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LITERACY DESIGN COLLABORATIVE INC
NEW YORK, NY · EIN 463418612 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE B99 · Education · Medium ($1M-$10M) · ldc.org
revenue
$4.1M
expenses
$4.0M
net assets
$1.7M
employees
14
program ratio
87%
mission · from form 990

SEEKS TO ENSURE THAT EVERY STUDENT IN AMERICA GRADUATES FROM (CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O) HIGH SCHOOL WITH THE LITERACY SKILLS NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS IN COLLEGE AND CAREER. LDC IS A TEACHER-CREATED INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN SYSTEM THAT TRANSFORMS EDUCATOR PRACTICE THROUGH THE USE OF ONLINE TOOLS AND RESOURCES THAT FACILITATE COLLABORATION, CONTENT DEVELOPMENT, AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING TO EFFECTIVELY IMPLEMENT COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS STANDARDS ("CCRS") IN K-12 CLASSROOMS. LDC WORKS WITH A VARIETY OF STAKEHOLDERS, INCLUDING STATES, DISTRICTS, TEACHER TRAINING ORGANIZATIONS, SCHOOLS, AND INDIVIDUAL TEACHERS, TO ENABLE ALL EDUCATORS TO MODEL, LEAD, AND SUCCEED IN IMPLEMENTING THE HIGH EXPECTATIONS EMBODIED BY THE CCRS AS THEY ACCELERATE THEIR OWN PROFESSIONAL GROWTH AND INCREASE STUDENT OUTCOMES.

profile · synthesized from sources

Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) is a teacher-created nonprofit that develops instructional tools and resources to improve K-12 literacy and writing skills through rigorous, standards-aligned classroom assignments. The organization supports educators with professional learning programs and curriculum development, focusing on equity and college and career readiness. LDC operates nationwide, partnering with schools, districts, and educational organizations.

named programs · 3 · from sources

What they call their work

Dialogue 250 Civic Literacy Teacher Fellowship
One-year cohort-based professional learning program for secondary educators that builds civic inquiry and dialogue skills through collaboration with Purdue University and its James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship
LDC Real Works Modules
Standards-driven, rigorous classroom assignments designed to advance student learning in literacy and writing, with demonstrated impact of up to 9 months of accelerated learning
Professional Learning for Educators
Job-embedded professional development that enables teachers to learn through planning, teaching, and evaluating instruction, aligned with college and career readiness standards
activities · 3 groups

What they do

  • Teacher Professional Development 3 activities
    • Deliver professional learning programs for educators
      Offers a range of professional learning opportunities including self-paced online courses, expert-led virtual or in-person training, weekly PLC sessions via LDC CoreTools, and hybrid flipped learning models to build teacher capacity in disciplinary literacy instruction and use of SCALE rubrics.
    • Facilitate school-based leadership and teacher collaboration
      Supports school instructional leadership teams (ILTs) through bi-monthly professional development, progress monitoring, and data analysis, while facilitating the use of common tools, protocols, and rubrics to create shared academic expectations among students, teachers, leaders, and families. Includes provision of $2,000 grants per school for ILT participation.
    • Operate civic literacy teacher fellowship programs
      Runs national fellowship programs for secondary ELA and Social Studies teachers focused on rigorous civics instruction, including the Dialogue 250 fellowship in Indiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Provides stipends of $2,000 per teacher, in-person and virtual training, curricular resources, and alumni community access. Over 200 teachers have been supported through these programs.
  • Comprehensive K–8 Academic Curriculum 1 activity
    • Develop and distribute K-12 literacy curriculum modules
      Provides standards-aligned curricular modules in ELA, Social Studies, and Science that include performance tasks, rubrics, instructional plans, student workbooks, and formative assessments, each designed for approximately 10 hours of instruction. These modules are implemented across all K-12 grades and disciplines and are validated to accelerate disciplinary literacy.
  • Uncategorized 2 activities
    • Conduct and publish research on literacy program outcomes
      Generates and publishes evaluation reports on the impact of LDC implementation, including independent studies showing students gained 7.1 to 9.4 months of additional learning compared to peers in control groups across over 100 schools in LAUSD and New York City from 2015 to 2020. Published annual implementation and outcome reports for multiple school years and districts.
    • Support implementation of curriculum-embedded writing tasks
      Supports teachers in implementing one to four curriculum-embedded, SCALE-validated writing performance tasks per semester in each of three core disciplines: ELA, Science, and Social Studies, with ongoing analysis of student work using calibrated rubrics to monitor progress.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$4.13M
Contributions & grants$3.71M90%
Program service revenue$416K10%
Investment income$600%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$3.99M
Program expenses87%
Admin / overhead13%
Fundraising0%
Salaries & benefits$2.15M
Grants paid out$0
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$2.69M
Cash$915K
Investments$0
Liabilities$1.03M
Net assets$1.66M
Liquid reserves2.8 mo
4 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +72.2%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

paid leadership · 7
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
CHAD VIGNOLA PRESIDENT / EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 60 $365K
KAMERON ANN LEWIS LEVIN CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER 40 $181K
ROBERT KASHER CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER 40 $180K
DWIGHT NOLT DIR. OF DISTRICT LEADERSHIP 40 $159K
NEPHI WRIGHT PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE DEVELOP 40 $151K
SABRINA ALICEA DIR. OF CURRICULUM DEVELOP 40 $139K
DANA MOLONEY SECRETARY 1 $3K
board members · 6
  • CARL-ANTHONY WATSON — DIRECTOR
  • HARLAN WAKSAL — DIRECTOR
  • JOHN KATZMAN — BOARD CHAIR
  • MARLA UCELLI-KASHYAP — DIRECTOR
  • RANDY MASTRO — DIRECTOR
  • TANYA BAKER — DIRECTOR
relationships · 28

Who they work with

  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Funder — LDC was spun off from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s primary common core implementation grant-making strategy.
  • CRESST (UCLA) Partner — Conducted an independent study on LDC's impact in 110+ schools in LAUSD and NYC.
  • CRESST (UCLA) Partner — Conducted independent evaluation of LDC’s impact under a prior federal grant, confirming significant gains in student learning.
  • CRESST (UCLA) Partner — Engaged CRESST (UCLA) to independently evaluate program impact, including a multi-year study across 100+ schools.
  • CRESST (UCLA) Partner — Research partner that independently evaluated LDC's impact in LAUSD and New York City schools
  • Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Government — Awarded LDC the 2019 Spotlight Award for leading effective Continuous Improvement School Networks
  • Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Government — Awarded LDC the 2019 Spotlight Award for leading effective Continuous Improvement School Networks.
  • Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Network — Recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as a leader in Continuous Improvement School Networks, receiving its 2019 Spotlight Award.
  • Districts Partner — Works with school districts to enable educators to implement college and career readiness standards.
  • Individual teachers Partner — Supports individual teachers in modeling, leading, and succeeding in implementing college and career readiness standards.
  • Kentucky Department of Education Partner — Partnering to implement curriculum and professional learning in school systems across Kentucky under the EIR grant.
  • Los Angeles Unified School District Partner — Partnered with LDC in a study showing significant academic growth in students using the Real Works curriculum.
  • Los Angeles Unified School District Partner — Partnering to implement curriculum and professional learning under the EIR grant.
  • New York City Department of Education Partner — Collaborated on an evaluation of LDC implementation in schools.
  • New York City Department of Education Partner — Collaborates with NYCDOE on implementing disciplinary literacy initiatives aligned with New York Reads through an EIR grant.
  • New York City Department of Education Partner — Partnered with LDC in a study showing significant academic growth in students using the Real Works curriculum.
  • New York City Department of Education Partner — Partnering to implement curriculum and professional learning under the EIR grant.
  • Purdue University's College of Education Partner — Co-implements the Dialogue 250 Civic Literacy Teacher Fellowship through joint professional development and curriculum design.
  • Purdue's James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship Partner — Partners with LDC to deliver the Dialogue 250 Civic Literacy Teacher Fellowship, including leading teacher seminars and civic instruction components.
  • Schools Partner — Engages directly with schools to support educators in implementing college and career readiness standards.
  • Stanford Center for Assessment Learning and Equity (SCALE) Partner — Collaborates to validate LDC's writing performance tasks and student work rubrics aligned to state standards
  • Stanford Center for Assessment Learning and Equity (SCALE) Partner — Collaborates with LDC to validate writing performance tasks and student rubrics used across ELA, Science, and Social Studies disciplines.
  • Stanford Center for Assessment Learning and Equity (SCALE) Partner — Partners with SCALE to validate writing performance tasks and student work rubrics used in curriculum implementation and assessment.
  • Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity Partner — Collaborates with LDC to provide validated rubrics for instruction and assessment.
  • Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity Partner — Provides normed and calibrated rubrics used in Real Works Modules.
  • States Partner — Collaborates with state education agencies to support implementation of college and career readiness standards.
  • Teacher training organizations Partner — Partners with teacher training organizations to support educator professional growth and standards implementation.
  • U.S. Department of Education Government — Funds the Dialogue 250 program through an American History/Civics, Seminars (AHC-Seminars) grant.
strategies · 5

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Authentic Disciplinary Literacy
    methodology: authentic_disciplinary_literacy
    By designing student assignments that mirror the reading and writing practices of professionals in disciplines like history, science, and literary criticism, LDC fosters deeper literacy skills because engaging in authentic expert-level tasks builds real-world academic proficiency and critical thinking.
  • Instructional Core Model with Embedded Performance Tasks
    methodology: instructional-core-model
    By embedding validated writing performance tasks into existing curricula and supporting them through structured professional learning communities (PLCs) and instructional leadership teams (ILTs), LDC improves instructional coherence and teacher practice because alignment across curriculum, teaching, and student engagement drives sustained improvement in literacy instruction.
  • Learn-by-Doing Professional Learning
    methodology: learn_by_doing
    By engaging teachers in active cycles of planning, teaching, and evaluating their practice within sustained professional learning communities, LDC builds expertise because direct application and reflection lead to deeper pedagogical understanding and lasting change.
  • School-Led Capacity Building
    methodology: school-led_improvement
    By developing internal leadership teams and fostering school-based ownership of literacy improvement, LDC sustains change over time because building local expertise reduces dependency on external support and strengthens institutional commitment.
  • User-Centered Design for Educator-Led Development
    methodology: user-centered-design
    By involving teachers in the design of curriculum, professional learning, and digital tools, LDC ensures relevance and usability because solutions grounded in classroom experience are more likely to be adopted and effectively implemented.