Academics
Education
Goals
Every person is unique in personality, interests, needs and learning style. Our goal is to maximize each child’s educational potential.
- We strive for a 100% high school graduation rate as a minimum target.
- We strive to place each child in the learning environment best suited to their individual success
- We strive to set each child on a course for success in school that can be maintained and pursued when they leave our home.
- We strive to meet special educational needs through Individual Educational Plans, tutoring, accelerated classes, and other services where appropriate and available
Schools
We are served by Mesa Public Schools and the majority of our students attend the public campuses. About 1/3 of the children receive education at our Sunshine Acres School (see below). We also utilize charter schools, vocational schools, distance learning and any other option available to meet a specific child’s need.
Sunshine Acres School
Established in 1993, our Sunshine Acres School is an educational service provider for Mesa Public Schools. The students are enrolled at local public campuses and receive services here at Sunshine Acres. Our program is modeled after the traditional “one room schoolhouse” where multiple grades are taught by a single teacher with a low teacher/student ratio focusing individual attention on each students needs. We can also focus on specific emotional needs such as anxiety, sense of value, achievement and self-confidence that are so difficult to address in the much larger public setting. Being on-campus also gives close supervision by our direct care staff when behavioral and other issues arise. A final advantage is the ability to teach each subject at the comprehension level of the student. Instead of Math, science, reading all at 5th grade level for example, our students may be taking 5th grade math, 3rd grade English and so on. Students are selected for our school when it is deemed the best opportunity for long-range success in light of academic, emotional or social issues.
The strength of our school program is the volunteer staff. Last year we had an average of 60 volunteer hours per week. The paid and volunteer staff together create a 1:4 teacher: student ratio. This is important for children struggling with educational gaps who need to “catch up” to grade level, or those with attention deficit or other challenges with focus. Collaboration with Maricopa County Community Colleges (MCC, CGCC, etc) is another great relationship that benefits college students through service learning and helps our staff and students by supporting our school and our summer education program.
The relationship between Sunshine Acres Children’s Home and Mesa Public Schools is a source of pride for the Mesa community. By facilitating smooth transition between our traditionally styled, individually based program and the vast opportunities and services of the public campus, we are able to meet the unique needs of children in crisis while minimizing stress caused by change and new environments/relationships. Our Academic Services Director has great cooperation with public campus staff to not only facilitate transitions, but also to ensure that students on the public campus have the proper courses, services and accountability. MPS helps offset 30-40% of the cost of our school program. We meet the special needs of our students at a lower cost to the district while remaining a positive impact on funds to the district through enrollment. It is a real world Win-Win, and we’re very happy about this vital relationship which benefits the district, the home and most importantly the child.
[success stories]
College Scholarships
Many years ago the community of Rio Verde, Arizona began funding the college education of students graduating high school at Sunshine Acres. These were the first scholarships and many young men & women have had the opportunity to gain a college degree thanks to our friends at Rio Verde and our wonderful friend who has facilitated this relationship for so many years, Pat Hemmer [link to Pat Hemmer House].
Today, many Rio Verde residents continue to support Sunshine Acres and are joined by friends from neighboring Tonto Verde and around the valley. We also receive educational funds from the John Michael and Claire O’Neill Scholarship Fund and the most recent opportunity is the establishment of the University of Phoenix scholarships through First Things First – the Kurt Warner Foundation.
University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix and Kurt Warner have made it possible for Sunshine Acres Children’s Home to award 2 full Bachelor degree scholarships annually. We are so excited about this opportunity for our students and continue to be amazed at how God provides.