This program is a collaboration between educators, community-based agencies, and colleges. Youth and students receive three (3) hours of educational instruction from certified teachers in STEM subjects. All programs are designed, developed, and implemented by professionals to give participants core competencies delivered in a less crowded classroom setting. GAP Academy activities include fun math and science games loaded with intense learning facilitated by master’s degree level classroom teachers, assisted by Arizona State University (ASU), and Maricopa Community College student volunteers. Students have structured grade level lesson plans presented in a high-quality manner appealing to multiple learning styles. Community partnerships and Saturday learning sessions such as ours, support what hard-working teachers are doing daily. The flexibility of individual attention is a plus because of the near one-on-one student to teacher ratio.
The 2020 program began the 2nd weekend in January and will conclude in June 2020. The GAP Academy program started in a face-to-face instructional delivery methodology and converted to online modalities the 1st week of April. The upcoming school year will run from September 2020 until May 2021 and will continue offering instruction online and in-person when allowed, using social distancing.