Before Bridgemark Center for Learning ever had a name, a building, or a mission statement, it began in a much quieter place—in my heart.
At the time, I was serving as the Family Ministries Coordinator at our church, walking alongside families, children, and students through seasons of growth, struggle, and faith. At home, I was homeschooling my own dyslexic son. Every day, I watched him work twice as hard just to keep up. I saw his frustration, his fatigue, and the subtle ways his confidence was being chipped away—not because he wasn’t capable, but because he wasn’t being taught in the way his brain was designed to learn. Like so many parents, I reached out for help, asked questions, and searched for resources. What I found was heartbreaking: in Tyler and throughout East Texas, there were very few options for children with dyslexia and other learning differences. Support was limited, and evidence-based instruction— especially instruction that included language therapy—was incredibly difficult to access and, when it was, extremely expensive.
My heart broke not only for my son, but for the many children and families facing the same struggle. These were bright, creative, capable students who were being misunderstood, mislabeled, or quietly left behind. I knew in my spirit that something had to change and began to pray. I began dreaming about what school should look like for these students—a place where learning differences were understood and supported. A place where children could explore, grow, and learn without the constant weight of perfectionism, standardized testing, and comparison. A place where trained teachers would teach students in the way they learn best.
Around that same time, I was also working with homeschool students as Executive Director of Venture, an organization I had founded years earlier. Many of those students were struggling in similar ways. They were eager to learn but lacked access to evidence-based practices, particularly structured literacy and language therapy that could truly address the root of their challenges. Once again, I saw the gap—and I felt the calling to step into it. Having founded Venture, I already knew something important: God-sized dreams are possible. Through many prayers, honest conversations, and moments of uncertainty, a clear desire continued to surface—I wanted to help create a place where students with learning differences could thrive, belong, and be fully themselves. Then I met Jaime Warren.
Meeting Jaime was like a breath of fresh air. She understood the vision, shared the heart, and brought the hope, the experience and the expertise that this dream could become a reality. What once felt heavy and overwhelming suddenly felt possible. Together, we began to imagine a school that would bridge the gap—between struggle and confidence, between frustration and understanding, between where students were and where they were capable of going. Our gifts combined in a beautiful way to follow God in creating Bridgemark Center for Learning.
Bridgemark exists today because students with learning differences deserve more — more understanding, more support, more evidence-based instruction, and more freedom to learn as they were created to learn. When God places a calling on your heart, even one that feels impossibly big, He is faithful to make a way.
Wendy Baker, Bridgemark Co-Founder
In 1975 with just a few years of teaching experience, our special education teacher stopped by my 5th grade classroom and said, “Jaime, we think that boy is dyslexic, but we don’t know what to do about it.” The sad fact of the matter is, she was right! But, unfortunately, at that time there was not much information available regarding dyslexia, and certainly few professional development opportunities to prepare teachers to understand it. If only I had known then what I know now, I could have made a difference in the life and the future of that young man. But, that encounter inspired me. I signed up for every opportunity I could find to learn more about reading. I developed the cutest teaching devices -- cereal box book reports, mystery boxes, questioning techniques-- but found nothing “concrete” as to how to teach foundational reading skills, particularly to students whose learning styles were outside the norm. Observations of my efforts by my principals yielded glowing reports of my abilities as a “master teacher,” and yet I knew there must be more.
After nineteen years as a classroom teacher in Texas and Oklahoma, while attending seminars to bolster my knowledge, I was introduced to the work of Eric Jensen, Ph.D. and to Joseph Renzulli, Ph.D. at UConn’s Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education, and Talent Development. Jensen is known for helping educators understand how brain research should be directly linked to student achievement through practical applications in their classrooms while Renzulli is known as a pioneer in gifted education and application of its teaching strategies for all students through his Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM). Sitting under the teaching of both Jensen and Renzulli drastically broadened my understanding of what teaching could be and how these unique perspectives could impact ALL students.
2001-2003 marked my final years as a classroom teacher when my Lower School Head asked me to develop a learning support program within a private school setting for students struggling to read. This opened my eyes and heart to attaining further education – training in multisensory structured language education (MSLE). Through completion of the rigorous training regimen, questions that haunted me through years of teaching such as “Why can’t Johnny or Susie read?” were finally answered. Application of this training received through the Shelton School in Dallas, the largest independent school in the world for intelligent students with learning differences, established a firm foundation for my students’ abilities to access information from the written page -- progress climbed, and my students’ abilities and confidence began to soar.
I began to wonder, if we can accomplish this with incremental pull-out sessions in a regular school-day routine, how much more progress and benefit could be gained for students if they were immersed in MSLE components throughout their entire school day, within each and every class from 1st grade through 12th grade? What if ALL teachers were trained in structured literacy, with brain-based learning interwoven through ALL subjects, 8:00-3:00, Monday – Friday?
God gave me a vision for a private school offering just this type of specialized teaching and learning, with evidence-based structured literacy, and then He brought Wendy Baker into my life through a mutual friend who knew the dream Wendy and I shared.
Jaime Warren, Bridgemark Co-Founder/Executive Director Emerita
The dream that the Lord placed on our hearts was becoming a reality. We were excited that a school for students with learning differences (dyslexia, auditory processing, dysgraphia, AD/HD, etc…) would be opening in the fall of 2014 in TYLER!!!! – Bridgemark Center for Learning. Bridgemark is modeled after the largest LD school in the nation, the Shelton School in Dallas, where students with dyslexia and other learning differences thrive. Bridgemark is also fully accredited through Cognia, a globally recognized quality assurance process that evaluates K-12 schools and systems against rigorous standards, signifying they meet high levels of educational quality, effectiveness, and continuous improvement .
Bridgemark has touched the lives of over 600 students and their families. Once Bridgemark’s reputation began to spread, several families chose to relocate to Tyler to take advantage of the Bridgemark experience, even from as far away as West Virginia.
Watch our video to hear more from students and families who have experienced the difference Bridgemark can make.
Perhaps our Dream might be an answer to your Prayer. THANKFUL,
Jaime Warren and Wendy Baker Bridgemark Founders