Esperanza Academy, Means Hope for Girls in Lawrence MA: A New Approach to Middle School Education

Esperanza Academy in Lawrence, MA is a middle school for girls from grade 5-8. It is a public charter school with no tuition charged. But it is also a school with many across the board differences that are clearly aimed at the needs of economically disadvantage girls. The Esperanza Academy is part of larger nation wide program in which all member schools put out a daily effort to try to help their students to bridge the gap between elementary school and high school so that they may eventually graduate and move on to college or a productive career.

Among the unique features of the Esperanza Academy is this connection with the NativityMiguel Network of Schools. The overall mission of the network is to provide challenge and opportunity for underserved communities such as Lawrence,MA where many student s come from impoverished homes and trying neighborhoods. Nationwide there are some 4,200 middle school children who are on the receiving end of programs built on the NativityMiguel model. The organization in total embraces 64 schools in 24 states.

As a member of this network, according http://www.nativitymiguelschools.org , Esperanza Academy adheres to several accepted guidelines. Perhaps the most interesting standard is that all schools within the NativityMiguel system are faith based. Esperanza Academy complies with this requirement by including one half hour of chapel time regularly as part of the typical school day. The Esperanza Academy functions according to the Episcopal tradition but in no instance is any girl refused admission because of race, cultural background or religion. The faith segment of the program is meant not so much to proselytize in a specific denomination as it is to foster moral principles for young girls who may be struggling with all manner of negative role models around them.