Insitute for Learning
Strengthening classrooms across Lagonav — one teacher, one school, one community at a time.
A New Way of Teaching for a New Haiti
Across Haiti, children are too often expected to endure rote memorization, corporal punishment, and lessons taught in French — a language most do not speak at home. In these conditions, real learning becomes difficult, fragile, or painfully out of reach. But on Lagonav, a different story is unfolding. Through MCLC’s Institute for Learning, educators discover what’s possible when classrooms become places of dignity, curiosity, and joy.
Teachers learn to lead without instilling fear.
Students learn to think, question, and create.
Communities learn that meaningful education can grow anywhere — even in the hardest times.
Why Teacher Training Matters
A child’s future is shaped by the person at the front of the classroom. When teachers feel confident, supported, and equipped with the right tools, learning changes — for the whole school.
That’s why at MCLC lasting transformation begins with training educators in a Haitian Creole–based, nonviolent, participatory approach to classroom management.
But this isn’t just training. It’s a movement toward a brighter, more just future for Haitian children.
Matènwa Trainings
- Observation and Overview of the Matènwa Way
- Creating A Participatory Environment
- Education is a Conversation: Children’s Rights
- Integrating Organic Gardening
- Mother Tongue Books Methodology
- Psychology of Learning
- Reflection Circles
- Early Childhood Development
Every school transformed, every teacher trained, every child reading with confidence is a step toward a future where education is not a privilege, but a right.
What the Program Provides
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Intensive Teacher Workshops
Educators dive into child-centered learning, Creole-first literacy, nonviolent discipline, classroom management, and practical strategies that work in rural Haitian schools. -
School-Based Mentoring
MCLC trainers visit classrooms regularly — observing, modeling lessons, coaching teachers, and celebrating progress. -
Leadership Development for School Directors
Directors are equipped to lead with compassion, clarity, and community trust, replacing punitive models with supportive ones. -
Hands-On Learning Across Subjects
Teachers learn to integrate reading, writing, math, science, gardening, and the arts into dynamic, hands-on lessons. -
A Growing Network of Partner Schools
More than 120 schools have engaged with MCLC’s methods — creating a ripple of change from teacher to student, school to school.
The Impact — from Vision to Reality
Since the founding of MCLC in 1996 and the formal establishment of the Institute for Learning in 2015, the results speak for themselves.
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More than 120 schools across Lagonav and other regions of Haiti have adopted MCLC’s model — adapting mother-tongue literacy, nonviolent pedagogy, and hands-on learning in their classrooms.
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Thousands of educators — teachers, school directors, and staff — have participated in IFL trainings, learning alternatives to rote memorization, punitive discipline and foreign-language instruction; many have returned to lead lasting change in their communities.
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Dramatic improvements in reading outcomes for students taught under the Matènwa method: in pilot partner schools, after two years of IFL-influenced teaching, student reading fluency rose from approximately 0 words per minute to an average of 34 words per minute.
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In MCLC’s own “Lab School,” third graders read at an average of 73 words per minute with full comprehension — a benchmark rarely seen in rural Haitian classrooms.
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A full continuum of education available — from preschool through high school — rather than the fragmented, limited-access schooling that many rural children experience. As a result, MCLC students graduated secondary school at much higher rates than national averages. For example, 83% of MCLC’s first high-school graduates passed the national baccalaureate exam, compared to only 37% nationally.
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A replicable, scalable model of education: MCLC’s approach to mother-tongue instruction, organic gardening, arts integration, and whole-child development has inspired educational reform across Haiti — challenging the historic norm of French-only, punishment-based schooling.
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Long-term community impact: Beyond academics, MCLC emphasizes dignity, community leadership, and sustainable livelihoods — creating conditions for real social transformation rather than temporary relief.
How You Can Help Strengthen Teaching Across Lagonav
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Support a Teacher Training Workshop
Your gift equips teachers with the skills they need to help children thrive. -
Fund School-Based Mentoring
Classroom visits make all the difference — and ensure the training becomes sustainable. -
Sponsor a Partner School
Help expand MCLC’s approach to new schools seeking a better way to teach. -
Invest in Leadership Development
When directors grow, whole schools grow with them.