Approach

Stepmojo

We made a catalytic early-stage investment in Stepmojo, bringing high-quality, online high school courses to NYC. Districts across the country are facing crisis-level staffing shortages and schools are often unable to offer critical core high school classes in math, science, and foreign language. Stepmojo expands access to online high school courses with exceptional content and teachers, giving students more agency to pursue personal interests, further academic goals, and explore potential college and career paths. Students choose classes that best suit their needs from a catalogue of courses that are already pre-screened for content and instruction quality. These live, synchronous classes take place within the school day. Stepmojo was started by Dacia Toll, founder of a top-performing charter network, Achievement First. Stepmojo schools are able to tap into a larger, national pool of effective teachers and provide a high-quality, online alternative for in-demand courses which schools cannot staff locally. Funding provided by Heckscher enabled Stepmojo to bring its model to NYC through a partnership with Uncommon Schools, allowing high schools within this charter network to offer core math courses (Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry) as well as a number of elective courses.

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