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Marketing Toolkit for ALDS Schools

Amplifying the Impact of LD Schools

We’re excited to introduce a major milestone in a bold, collaborative effort to elevate the visibility and value of LD (learning difference) schools across the country.

Born out of honest conversations and shared challenges voiced by our member school leaders, this strategic branding and marketing initiative was launched with one clear goal: to help LD schools thrive. From enrollment and messaging to community engagement and public perception, LD schools face unique hurdles—and we believe it’s time to meet them with powerful, unified tools.

The result? A comprehensive marketing toolkit designed specifically for LD schools. Developed in partnership with experienced consultants and shaped by the input of our community, these resources are built to empower you to:

  • Reach right-fit families with clarity and confidence

  • Attract and retain passionate, qualified educators

  • Dispel persistent myths about LD education

  • Inspire greater support from your wider community

Whether you’re just starting to tell your school’s story or you’ve been actively refining your brand for years, this toolkit meets you where you are—and helps take your work to the next level.

Ready to explore? Join us for a walk-through of the new ALDS Marketing Toolkit, including a guided tour of the framework, messaging, and strategic guidance you can start using right away.

Toolkit Video Walkthrough
Access the Toolkit

From Insight to Action: What ALDS School Stakeholders Told Us

To inform our marketing toolkit, our team conducted qualitative market research in the form of focus group meetings with various members of the LD school community. Additional research, particularly qualitative in nature and executed in partnership with a firm that specializes in such projects, would further inform the strategic marketing efforts of LD schools. Nonetheless, this qualitative research bolstered our existing knowledge of the LD school landscape and focused our approach to this marketing toolkit. 

Included are the major themes extrapolated from our conversations with ALDS’ Board of Trustees, six administrators from member schools, three parents, and one educational consultant specializing in students with LDs.

Market Research Highlights

How This Toolkit Works

This toolkit is designed to provide ALDS member schools with guidance on four key marketing components that work together:

  1. Developing a strong brand framework, including strategically aligned messaging

  2. Creating compelling content

  3. Reaching your target audience with a multi-channel strategy, including clear calls to action 

  4. Analyzing results in order to make strategic, data-driven adjustments 

Customization based on geographic area and other unique attributes of your school community is advised. Recommendations are drawn, in part, from interviews with ALDS Board Members, ALDS school administrators, LD school parents, and an educational consultant who works with students with learning differences.  

Why a Toolkit Works

Like all academic institutions, LD schools differ in many respects — for example, size, campus offerings, markets, learning profiles (LBLD vs. LBLD+), and grades enrolled. However, their significant similarities, noted below, allow this toolkit to be broadly valuable and implemented. 

  • “Many of us share a common origin story — either a parent or a teacher or educator recognized the brilliance of kids who weren’t being served and created a pathway. Our purpose for existing is a shared trait. The way in which we deliver upon it is different, but our existence is shared.” — ALDS Board Member and Head of School



  • Commonality of the LD school mission 

  • Similar core offerings and educational approaches 

  • Nearly identical target audience

  • Shared challenges of LD schools

  • Limited or absent in-house Marcom (marketing & communication) resources

  • Importance and urgency of work — early intervention is key to effective remediation

  • Relatively small number of LD schools across the country, resulting in less competition among ALDS schools compared to other independent schools

  • Established culture of sharing between LD schools, which far exceeds that of other independent schools