I was asked this week if Just Right Academy was just for special needs students. One answer is no. A child does not have to have a diagnosis or difficulty in school to apply and attend. Some parents may choose this option because they are tired of the pressure and demands of homework or hate the direction that end-of-grade tests are taking our schools. They may feel that their child needs more movement or a hands-on way of learning. Other parents may appreciate the teaching-to-mastery philosophy for reading and math. Others are drawn by the small class size and student-to-teacher ratio. Many of our students have been bullied and are looking for a safer environment.

But then, a different answer would be, yes, JRA IS for special needs kids. Because aren’t ALL kids special needs? All children have their unique learning style; sometimes that fits in a mass production model, often it doesn’t. They have their interests and needs. At JRA, a child doesn’t need an IEP to make sure  she gets the individualized instruction needed. This week we started math pretesting to make sure each student is ready to start at his level; some will need a great deal of remediation; others will require more challenging material. Reading pretests will follow in August.

Our philosophy is that sometimes the school needs to be willing to accommodate the student instead of always expecting the student to be the one to change or try to fit in. If you have a student who would like a a different environment, let’s talk!

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