Tomorrow's Leadership Collaborative Charter School (TLC)

Our mission is to provide a high-impact, high-quality, transformative learning setting for diverse students and act as an innovation and demonstration site for inclusive education in Orange County and beyond. TLC’s unique learning environment brings together students of diverse abilities and backgrounds to learn and grow in caring, arts-enriched classrooms that embrace the whole child. Our vision is for TLC to serve as a model school that generates and disseminates knowledge to promote learning for ALL students, enhance the community, and advance the field of education.

Opened in 2018 in the City of Orange, TLC is an acclaimed and high impact TK-6th elementary charter school offering a unique and fully inclusive model educational program. TLC is Orange County’s first “diverse-by-design” school, providing full access to general education to every child, an arts-enriched school-wide curriculum, and all additional supports or services students need to learn, grow, and thrive together. TLC classrooms reflect the wealth of diversity present in Orange County, including: students with disabilities, low-income students, gifted students, English Learners, and students who bring varied cultures, experiences, beliefs, goals, and interests. Our lively and engaging classrooms promote empathy and care, embracing the whole child and celebrating what is unique and special about every learner at our school.

In our first year of operation, TLC was honored to be named one of seven National Innovation Schools by the Walton Family Foundation due to its commitment to family supports and care in addition to academic achievement and growth for all students. TLC utilizes a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) curriculum designed to minimize barriers and maximize learning for all students, and features a supportive and nurturing environment where students can develop essential life skills of empathy, respect, and care. Two TLC families are featured on the Walton Family Foundation website discussing the difference that TLC has made in their lives TLC // Kindness, Respect, & Acceptance: https://vimeo.com/357005157/8a3b99d2d0

TLC provides all services that its marginalized students and families need for educational success, including: a rigorous academic program with enrichments in the arts and life sciences, individual therapies and counseling for children and families in crisis, a free breakfast/lunch program, adaptive and assistive technology, free afterschool program, regular food bank distributions, and resource coordination for families in need of additional supports and services beyond the school setting.

With a focus on educational innovation and college access for both students and staff, TLC partners with UC-Irvine, CSU Fullerton, and Chapman University as a research and teacher training site to develop educators able to meet the needs of diverse learners and families in OC and beyond.

Since 2018, TLC has impacted hundreds of students and families in Orange County. The first and only full inclusion elementary school in OC, TLC provides all individualized attention, family supports, and resource connections our students need to learn and thrive. TLC lives the promise of diverse-by-design education, with a school community that increasingly reflects the natural variation of the Orange County community year after year. In 2021-2022, TLC’s 175 TK-6th grade students include: 17.9% students with disabilities (our proportion of students with significant needs is more than double that of surrounding schools), 73% Latinx, 36% English Language Learners, and 63% of students living in low-income households. Now in our fourth year, we already see the impact of our caring and inclusive approach: our students demonstrate high academic growth and achievement at all grade levels, daily attendance is high, and we have a growing list of families hoping to enroll their children. TLC has established our school as a hub for teacher preparation, innovation, research, and policy development. TLC is a key research partner for UC Irvine and CSU Fullerton, and a training site for new teachers attending Chapman University or UC Irvine.

In the last two years, TLC has been called upon in new and unprecedented ways due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. As schools across the nation faced sudden closures in Spring 2020, TLC immediately launched our Kindness Campaign to provide 1:1 tech and wireless access to all students. TLC parents, staff, and families all worked together to raise over $60,000 and make sure no child was left out of learning. Weekly food distributions for families, daily communications with staff, and thoughtfully prepared and engaging learning activities for students has made it possible for our TLC community to remain strong even during such difficult times.

Looking ahead, we aim to expand our impact across OC and promote full inclusion for all students – regardless of ability, language, culture, or background. TLC will continue to grow over the next few years, reaching full enrollment of 450 students by 2025. With an eye toward the future of special education and diverse learners, TLC will drive innovation and improvement in the field through research, practice, and our unwavering commitment to each, every, and all.

TLC is the first public school in Orange County offering full inclusion and educational access to all. As California public school funding does not cover the real costs for educating all students, TLC continuously seeks additional funds to provide a high quality education to our students with disabilities, those living in poverty, and those in need of mental health support.
Our essential funding needs:
• Special Education: As a school that welcomes all students, including those with the most complex needs, TLC must raise additional funds annually to cover the full costs of services, supports, and enrichments provided at TLC. (need: >$150,000)
• After School: Families need affordable child care and students so often need academic intervention support. TLC provides a FREE after school extended learning program to all students. Federal and state funds dedicated to extended learning help with some costs for the program, but not all. (need: $20,000)
• Counseling: School disruptions and the pandemic have resulted in stress, strain, and anxiety for our students and families. Unfortunately, state and federal funds do not cover needed counseling supports. (need: $8,000)

Orange County and surrounding areas

TLC is designed to demonstrate that schools can tackle the challenges of educating the next generation to succeed in a dynamic and increasingly interconnected world. We look beyond the basic and recognize that educational innovation targeting critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration is essential to preparing students for the future. At TLC, our mission is to demonstrate how to make real progress in education through authentic inclusion and arts-enriched education for every child -- especially those who have been persistently marginalized, underestimated and shut out for far, far, too long.

The TLC Leadership Board is a volunteer group of community leaders, educators, and a parent. The Board is committed to supporting TLC’s mission in a safe and beautiful environment with a talented team of teachers, staff and school leadership through fundraising efforts, careful budgeting and management of school facilities. We navigated through the challenges of being a new school and then the challenges of keeping the school safe during a pandemic. The Board is inspired by the amazing students at TLC and their stories of making friends, creating art and music and learning through collaboration.