We recently connected with Dr. Candace Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dr. Candace thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

I would change the current curriculum and standardized achievement testing. Grade level standardized achievement testing is inappropriate for students who are unable to operate on the grade level dictated by the tests. How will they ever pass it if they cannot function on that grade level? Continuing to do so is an effort of futility as it only sets students up to fail. It does however, set the school districts up to receive additional funding to “improve” disproportionate academic achievement. The money is received, but across the board, improved scores are not produced. The solution to this quandary is to take education back to the basics with a streamlined curriculum which prepares students to do well in college and or trade school. As an expert in academic curriculum and human learning, I have created and published a back to the basics curriculum that does just that. I am in the process of creating a corresponding achievement test. These materials are currently in use in my school and in others across the country.

Dr. Candace , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My career in education began in 1996. I got into the field because I love to help people achieve what they think they cannot. My specialty is simplifying the complex. Sometimes difficult things are presented in a difficult manner: they are unnecessarily overcomplicated. Teaching a child to read is one of the easiest things to do, but academia has overcomplicated it by insisting that it should be done a certain way, by a certain age, by a certain time. When our country moved away from the one-room schoolhouse model in the 1960s, public education began a slow, possibly imperceptible, decline. Now that decline cannot be missed. Student academic achievement, honor, integrity, respect, and reverence for God—all things that were championed in the one-room schoolhouse—have declined since society has “evolved.” Since we have turned our noses up at the ways of old, we have all reaped the consequences.

I firmly believe that this country needs to take education back to the basics now. What sets me apart from other educators is that I begin with the end in mind. I ask the question: what does a person need to know and be able to do at the completion of high school? Then I proceed from there, developing an education plan that catches students up and delivers just that. Our school model helps students establish multiple income streams beginning in middle school.

The thing that I am most proud of is that I have been able to amass proof of concept of my beliefs. I have students who have established multiple income streams. Some of those streams are their published fiction and nonfiction books they wrote as grammar assignments. Everyone should support our students by purchasing, reading, and sharing their books. Books can be purchased online at www.sablooms.org.

Noteworthy, I would love to see book clubs set up that discuss their books. The caliber of writing that our older students produce is exceptional. They are making extraordinary contributions to the overall body of children and young adult literature.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

For years, I ran a tutoring firm and put on academic summer camps. In 2020, the need for a back-to-basics school was so great, I had to pivot. Tutoring during the school year and playing catch-up in the summer was no longer meeting the needs of my clientele. They needed to be taught. But first, they needed to have their emotional needs and mental health strengthened. They had been beaten down by the force called failure and needed to be built back up and placed in an environment conducive to success. Finally, they needed to be motivated and incentivized to succeed. Thus began EES Success Academy.

EES Success Academy’s mission is to help K-12 students establish multiple income streams as they matriculate through our Back to the Basics / One Room SchoolHouse curriculum.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

What I am proposing that we do in education is ultimately bucking the system: the public school system. The public school system has turned into a giant bureaucracy that seeks to make money off the backs of the illiterate, underperforming students it has created. This system will not want to take education back to the basics because to do so would greatly decrease its profit margin. In order to do right by the kids, it will take bold individuals who will take a stand against the system and the status quo to do what is right. This is not an easy stance, but it is the right stance.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.expandededucationalservices.com
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