What Makes a Good ATLAS Student?

A “typical” ATLAS student may have one or more of the following barriers that stand between them and academic success:

• Organizational struggles
• A pattern of negative schooling experiences that has caused our students to not believe in their own abilities
• A pattern of negative teacher/ student interactions that has caused our students to shut down in the larger classroom setting
• A lack of comfort around peers to ask questions in class and/or ask for help as needed
• Barriers within their home (Ex: unstructured homework time, sibling demands, Parental struggles etc.)
• Poor personal choices that have stood in the way of academic success
• ADHD/ADD
• Emotional barriers (Ex: depression, anxiety, school phobia, etc.)
• Learning style is more hands on (experiential) vs. lecture style

We do not believe that any student is just “lazy.” We have never met a ATLAS student that did not want to succeed in school; each simply needed a structured setting to rediscover their abilities!

ATLAS students have the following strengths:

• Desire to get along with their fellow ATLAS peers; to build relationships
• Desire to participate in creative ways of learning
• Ability to foster relationships with their ATLAS teachers
• Working collaboratively with their peers and teachers
• Ready to become more accountable for their work and learning
• Comfortable working and learning in a smaller space with a smaller population of student
• Courageous! Doing what they know is best for their learning, even if they encounter certain challenges