Portable Practical Educational Preparation, Inc. (PPEP, Inc.)

For several years we have endeavored to create a culture that develops the teacher-as-mentor within our schools. The pandemic of 2020 and '21 demonstrated the need for that mentor model to take a central role. As an alternative school our at risk students represent a singularly vulnerable population, frequently with the most tenuous connection to their educations. The kinds of strong student/teacher relationships the develop when a teacher adopts the role of advocate, guide and trusted adult in a student's education have a profound impact on educational outcomes. The ongoing training of mentors by the mentor coach improves the teachers' effectiveness in that role. Mentoring programs, implemented with fidelity, are strongly associated with positive educational outcomes and with other indicators of social/emotional development, such as resilience, self-regulation and academic persistence.
In addition, professional, on-site social workers will provide behavioral support, develop character and resiliency education opportunities and help students to access wraparound support services available to them within the community. The pandemic took a particularly dire toll upon our students, many of whom were forced to become additional or even sole economic providers for the families. As members of an alternative school, they entered the pandemic year already at risk of becoming permanent dropouts; the dislocations of 2020 - 21 have only thrown new barriers into their paths and many will require assistance from trained professionals to integrate the elements of their personal lives and find their way back into the community of learners.. Research indicates that this also is a powerful tool for improving educational outcomes.
As an alternative LEA, we serve a disproportionally high percentage of low-income students, migrant students, EL students and students struggling with housing instability. The COVID 19 pandemic has amplified many of the challenges already experienced by these students resulting in loss of learning time, disrupted routines and disengagement. We need new tools, like Mathspace and Schools PLP, to identify, track and ameliorate the learning loss and confusion caused by these disruptions. These resources support mathematical modeling, data-driven instruction and increased learning time to offset learning losses and to reengage students teetering on the edge of becoming permanent dropouts. We will support these strategies with updated electronically-delivered curriculum resources.
We will also employ ESSER III funds to assist the construction of a new facility for the Cesar Chavez Learning Center in San Luis, AZ. The new building will used to safety deliver instructional services, while meeting CDC mitigation guidelines, to high school students in San Luis, AZ, significant percentages of whom are economically-disadvantaged, EL, or migrant students. Limited space, poor ventilation and limitations of a property lease agreement prevent meaningful upgrades to the physical space of one site, making it impossible to effect improvements that will reduce virus transmission and support student health needs. Therefore, we must build a new facility incorporating the upgrades allowing for mitigation measures while keeping students on-site for in-person learning. Design limitations and constraints within a lease agreement necessitate the construction of a new space, allowing for the implementation of public health protocols and alignment with CDC guidance for safe reopening of the school. The existing school site is small, crowded and inadequately ventilated to allow the implementation of mitigation strategies in the building. This building is connected to other structures and the LEA is prevented from performing significant alterations of the space or ventilation system by the characteristics of the structure and the limitations of the lease. Building a new site will allow the LEA to design the learning space with mitigation strategies and the most recent CDC guidance in mind. This will allow for more in-person learning hours for every student while keeping teachers and staff safe.
Finally, staffing shortages in Arizona public schools are at historic levels and this condition is exacerbated by a significant increase in teachers choosing to leave the profession in the dangerous and difficult months of the COVID-19 pandemic. To retain quality, experienced staff we will provide a retention bonus to staff members who continue to serve our students throughout the school year.