Acorn Learning

Acorn Learning began in 2013 as Acorn Evaluation. Our mission: to help organizations grow and achieve their full potential - just like the tiny acorns that surround our home office in San Diego, each holding the promise of becoming a mighty oak. We started as a consulting and evaluation company, designing technical tools to help programs evaluate their outcomes. While those tools were powerful, we quickly realized they weren’t enough on their own. Without the foundational skills to use them - like data literacy, strong workflows, and confident leadership - even the best tools would go unused. So, we shifted our focus. We began offering professional development in areas like data storytelling, management practices, and continuous improvement - laying the groundwork that programs needed to use data with purpose and confidence. Over time, this kind of capacity-building became central to our work. Evaluation took a back seat, and in 2023, we launched a new name for our professional development programs: Acorn Learning. In 2025 we dropped the “Evaluation” part of our name to reflect the truth of who we’d become - not just an evaluation firm, but a learning company. Today, Acorn has served hundreds of Head Start and Community Action Programs across the country - programs doing high-stakes, high-impact work for children and families living in poverty. These agencies need skilled leadership and well-organized systems to succeed. We’re here to help them get there - with professional development that build capacity for long-term impact. At every step, our mission remains the same: to help programs learn and improve so they can better serve their communities. We believe in the potential of every person and every program we work with - and we’re here to support that growth with expertise, heart, and the belief that change is possible.