How we place students at LDS

At LDS, a core part of our RISE One-to-one program placements is making a customized match for each learner. This attention to detail sets LDS apart from other services. Ahead of the 2024-25 school year, I wanted to pull back the curtain and explain what goes into placing students at LDS and why sometimes a placement at LDS can take a little time. 

Each Learner’s Variables 

You provide plenty of information about your learner at the intake or in the application form.  

• Support needs including academic subjects, their grade level, specific challenges  
• Availability  
• Location preference  

LDS Variables 

We consider this information and the following LDS variables when making a placement:   

• Instructor skillset. We’re incredibly lucky to have a host of talented instructors from all walks of life and various backgrounds. Instructors with different specialties come to LDS to provide specialized instruction. We have an incredible diversity of individuals, but not every instructor can teach literacy and/or math to every grade, so we can’t just place any instructor with any learner.  
• Instructor availability. You might have heard LDS referred to as a dynamic organization. This is true in many ways, including how and when our instructors work with LDS. Some instructors are with us full-time, and others work with LDS on a contract basis for fewer hours each week. This means that we have all kinds of schedules for our LDS instructors. Matching a student with an instructor depends on when that instructor is available and if that matches when the student is available.   
• Instructor demeanour. If you’ve completed an intake with LDS, you’ve likely shared what personality type and support your student responds best to. Our instructors’ personalities are their greatest strengths, and as we take a strengths-based approach at LDS, we will do our best to match instructors with students who will gel well with their teaching styles and personalities.  
• LDS Centre capacity. If you’ve visited either of LDS’ Learning Centres or peeked inside LDS Access, you’ll know our Learning Centres have limited space. We have a limit on how many students and instructors we can have in the centres simultaneously. Our centres are often full school days from 4:30 – 6:30pm. If you’re looking for an in-person spot at LDS, this might contribute to a longer wait time.   
• Instructor locations. At the time of writing, LDS operates out of a) our East Vancouver and North Vancouver Learning Centres, b) one Mobile Classroom in two locations, c) online, and d) in two schools. Our instructors can’t be in two places at once unless one of those places is online. It can be challenging to align our instructor’s location with where a learner can be.       

All of these considerations narrow down the instructor match options. The more availability or location options a learner can provide, the faster we’re likely to find an instructor match for the learner.  

It’s also worth noting that our instructors’ availability and location can also change each year. This is why we often can’t match a returning student with the same instructor, even if you provide us with the same availability you had the previous year.   

Receiving a Placement Offer 

Once we’ve matched a student with an instructor, the Family and Student Services Team or the Program Manager puts together a placement offer that includes the following:  

• Proposed placement and start date (and end date, if applicable)  
• Individualized fees and funding considerations (including writing a funding letter, if applicable)  

Our placement team does its best to understand student and family needs. They make all the matches and placement offers. We do not use computer algorithms in this process, so it can take some time when we’re working through offering placements to a high volume of learners, for example, at the beginning of the school year.   

Our small placement team works incredibly hard and gets back to all families as soon as we reasonably can.  

If you have any questions about our thorough, individualized process, please reach out with your questions. 

– Alice Bromfield, Senior Manager, Programs

LDS is a community of dedicated professionals who write collaboratively. We recognize the contribution of unnamed team members for their wisdom and input.