Core Strength
Students who struggle with grade-level work tend to have deficits in critical foundation skills. For example, it is impossible for students to master long division, fractions, or algebra when they cannot comfortably perform basic math facts. Similarly, students who expend great effort to decode each and every word in a passage will not easily comprehend what they read. It is very difficult to perform optimally with a weak foundation.
At Flex, we recognize that these core deficits can cause years of frustration for students, so we start by identifying these "holes" and filling them in. We focus on strengthening foundation skills first, adding difficulty and increasing complexity as students gain confidence and momentum. We've found that this produces a transformative experience for students that makes it easier for them to learn and truly understand grade-level work.
Fluency and Practice
The key to learning success that drives our approach is fluency. Fluency is the ability to perform a skill automatically, accurately and quickly. When students are fluent with the necessary prerequisite skills, learning new, more complex skills is effortless. When students can perform academic tasks fluently, they can do them anywhere, anytime, without reminders or bribes -- they might even begin to enjoy them!
It takes deliberate, repeated practice to become fluent at anything (think juggling, playing piano, swinging a tennis racket). That is why our learning programs are designed to help students practice effectively. At Flex Academics, sessions are fun, fast-paced, and goal-oriented, often resembling training for a sport. Learning coaches give brief, clear instructions, specific feedback, and constant encouragement. Students practice their foundation skills in quick sprints, every session, until they master them. Commitment to this practice routine results in fun activities and opportunities for students to combine these skills in broader contexts (think scrimmages, games), where they are set up for success and can celebrate their improvement.
Applied Science
We are able to orchestrate these elaborate "training programs" for kids of all ages and abilities because we combine some of the most powerful evidence-based teaching techniques and measurement tools.
Most notably, our precision measurement system allows us to take data on students' performance and analyze learning trends as we teach. We collect more data in an hour than most schools collect in a month! We use it to quickly adapt to how each student learns, which helps us accelerate learning outcomes for our students.