Breakthrough Minneapolis at Blake

Breakthrough Minneapolis at Blake: 

Partnership between Blake School and Minneapolis Public Schools

Breakthrough Minneapolis at Blake (formerly LearningWorks) is a unique public-private partnership between Blake School and Minneapolis Public Schools. Since 2000, we have prepared students to thrive in college and offered real-world teaching experiences to high school and college students.

We offer a three-year, 500-hour academic enrichment program to a representative group highly-motivated Minneapolis Public School students in a setting built around our core belief that "it's cool to be you, it's cool to be smart, and it's cool to care."

Our teachers are high school seniors and college-age students, which means the program can leverage positive peer relationships to accomplish our dual mission of setting young people on the path to college, while engaging older students in the art of teaching. All our teachers receive over 250 hours of hands-on student interaction, over 80 hours of training in best practice approaches, and support of experienced Instructional Coaches.

Our Results

• 75% of our aspiring teachers go on to pursue careers in teaching, citing Breakthrough Minneapolis at Blake as their primary influence.
• 99% of our students graduate from high school on time; and, 83% of those graduates are currently enrolled in, or have graduated from college.