A Catalyst for Education Innovation
Many arguing over school choice are concerned about one issue or another - funding, achievement, individual student needs, etc. But one of the most overlooked positive aspects of school choice policy is how it has the potential to allow for innovation in education.
Take, for example, the story of A New Leaf Therapeutic Services and Mia Martin. Mia was diagnosed with Autism at an early age, and the public school setting just wasn’t working for her education needs. But due to her school assignment, Mia was beginning her school day at 5 am to get on the bus and returning home after 6 pm. What a long day for an elementary school child!
And the structure of the day itself was very difficult. Mia was in a classroom setting until around 1pm, and then she was carted across town to a therapy setting where she was in a different setting with different professionals.
Describing the school and therapy juggle, her father, James Martin, expressed his frustration in trying to advocate for his daughter,
You know how sometimes a kid can behave one way in a certain context with one parent, and then act a completely different way in a different context with a different parent? That’s what we were facing with the classroom and therapy sessions. The context was not similar, so we spent a lot of time trying to communicate the differences and the separate challenges in each of these two spaces to help her to adapt.
James Martin, a retired army veteran who spends his days taking care of his daughter, was in search of a better solution. Mia tried a traditional private school setting, but Mia fought the rigid structure. “What kids like Mia really need,” James told the Director, “is a smaller, less stimulating space where teachers and therapists work together to teach these children.”
And that’s just what they did. The Director at First Impressions Academy happened to be connected with the Director at A New Leaf Therapeutics, and they decided to pilot a class where clinical therapists would attend class with the children they helped in therapy. This classroom setting became a partnership known as New Leaf Academy. There was still an educator leading the classroom, but the teacher was able to focus on curriculum and academic progress while behavior therapists managed and analyzed classroom behavior and speech goals.
For James and Mia, this type of education was a dream come true. The speech therapist, the behavior therapist, and the teacher are now all privy to the same context and information. They work together and discuss how education impacts Mia’s behavior and vice versa to help Mia adapt and grow.
James equates the different educational experiences with buying a car, “The first experience was like buying a random car off a lot versus having a car personalized for you from start to finish.”
And for Mia, receiving this type of education was only possible with the combination of adequate medical insurance and the North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship. And this is now the case for several autistic students attending this same enriched classroom. It’s not surprising that autistic children are benefited disproportionately by such scholarships. Caring for a special needs child often strains a family’s finances. To make matters worse, one parent often can’t work a full-time job because they need to devote many hours to navigating the complex health and education needs of their child.
There is no denying that school choice scholarships like the NC Opportunity Scholarship are allowing educators and parents to rethink learning in ways that one-size-fits-all education could never accommodate.
Learning environments should be places of innovation and growth, but they are often stunted by bureaucracy. Spread the story of Mia and James Martin and the beginning of New Leaf Academy. Share the ways we can rethink our education systems for families who are not served by traditional learning environments.