SEEDS of Learning (formerly FluentSeeds) is an evidence-based professional learning model that combines educator professional learning and coaching, emphasizing quality in-classroom interactions, early literacy skills, and kindergarten readiness through the lens of building responsive caregiver-child relationships. A recent randomized controlled trial in Pre-K classrooms in San Francisco’s East Bay Area found that SEEDS improved children’s foundational literacy skills, with impacts equivalent to about two to three months of learning over two years. Notably, researchers found that the impacts were largest in the second year of program implementation, suggesting that children are likely to benefit more in settings that commit to longer-term adoption of SEEDS.
When the organization (at the time called FluentSeeds) received its first grant in 2021, it was reaching 11,000 children and grew primarily by reputation. Today, SEEDS of Learning reaches over 36,000 children, a result of more strategic customer acquisition and a 2024 merger with Collaborative Classroom, a nonprofit curriculum provider with a robust sales infrastructure.
Overdeck Family Foundation’s capacity-building support helped FluentSeeds develop a repeatable and reliable sales process focused on increasing its earned revenue, which led to supporting a strategic merger designed to enable more children to benefit from well-trained educators and high-quality early learning. Post-merger, the Foundation supported Collaborative Classroom to build sales capacity specific to the Pre-K market through state-by-state scale planning. Additional capacity building helped the organization gain a better understanding of its customers’ needs, resulting in an impressive NPS score of 80. Most recently, we supported Collaborative Classroom to pursue a strategic partnership with fellow grantee AppleTree Institute as part of its growth strategy, making Collaborative Classroom the exclusive provider of AppleTree’s comprehensive Pre-K curriculum, Every Child Ready.
