The words “underserved populations,” in the context of access to a quality K-12 education, should not be part of Arizona’s 21st century vocabulary. In fact, the concept of universal education is baked into our democracy, as is the belief that all students are entitled to a free education. We have always known that a strong education system pays huge economic and social dividends. When it comes to helping kids set their sights on high school and beyond, serving these underserved populations is, in fact, serving our own self-interest as a society.
Acting on this conviction, America created a system of free public K-12 education that was available to all students. As largely brick and mortar-based institutions, however, our education system has historically faced limitations in achieving its goals of equal access to education that by design, must go beyond geographic considerations alone. This history includes many chapters that reflect our country’s complex, at times controversial and complicated history, but that history led, in part, to the creation of innovative charter school models that break down geographic barriers between students and robust educational offerings. Primavera Online schools is one such model. For the past 20 years, charter schools like ours have been able to fill many of the gaps that still exist in traditional brick and mortar schools. This is particularly true as learning modalities evolve to meet the changing needs of today’s “digital natives.”
At our core, Primavera is committed to providing access to a high quality education for all students across the state of Arizona, whether they be underserved populations, socioeconomically disadvantaged, or those who face any other barrier that impact’s a student’s ability to fulfill his or her academic potential. Because we are a public school, financing a high school education is not an issue of access. Being a single parent, however, is. So is needing to hold a job to help feed or support your family. Others struggle with learning in a physical classroom environment, which in and of itself can be due to a wide variety of reasons. Sometimes additional access options are needed simply because a student is behind in the credits required to graduate with one’s peers. All of these are factors of access, and they are all factors that Primavera’s model of online education is successful in addressing.
While issues regarding access to education cut across all demographics, some geographic areas have larger pockets of underserved kids than others. These aren’t only in rural communities. For example, take the southwestern portion of the Phoenix metro-area. In the communities of of Avondale, Tolleson, and West Phoenix, we serve almost 1,000 students, the most from any one single area in the state. Clearly there is a need for an engaging, accessible and modern online education in these communities, and we’re immensely proud to be of service. We’re equally proud of the students who learn and thrive with us.
We deeply appreciate the sense of partnership we have had with these communities, and for the ongoing efforts of state legislators in championing increased access to high quality education for the kids in their communities. Through Primavera, students in underserved areas across the state are getting the same opportunities as those in more affluent communities to receive a state-of-the-art online education that traditional public schools do not offer.
If the concept of “underserved kids” seems at best a well-intentioned abstraction, we invite you to hear the stories and voices of our students. You may recall that we recently wrote about one student in particular, who was clearly falling through the cracks in our public-school model, for no other fault on the school’s part than being unable to adapt to her needs and circumstances. In that story, we wrote:
At age 14, Jasmine was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Medication didn’t seem to help at all. She struggled looking at a screen long enough to stay focused on assignments involving a computer or typing. Halfway through her sophomore year, she had knee surgery and couldn’t get around campus easily. She fell behind and started hating school.
Before it got better, it got worse. She tried an online school but didn’t learn anything because she considered it too easy. By the time she turned 17, she was living part time in Texas due to family circumstances, with little hope of graduating. She didn’t have friends because she didn’t attend the local public school. She was homesick being away from her mom. She couldn’t sleep at night.
Enrolling at Primavera was a turning point for Jasmine. The online format not only appealed to her interests and challenged her, but made it possible for her to enroll while she was living back and forth between different members of her family. It was also through Primavera that she found someone who she thought was not only was worth listening to, but who also seemed to hear her in return: her English teacher, Mr. Forrett. Thanks in part to his faith in her, things started to change for the positive in Jasmine’s life.
Through our website, primaverafacts.com, you’ll meet many other kids whose stories are just as compelling as Jasmine’s. There’s Destiny, who fell behind in school because of frequent moves and was unable to receive the credits she needed to graduate. Or K.T., who found traditional classroom environments incredibly stressful, and who was eventually “kicked out” of school after falling too far behind. You’ll also meet Grace, whose ambitions to become a web developer and coder led her to a vocational school — and for whom Primavera offered the freedom to pursue her career goals and continue her required high school courses.
The voices and stories of the students we serve at Primavera — the underserved of our communities — are the most powerful evidence we can offer of the value of our online educational model. But more pragmatically, when assessing its value, it is a fact that all of the kids we serve have the potential to be leaders who contribute to their communities. The choices we give them is up to us, as parents, leaders, educators, innovators and especially our elected representatives. Many of the kids we teach every day might have been tempted to drop out in the absence of an alternative to brick and mortar schools such as Primavera. As that alternative, we are proud to be a partner with our state, our schools and our families to help shoulder the goal of expanding access to education along with the public schools in communities throughout our state. It is this mission that inspires and motivates us every day.
