Our Story

Launched in 2008 by Alex Lucero, Jason Roberts, and Dr. Rosa Gonzalez, REAL Journey Academies (RJA), was developed using understood beliefs about how learning best occurs.

We believe learning is best achieved when associated with a student’s individual needs, natural curiosity and desire to be challenged. We believe learning encourages risk, requires self-examination, and promotes the understanding that humans, while interdependent, must ultimately take responsibility for their own lives. Learning manifests itself in the joy of discovery, the pride of accomplishment, and the satisfaction of personal growth but it also is fostered by supportive relationships with teachers and administrators.

At RJA, we have created an ecosystem where learning is the focus. We believe in educating the “whole child” as part of a balanced process where students are much more than a test score but recognize that those results do matter. We strive to use educational best practices to produce students who are college and career ready and are committed to being a lighthouse example of educational innovation and demonstrate a commitment to student learning that is unrivaled.

Real Journey Academies recognize and agree to promote the following critical factors of academic success. 

• Create an ecosystem where learning is the focus – including learning for adults in a focused Professional Learning Community environment.
•  Foster an environment where employees lead by example in a belief that all students will achieve high levels of student academic performance.
• Ensure alignment of all curriculum and programming to support students in reaching the expectations set by the California-adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). 
• Enculturation and reinforce a culture of high expectations for student learning in which data “inform” us in every aspect of what we do as an organization.
• Develop and provide high-quality and focused instructional leadership capacity and ongoing adult coaching support aligned to our RJA Instructional Framework.
• Be innovative and apply research-based best practices to maximize student engagement in the learning process. 
• Focusing available financial resources toward achieving our mission helping each student reach their learning potential, and aggressively pursuing external funding. 
• Maintain quality facilities that match our innovative academic programming.
• Ensure educational equity and access for all students regardless of background. 
• Recruit and retain a motivated and highly qualified staff.
•  Meaningfully engage parents and the community in the educational process.

While learning is at the core of what we do, we understand that this cannot occur unless the student feels safe in their environment and can focus on the education they are receiving. As such, we have made our student’s safety a top priority. Many of our schools have onsite security officers and security cameras. We teach our staff to take a restorative approach and focus on teaching students to learn from their mistakes and correct their wrongs. We also prioritize mental health and provide students with emotional support by connecting them with counselors and community partners.