Introduction

Introduction: This grounding chapter will provide the context for how and why New Code Academy came to be, including a brief background on K-12 online learning. It will address that the school was created in response to the pandemic but the model differentiates itself from emergency remote learning as the teachers, students, and families were committed to learning online long term and beyond the pandemic’s trajectory. The chapter will share who was involved in the initial conception and introduce the research-based frameworks that were used to design the program: community of inquiry, culturally responsive teaching, and Universal Design for Learning.