going to work as a team. We did see a lot of changes very quickly because the students feel like they are actually able to do what they needed to do to succeed in a learning environment,” she added.
The siblings have been successful with the students at their locations because they provide that much needed sense of community and support that is often missing in traditional public education systems.
“We’ve seen that a lot of students won’t get to the point where they need to be because they aren’t getting that encouragement to do it. In a community based environment you get a lot of that, the motivation, encouragement, or having people who genuinely believe in you. I think this is something that has really made a difference for the kids,” said Angelica.
These Hope Online learning centers incorporate the concept of blended learning; that is utilizing online curriculum delivered in a classroom environment. There is misperception about online learning, or online schooling, that students spend their day sitting a desk in front of a computer all day long. However, these centers have instructors, classrooms, offer healthy lunches, out door physical activity, and in some cases after school extracurricular activities.
“It’s important that we will only take the students that we can serve and serve them well. When we get a new student, it’s because we have the resources to make sure they succeed. If the student has special needs then that student is sent to a location that has the resources to meet their special needs,” explained Angelica.
The student populations the three locations are serving are made up of high Latino and low-income ratios. Many of these students are those who have fallen between the cracks of the public education system, often because they don’t fit into standardized learning. This form of alternative learning is often a saving grace for these students.
“As we saw our community and the needs of the students, you would see the need for personalized education,” explained Claudia. “For some people it’s not that they don’t get it, but that sometimes they get it in a different way. When we have so many things in education that are standardized for everybody, it’s hard for everybody to fit in under the same lines. So there has to be a way for all students to succeed and especially in ...