We know learning changes lives
We help every learner thrive
We are experts in the science of reading
Stern Center for Language and Learning
Helping Every Learner Thrive in School and Beyond
For 40 years, the Stern Center for Language and Learning has been trusted by learners, families, and schools, and supported by visionary donors who share our commitment to a world that celebrates learning for all.
Our nonprofit learning center offers specialized learning evaluations, social learning support, speech therapy, customized instruction, and courses and programs for educators and schools.

Services and Support for Learners of All Ages
Our programs and services—led by dedicated and highly trained specialists—make a difference by applying research that helps students and adults recognize their strengths, confront their challenges, and learn real-life strategies for future success.
Tutoring Services
We offer expert instruction and intervention to support success in reading, writing, math, organization, time management, and more in one-to-one sessions tailored to a learner’s needs.
Social Learning & Speech Therapy
We help people communicate effectively, build relationships, and understand thoughts and actions through social learning support and speech therapy.
Evaluations
We help people understand their strengths and challenges with learning, including any disabilities and differences, to help them move forward academically, professionally, and socially.

Where Teachers Learn
Our professional learning opportunities give teachers the research-driven, classroom-practical knowledge to help each learner thrive. Choose from courses in social-emotional learning, assessment, and structured literacy, including Structured Literacy Collaboratives, Wilson Language Training®, and Orton-Gillingham accredited offerings.
Courses and Workshops
Browse our courses and workshops in Structured Literacy, Wilson Language Training®, Orton-Gillingham, & more.
Grants for Teachers
Generous financial support through the Cynthia K. Hoehl Institute lets you deepen your knowledge and help you reach every learner.
Resources for Educators
Explore evidence-based resources for supporting struggling students and teaching reading, writing, social-emotional learning, and so much more.

Empowering Schools
We collaborate with school leaders, teachers, specialists, and staff to build upon existing strengths and launch programs that improve learning outcomes. Our partnerships include job-embedded professional development, schoolwide literacy initiatives, consultations for student success, generous grants, and more.
Structured Literacy Initiative
Gain the knowledge and support you need to improve literacy in your school.
Schoolwide Orton-Gillingham Training
Bring Orton-Gillingham to your school—or work with us to design a program that fits your students’ needs.
Comprehensive Support for Schools
End-to-end support that helps schools thrive: customized professional learning, individualized instruction, and learning evaluations.
Thank you for providing me with the support to get the tutoring I needed at the Stern Center. You made it possible for me to learn and develop the skills I needed to pursue my dream of becoming a writer and illustrator. Reading and writing used to be very hard for me, but now I am reading and writing easily and a lot. My tutor taught me so much, and I really loved my sessions with her!
The evaluation was extremely thorough, the evaluator very knowledgeable, and report and recommendations very helpful and useful moving forward.
Our child’s instructor is a wonderfully engaging and kind person and it has been amazing for our child to develop this long-term educational skill-building relationship. We love being able to access the Stern Center resources through remote instruction even though we live far away!
Our daughter is more confident, feels better about herself as a learner, and is much more successful in school. These are the kinds of outcomes Stern Center delivers. It’s an investment in your child’s future.
We have been very impressed with the Stern Center, for both tutoring services and learning evaluations for our daughter. Before we found Stern, she struggled with math and executive functioning—but working weekly with her tutor, her skills improved and her confidence skyrocketed, and she is now thriving.
The teacher is amazing! She is a gifted teacher: intelligent, organized, and motivated to build rapport with our child. She wrote a series of decodable texts to match our son’s interests and sent home decodable stories, word lists, and games, so we, as parents, could practice and support our child at home. The teacher was always an email away and showed unwavering support and kindness all year.
The Comprehensive Report is worth its weight in gold. Looking forward to my follow-up with the evaluation team. You guys are tremendous. Thank you!
From elementary school through to life as a young adult, I could not ask for a better resource than the Stern Center to help my son continue to grow and learn how to be his best self. The Stern Center truly understands him as a unique person and can explain challenges in a way he can understand with strategies within his reach to implement.
To see the improvement in our son’s literary skills has been life-changing for our family. The Stern Center staff are professional and knowledgeable and easy to communicate with.
Our daughter’s tutoring sessions have been a truly wonderful experience and a real gift. This year has been a time of growth, expansion, and learning. Our daughter is now an avid reader and prolific writer, always with her nose in a book or writing and drawing in her notebook and dreaming up another new story to tell. It’s an indescribable feeling to witness and participate in her learning process as she spreads her winds and is now flying high!
Our child adores the instructor and really enjoys working with her every week. I think the biggest takeaway, though, has been the newfound confidence in herself as a reader since starting at the Stern Center!
I like my whole tutoring session because the teacher makes learning really fun!
It’s a long road to medical school for anybody. It’s probably ten times as long for me, but I have started studying for the MCATs. I’m incredibly thankful to have found the Stern Center. It has changed my whole emotional life, my relationships, my financial situation, my confidence, and my vision of the future.
The information we received in the evaluation process has been very beneficial for our daughter, academically and personally. It gave me an opportunity to help her understand what had been holding her back from learning. It also enabled me to advocate for her with the school. I am happy to say that she has blossomed into an outgoing and happy student who is making substantial academic gains and feels so much better about herself!
It was a very comprehensive evaluation with clear recommendations for our son’s school team.
The Orton-Gillingham instruction our daughter has received from the Stern Center has been AMAZING, improving not only her reading abilities but also her confidence.
We received a thorough assessment, and everyone was friendly and supportive throughout the process.
The Stern Center saved our daughter’s life. I love that she can access tutoring remotely. The tutor is a great match for our daughter.
The Stern Center has given my daughter a whole new outlook on herself as a learner. She has the tools to problem-solve and figure things out, and all her teachers have noticed a huge improvement in her work since she started instruction….All around, the Stern Center has been a huge blessing for her!
This has been the most valuable experience for our family to help us understand our child’s learning profile and instructional needs. The evaluators were incredibly professional, approachable, and, most importantly, able to provide our son’s school team with a clear plan of how to meet his instructional needs.
I am very pleased with the entire process. My son felt comfortable, and having a diagnosis has helped him understand that his frustration over the years was not his fault—it is just the way his brain is wired. It has provided me with the details to advocate for his needs educationally.
The evaluator was very knowledgeable, professional, and supportive. The evaluation process was thorough. The results and recommendations were easy to understand and very helpful.
As an educator myself and a learning disability teacher consultant, I knew my child had specific learning needs. Having Stern assess my daughter gave me a feeling of relief. The report was well written and justified support and services from our school district. Now I can continue to advocate for my daughter. Thank you for helping our family.
The most knowledgeable, professional, empathetic, motivating, compassionate, helpful, and understanding, staff and social service agency I have come across.
Our son has struggled with reading his whole life. He is so determined he sets his alarm early every morning to have me read his notes and textbooks. Our school tells us his grades are too good for him to be tested, but he can’t really read: he has just tried to find ways to compensate. He cannot wait to be tested. He believes that if he learns how his brain works, he will be able to learn better.
I would not have had the courage to go to law school, the confidence and success I had in high school or undergrad, if it hadn’t been for the foundational principles the Stern Center taught me.
One thing I like about the program is it helps me to know more and to read some of the big words and also improve my reading with short vowels and long vowels.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have found the Stern Center for my 10-year-old son who has dyslexia. He has come a long way over these past two years. He has had instruction in-person as well as online and has had success with both platforms. The educators at Stern Center are top-notch and professional! I will be forever grateful for this amazing center!

Our Reach by the Numbers
1,800+
Teachers Served This Year
When a teacher takes one of our courses, the positive impact ripples beyond one life, spreading through an entire classroom, school, and community.

Our Reach by the Numbers
10,901+
Student Services Hours This Year
We offer one-on-one teaching that transforms lives, lifts up voices, and inspires learners to bring forth their unique gifts to a world that awaits them.

Our Reach by the Numbers
415+
Schools Served This Year
We celebrate the dedication of our school partners and share their commitment to a brighter future for all learners.

Our Reach by the Numbers
39
States and Counting
We’re a national leader in language and literacy. Our impact currently extends across 39 states and several countries through the thousands of educators we reach and students we serve.

Everyone Has the Right to Read
When it comes to literacy and equity, it’s clear that our nation’s students need more from us all. Only 32% of U.S. fourth-graders are proficient readers. For fourth-graders whose families are income-eligible for free or reduced meals through the National School Lunch Program, the proficiency rate is just 19%.
Despite the hard work and effort of teachers to meet student needs, these statistics challenge us to take a closer look at what we can do to be more effective. 95% of students can learn to read using structured literacy principles, regardless of their background. Together, we can provide every student with a lifelong foundation of literacy.
Keep Learning

Need-Based Scholarships
Our need-based scholarships make Stern Center services more accessible to learners and families.

Summer Learning
Supercharge your child’s learning this summer. Get expert help with reading, writing, math, and more.

News and Resources
Keep learning and stay in the know with news and resources from our Stern Center experts.
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