iEmpire AcademyA Proposed REAL Journey Academies K-8 School

Our Presentation Team

Alex Lucero – Co-Founder and CEO, REAL Journey

Academies

Dr. Lonnie Yancsurak – Lead Petitioner and Chief Business

Officer, REAL Journey Academies

Amanda Noriega – Director of Academics, REAL Journey

Academies

Brittany Perez – School Counselor, REAL Journey

Academies

REAL Journey AcademiesA charter school organization serving the families of the Inland Empire

REAL Journey Mission

REAL Journey Academies (RJA) creates active and

involved citizens by focusing on academic

achievement, character development, and service

to the community. At RJA, administrators,

teachers, and parents work as a team to help our

students acquire the skills and resources necessary

to be successful in high school and beyond.

About REAL Journey Academies

RJA has been in operation since 2008.

RJA serves 1200 students across Riverside and San

Bernardino Counties.

RJA’s San Bernardino site-based schools are New Vision

Middle School (6-8) and Excel Prep Elementary (K-5). RJA

is also opening Entrepreneur High School in August of

2018.

RJA’s Riverside County independent study learning center

is Excel Prep Charter in Moreno Valley (K-6).

RJA’s San Bernardino independent study learning center is

Success Academy in Fontana (K-6).

Our modern facilities:

Entrepreneur High School – Opening

August 2018 in San Bernardino (former

KMART Building)

Success Academy - Fontana

Some of the students we currently serve:

iEmpire AcademyA Proposed REAL Journey Academies K-8 School

Introduction to iEmpire Academy

We are petitioning to open a countywide K-8 charter school

in Riverside County to better support the students from our

communities, many of whom are Latino, African-American,

and white students who need intense support in basic English

and math literacy.

Community Need

After reviewing our target communities of Moreno Valley, Riverside, and

Jurupa Valley, we have determined that there is great need for a

program that focuses on literacy for all students across the entire school

day. Our program does exactly that, in addition to giving each student a

full hour of personalized instruction each day at his/her instructional

level.

Why iEmpire qualifies for a countywide

benefit charter:

iEmpire would be the only Riverside County school that offers all-

day literacy instruction to all students, and specifically students

who need intense support in the mastery of English language skills

and numeracy.

A cluster school model:

Will allow more students to access our unique program.

Will increase the likelihood that students moving within the

region can stay with our program (due to a high transiency

rate among our target population).

AcademicsAll day literacy for all students

Educational Philosophy

Success in life is built on a solid foundation of learning. The first critical

step is to learn how to read. Children who aren’t reading well by third

grade are less likely to graduate from high school, and are unprepared

for college or career.

It is our belief that to better support students from our communities,

most of whom are Latino English Learners, as well as African American

and White students who need intense support in English language arts

and math, we need to have a program that focuses on basic literacy.

Our Program

Success for All (SFA), a whole school literacy model:

Is a thoroughly researched K-8 program being used in schools across

the country.

Has been used for 30 years in thousands of schools.

Includes tools that combat poverty, including cooperative learning.

Not only builds reading fluency, but gives students the building blocks

to do well in all content areas.

Was developed from research done at Johns Hopkins University.

Our Program

Kinder

Corner

Comprehensive kinder program based on research that helps children make

sense of the world around them, fostering development of oral language,

literacy, math, and interpersonal and self-help skills.

Reading

Roots

Reading curriculum that targets the needs of beginning readers.

Reading

Wings

Reading curriculum that provides 90-minute daily lessons and targets the

needs of students to develop sophisticated reading skills.

Reading

Edge

Comprehensive, cohesive literacy and English Language Development

Program that arms students with the skills and strategies they need to

read, understand, and learn from content-area texts.

Support for StudentsThe whole child approach

Components of Student Support

1. Summer Staff Professional Development

2. School Year Staff Professional Development & Support

3. Programs/Activities for Students

Summer Staff Professional Development

Mental health presentation

Trauma-informed presentation to help staff members

understand how trauma impacts learning

Collaborative presentation/workshop to solicit counseling

topics for the year

School Year Staff Professional

Development & Support

Monthly refresher meetings on all summer topics

Updates on counseling trends happening at school,

including potential teacher and staff interventions

Presentation of scenarios and role-playing

Programs/Activities for Students

Spirit Weeks

Everyday Kindness

Character Education/Core

Values

Student Seminars/Conferences

Wellness Center

Interventions

o Truancy

o Drugs/alcohol

Individual or Group Counseling

o Anger management

o Conflict resolution

o Self esteem

o Study skills

o Relational aggression

o Stress management

o Grief

iEmpire AcademyA Proposed REAL Journey Academies K-8 School