Francisco, Dyslexia Center; the University of Southern California, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute; Boston Children’s Hospital; and the National Center for Learning Disabilities. These partnerships continue to broaden our expertise in LD education, bridge neuroscientific research to classroom practice, and ultimately foster student growth and achievement.
At the heart of Westmark School’s mission is the belief that every student can find success and fulfillment. Remarkably, 100% of students in the Classes of 2019–2024 who applied to colleges and universities were accepted. Whether college-bound, launching a career, or exploring alternative pathways, Westmark students are empowered to practice their independence and envision a future of their own making. Here, they learn to unleash their unique abilities—cognitive flexibility, creativity, visualization, and complex problem-solving—to achieve their dreams.
Currently, Westmark provides tuition assistance to 34% of our families, with the total amount awarded this year just under $2 million. Tuition assistance awards range from $5,000 to $61,000 per family and is funded primarily through the School’s operating budget. While we are deeply committed to providing significant aid, every dollar spent on tuition assistance from our operating budget is a dollar not available for the classroom, athletics field, performing arts stage, extracurricular activities, and faculty and staff professional development—all vital to providing a transformative educational experience.
Through Changing Lives, we aim to relieve some of the strain on our operating budget, as well as grow our tuition assistance program in order to give more students access to a transformative education.
The Changing Lives initiative is not just about today’s students but also about future generations. We must remove financial barriers to enable more students with LD to attend Westmark.
Changing Lives does not have a specific financial goal because the need for tuition assistance knows no bounds. We are leaving it up to our current parents and grandparents, alumni, alumni parents, and enlightened individuals in the community to decide how much we will raise by June 30, 2025. We hope that everyone’s generosity will be boundless, and that those who contribute will take tremendous joy and pride in knowing the transformative power their gifts have on students today and on generations of students to come.
Our greatest strength is our community. Inclusion is about the actions we take individually and together. Every single one of us has the ability to be agents of change through our giving. Every single one of us can change the lives of young children who, if given a chance, can and will achieve their dreams.
The more our community comes together, the more lives we can transform. Join us in this mission to create a brighter future for students with language-based LD.
The moment to grow our tuition assistance program is now.
We think of our legacy in many ways— our descendants, our life’s work, our written words, or artistic creations. Your legacy can also be a philanthropic investment in Westmark School, removing financial constraints that keep children from experiencing a life-changing education.
VISIONARY CIRCLE | $1,000,000
Visionary Circle donors provide $500,000 to support tuition assistance to currently enrolled students and $500,000 to support our financial aid students in 2025–2026.
EQUITY CIRCLE | $250,000
Equity Circle donors fund ten students for one academic year.
ACCESS CIRCLE | $125,000
Early intervention is critical to the success of students with LD. Access Circle donors provide $25,000 a year for five years for a student in Grades 1– 5.
OPPORTUNITY CIRCLE | $50,000
Opportunity Circle gifts are put into the School’s general tuition assistance fund to support two students in the current year.
ADVOCATES CIRCLE | $25,000
Advocates Circle gifts are put into the School’s general tuition assistance fund to support one student in the current year.
NAMED SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Donors wishing to support a student during their full academic journey at Westmark can establish a named scholarship fund. The criteria for the scholarship will be developed in collaboration with the School.
A neurotypical learning environment does not provide the optimal setting for neurodiverse learners. In our effort to create an even more student-centric environment that celebrates each child’s individuality and distinct learning styles, Westmark opened a new Lower School Campus in 2024 specifically designed to educate students with LD.
Representing a major investment in early intervention, the Lower School Project is the springboard for us extend our reach and grow our impact. Coupled with strategic efforts to increase tuition assistance, Westmark looks forward to engaging many more neurodiverse children so that they can access our highly specialized, researchbased curriculum from an early age and grow in our inclusive, supportive community.
The latest in brain research is very clear: the sooner LD children are properly diagnosed and receive evidence-based instruction, the sooner they will thrive; the more likely they will avoid any achievement gaps; and the higher the chance they will reach their full potential.
CLAUDIA KOOCHEK | Head of School
