Where Conventional Schools Fail, Winston Preparatory Works for Students with Learning Differences
Winston Preparatory School students enjoy unprecedented success, both academically and personally:
Research in Practice:
The Winston Preparatory Innovation Lab
For over 20 years cutting-edge research and programming has been at the heart of Winston Prep. The Winston Innovation Lab brings leaders, teachers, and strategic partners together to link new science and understanding to our everyday work at our campuses.
—Elizabeth Mendelsohn, Director of the Winston Innovation Lab
Other life-changing Innovation Lab initiatives include the Winston Essential Skills Survey that assesses the socio-emotional progress of its students to help them succeed personally as well as academically, Foster Wellness to promote wellness in the WPS community, and Ongoing and Intentionally Designed Professional Learning, a key factor in keeping a faculty of expert learning specialists who deeply understand students with learning difference.
Why Winston works is clear: this is research in practice fully dedicated to students who have been excluded from traditional learning models for decades.
One powerful example of this research-driven approach in action is Winston's Transitions Program. This highly individualized day program for students ages 17 to 21 with learning differences extends the Winston Preparatory School educational experience by identifying and targeting each student's strengths and needs. The program emerged directly from the Innovation Lab research study Lives Over Time which identified a critical gap: many graduates, despite completing 12th grade, struggled in higher education or early careers. Winston responded by creating Transitions to bridge this gap between K-12 education and independent adult life.
See for yourself by attending a Winston Preparatory Open House at any of the school’s campuses across the U.S.
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“Winston Prep teachers are all invested in me doing my best,” says Jordan, a 9th grader at the school. “My Focus teacher really means a lot to me because she gives me confidence. She talks to me like I matter. She taught me skills I never had before, like responsibility and self-advocacy.”
Focus is only possible because of WPS’s exceptional level of teacher training. Through the Innovation Lab, teachers are provided the sophisticated assessment techniques and the latest research-based interventions to create an environment where educators are constantly refining their understanding of each student's learning profile and adjusting teaching methods accordingly.
—jordan, 9th grader
My Focus teacher really means a lot to me because she gives me confidence. She talks to me like I matter. She taught me skills I never had before, like responsibility and self-advocacy.
At the heart of Winston Innovation Lab methodology is its unique Focus Program, daily one-on-one sessions between students and learning specialists that provide unparalleled personalized attention. The Focus Program provides daily, one-to-one remedial instruction for each student. It’s not necessarily classroom help (although it helps with that as well). Focus, first and foremost, is about finding the right solutions to help each child learn. This creates a coordinated approach where real-time assessment is constantly happening. Teachers evaluate whether strategies are working in the moment and adjust immediately rather than waiting for quarterly report cards or standardized tests.
Most importantly Focus creates deep, lasting bonds between students and teachers.
Esther, a 10th grader at Winston Preparatory New Jersey, says, “I realized Winston Prep was the right place for me on my day when I went to my focus session with my new teacher. I’d never had that one-on-one experience and when I finally did and realized how supportive the whole community is, I started to finally feel calm in a school environment.”
Continuous Feedback and Personalized Learning: The Focus Program
See for yourself by attending a Winston Preparatory Open House at any of the school’s campuses across the U.S.
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Sponsored by Winston Preparatory School
Students with learning differences often struggle in conventional schools. They are less likely to graduate high school, attend college, or have strong social bonds with their peers. Parents who’ve watched their child struggle in a traditional educational setting may feel this narrative as a painful reminder that no matter what they’ve tried, their child may have a harder time succeeding both in school and after graduation. But narratives aren’t set in stone.
Winston Preparatory School is rewriting the script for students with learning differences. It offers students with learning differences ages eight to 21 a highly individualized, holistic, and responsive education since 1981, on both physical and virtual campuses. When students with dyslexia, executive functioning difficulties (ADHD), and nonverbal learning disorders (NVLD) leave conventional school for WPS’ innovative, nationally-recognized model, they discover a new narrative: Winston Preparatory is an education that works.
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By StoryStudio on May 14, 2025
The key to unlocking these remarkable results is what makes Winston Preparatory School different than any other.
The driver of this success is the Winston Innovation Lab. The Innovation Lab isn't just a building or room — it's a dynamic concept that permeates every aspect of the school's approach to education. The Lab exemplifies Winston Preparatory’s commitment to research in practice, creating a continuous feedback loop between research and classroom implementation. By continually examining what works for each individual student, recognizing patterns across their diverse learning profiles, and adapting teaching methodologies accordingly, WPS has developed an educational model unlike any other.
"For over 20 years cutting-edge research and programming has been at the heart of Winston Prep," explains Elizabeth Mendelsohn, Director of the Winston Innovation Lab. "The Winston Innovation Lab brings leaders, teachers, and strategic partners together to link new science and understanding to our everyday work at our campuses."
What makes the Innovation Lab groundbreaking is its ability to look beyond immediate academic outcomes. The school examines long-term success by following graduates ten to 15 years into their careers, identifying which former students are thriving, and analyzing the factors that contributed to their success.
99% graduation rate
80% percent college enrollment (versus the national average of 30%)
881 college, university, and post-graduate program acceptances in the last three years alone
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For teachers specifically, Winston offers the Teacher Excellence and Leadership Development Program. Structured as a year-long course, this program deepens faculty expertise in learning specialization, paving the way for leadership roles and offers a monetary reward for those who reach the highest levels of excellence.
“Teacher Excellence was one of the most useful things I’ve ever done in my life, and one of the most useful courses I’ve ever taken,” says WPS Connecticut teacher Britny Ellis. “I learned more in a year of Teacher Excellence than I did in four years at college.”
For parents who have heard phrases like "your child just isn't good at reading" or "well, someone has to be the lowest in the class,” the WPS approach offers something profoundly different: permission to hope.
“Our daughter is now blossoming and thriving,” says the parents of a Winston Preparatory New Jersey student. “The long road we had to take to get her to Winston Prep was worth every tear, every sleepless night, and every penny spent on lawyers and advocates. This is where she belongs… academically, socially, and emotionally. We finally got our daughter back, and she is becoming the person she is meant to be.”
Unlike conventional education systems that often function as "sorting mechanisms" from kindergarten onward—ranking students as good, average, or poor learners—Winston Preparatory School begins with a fundamentally different philosophy: understand the child first, then build a curriculum around their unique needs.
This process starts before a student even enrolls. From the initial application, WPS begins by looking through a neuropsychological lens based on decades of research on learning and cognition to understand who the students are as learners and individuals. This individualized understanding creates an emotional transformation not just for students but for entire families.
Understanding the Child First: Permission to Hope
As one parent testimonial reveals: "Our son is excited to go to school every day and comes home energetic. I think he loves the challenge, and perhaps, for the first time, feels like he is understood. He is doing amazingly, and it transcends all aspects of his life. We didn’t expect to see this transformation so soon!”
In a world where education often struggles to keep pace with our evolving understanding of learning differences, Winston Preparatory School's Innovation Lab shows what's possible when research and practice come together in service of understanding each child as a unique and capable learner. If your child has learning differences, WPS offers hope.
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