To encourage its employees to upskill and further their careers by pursuing educational opportunities, leaders at The Kindezi Schools have signed a collaboration agreement with accredited, online, nonprofit Western Governors University. WGU will provide Kindezi employees with flexible, personalized learning pathways to higher education, including bachelor’s and master’s degrees, professional certificates and credentials.

As part of the agreement, school employees will be able to apply for WGU’s K-12 Partner Scholarships valued at up to $2,500, which is disbursed in increments of $625 per term for up to four academic terms based on satisfactory academic performance. Tuition at WGU is around $4,000 to $5,000 per six-month term, and students can take as many courses as they desire within a term with the consent of their assigned program mentor.

Kindezi is a community of public charter schools (Kindezi West, Kindezi Old Fourth Ward and Kindezi at Gideons Elementary) in Atlanta.

 Established in 1997, WGU offers more than 80 bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the fields of K-12 education, information technology, business and healthcare. The nonprofit university’s asynchronous competency-based model allows working adults to log on at a time and place convenient to them, and to accelerate at their preferred pace.

WGU currently has more than 8,300 students in Georgia and more than 12,500 graduates in the state.

“At The Kindezi Schools, we believe our families, partners and communities make us stronger,” said Dr. Kelly M. Gunn, executive director. “We are excited to partner with Western Governors University to provide high-quality, low-cost and flexible higher education opportunities to our staff. We look forward to a long-lasting and fruitful partnership.”

“The Kindezi Schools’ mission is to provide every child, regardless of background, with a holistic, genius-awakening education,” said Kimberly K. Estep, Ph.D., WGU’s Southeast regional vice president. “WGU is proud to partner with them to help train and upskill their dedicated staff in order to continue to fulfill that mission.”

For more information on The Kindezi Schools, visit kindezi.org. For more information about WGU, visit wgu.edu.