Many online schools simply transfer textbook material and testing to a digital format, use AI for efficiency gains, provide virtual teacher-centered lectures, and then expect students to successfully learn. Prisma’s approach is entirely different and also offers so much more:
- Education experts at the wheel: Our entire model—from coaching to curriculum to leadership—is built and facilitated by education experts. Passionate teachers, curriculum and learning experience designers, and education changemakers (many of whom have advanced degrees and have won education-related awards) obsess over ever detail of how Prisma works because of one simple yet rare truth: Prisma exists for kids.
- Whole-person development: We equip kids with life skills that prepare them for the real world, foster well-being, and contribute to lifelong happiness.
- Relevancy: At Prisma, learning occurs within real-world contexts. Learners know why what they’re learning is important and how it impacts them.
- Project-based curriculum: Our world-class curriculum team has designed a comprehensive, interdisciplinary set of themes that cover all required subjects (and many more real-world topics) in a hands-on, interactive way.
- Small, supportive cohorts: We group our learners into well-matched peer cohorts that meet daily and are led by the same coach, who often stays with their learner group for multiple years. Our vision is that Prisma learners get the best of both worlds: the intimacy and support of a ‘one-room schoolhouse’ (the cohort) and the breadth and diversity of a large virtual learning community.
- Informed by the end-user (i.e. learners themselves): We are committed to continually improving according to the feedback of learners and their families.
- Social interaction: In addition to our curriculum, which provides multiple opportunities for learners to form friendships (via daily coach-facilitated Standups, synchronous workshops, group projects, and team challenges), we facilitate dynamic peer bonding through learner-led clubs, coach-led enrichments, a vibrant virtual learner forum, family-led meetups, and other experiential learning opportunities.
- Sustainability: We maintain a cautious approach to growth that never compromises the learner experience. We don’t charge higher tuition than we need to sustainably run Prisma experience each year, and portion of tuition has gone to fund Prisma Scholarships since our founding. We aren’t venture capital funded, and our mission and culture are absolutely foundational in every decision we make.