We were lucky to catch up with April Jackson recently and have shared our conversation below.

April, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

After a decade of teaching throughout the Southeast and in schools with predominantly black populations, I saw consistent and persistent failure of schools to address the diverse needs of the populations. In particular, while students were performing well below the state and even local averages in mathematics and reading, schools and parents were failing to address this issue. For instance, in the first high school I taught in, in Atlanta, Ga,, the average reading level for ninth grade students was third grade. At the same time teachers were forced to pass the students from one grade level to the next, giving parents the perception that their children had mastered the content of the previous grade level. Also, in this same school, there was no reading teacher or math remediation class with an actual teacher. The remediation classes were online, and many of the students were still failing to grasp the foundational concepts. If a grade level teacher tried to offer remediation, they were seen as ineffective and graded poorly on evaluations for wasting instructional time and being off curriculum. What could I do to provide the remediation students needed and acceleration that I knew was necessary to get students on grade level? I decided that a traditional public, charter or private school was not the setting for many of these children and that I needed to create a space for black children to receive the education they deserved. So I started a tiny school for black families that wanted their children to receive the academic instruction they needed in an environment that celebrated their culture. I started PASS Pod.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Since I was a young child, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. Growing up in a small town in Alabama, education was going to be my way out. I had no control of my family conditions or the poverty of my community, but I could get an education that would allow me to break the generational curses. By becoming a teacher, I could give other children that same hope. So I obtained a BA in English from Miles College, an HBCU in Fairfield, AL. And later obtained a MA in Curriculum in Instruction and MA in Secondary Education from the University of Phoenix. Since beginning my career in education, I have served as a teachers, literacy coach and academic coach supporting the professional growth of other teachers. Being passionate about the education of black children, in January 2020, I started PASS Network, home of PASS Pod, a tiny school community in the Atlanta area that offers a full day program for black homeschooling families, after school tutoring, and a rapid graduation program.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Last year, I met Nadiyah Gardner, and gave her some quick advice on how to get her tiny school, Spectacular Start, off the ground. We connected via social media and stayed in touch as she pursued her goal. As I watched her grow and admired her work ethic, something told me that she would be great to collaborate with if we wanted to increase our impact. As we both were going through the growing pains of launching our businesses, something said, ‘Ask her if she would be willing to team up to serve more children and save money.” I did, And it has been the best decision. Next year, we will be teaming up to expand our individual schools into one larger learning community serving children ages 4-13.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I guess you can call this partnership with Spectacular Start a pivot.  I only wanted to serve approaching and current middle schoolers. I like to say, ‘Middle school is my jam’.  So my program only serves ages 9-13 currently. With that limited scope, it has really hurt my business growth. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to find a way to serve more age groups. This collaboration is it.  But I will say that this time of limited growth has taught me to live leaner, stay humble, be grateful and be creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.passnetwork.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passnetworkorg/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/passnetworkorg
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-jackson-1998b7122/