When a student arrives at Escambia Acceleration Academies wondering how they can fit in, English content coach Laura Muehl can relate.

At her old high school, Aubrianna Morris says, her classmates seemed interested in anything but learning. All around her, girls were gossiping, immature boys were laughing, and it was hard for her to focus on her work.

Like so many of the young learners who turn to Acceleration Academies, Elijah Hardaman found himself derailed by personal troubles. He had to live in foster care for a time and, during his junior year, dropped out due to the turmoil at home.

The educators who work with young learners at Acceleration Academies across the nation come from a rainbow of backgrounds, life experiences and work histories. But they find themselves united by a single, powerful purpose: To open doors for students who may have thought a high school diploma was...

For Maura Paredes, traditional high school was never the right fit. Navigating the crowded corridors, she felt her anxiety soar. When she would fall behind in class, she hesitated to raise her hand and ask for help.

Franki Mobley-Tarpley started doing leaps and twirls in her family’s living room not long after she was able to walk. And she hasn’t stopped performing since — singing, acting and winning enough dance competitions to join her sister in filling their garage with trophies.

Josiah Gadia was in his final semester of high school when the pressures of an unstable home life, the need to hold down a job, and the challenges of schoolwork became too much to bear.

At the Las Vegas branch of Acceleration Academies, Chris Turner proved himself a jack of all trades — and master of many.

When a team of educational experts recently assessed the work Acceleration Academies does to provide young learners with a flexible, personalized path to their high school diplomas, they didn’t just give the growing family of student re-engagement programs a passing grade.