Provident Charter School - West

Provident Charter School West is designed to serve students with dyslexia and other language based learning disabilities. The first school, Provident Charter School Central, opened in 2016 by a committed group of individuals who personally experienced how dyslexia can impact families. This group envisioned a model that would far exceed traditional special education service delivery models in achieving academic proficiency for this particular, at risk population. As the most common specific learning disability, dyslexia affects approximately 15-20% of the general population. While students with dyslexia have average/above average intellectual abilities, learning to read, write and spell can seem like an impossibility. Without a very specific type of remedial regimen, the Orton-Gillingham Approach, students will quickly fall behind in school, lose confidence and motivation, and often become anxious, fearful and dread going to school each day. The future for students who are not proficient readers by third grade is grim. Many will remain behind throughout high school, while some may drop out, develop mental health or substance abuse issues and some will become incarcerated.

Provident Charter School exists to change trajectories for these students. In addition to offering reading remediation and multi-sensory instruction within all subject areas, PCS seeks to develop areas of strength that include creative, athletic, and entrepreneurial inclinations. Individuals with dyslexia often have talents in artistic, mechanical and structural design abilities that supercede others without dyslexia. PCS offers daily opportunities to hone these areas of strength, while addressing the challenges of language based learning difficulties. The goals of this project include: replicate a proven school model that provides multi-sensory, structured language instruction for students who have dyslexia, train and certify teachers in the science of reading and evidence based best practices, serve as a regional model/lab school to train other teachers, and educate the “whole child” with language based learning difficulties by offering innovative opportunities such as Tae Kwon Do, 3D Design, and Experiential Learning/Makerspace projects that are aligned weekly with curricular content. These goals will ensure that the mission and vision of PCS is fulfilled: students who are at risk of school failure will leave prepared for their future in high school and beyond.