Latricia M. Brown-Coates began teaching at the age of twenty years old. Her first teaching job was at an historical business college in Detroit, where she taught for almost four years. She then began teaching at Marygrove College in Detroit, where she taught for almost four years. From there She taught at Benedictine High, a Catholic School also in Detroit for one year. From there Latricia taught elementary and middle school for Detroit Public Schools, for one year, and finally she held her current elementary teaching job in a Blue Ribbon charter school in Detroit. Latricia holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, State of Michigan Teaching Certification, and a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education. Because she has a passion for education, Latricia will enroll in a Doctoral program which will be completed within four years.

     From years of experience in a traditional setting Latricia saw first hand how students’ were passed from grade to grade, not ever grasping concepts. traditional settings are fast paced, and sadly students with academic challenges have a difficult time in this type of environment, so after years of planning and preparation, Latricia decided to move forward to establish a school for students who face academic challenges.

     "I am a teacher of excellence, commitment, and motivation." I continue to make this powerful statement continuously, speaking the words out of my mouth:
"Spoken word has the power to bring thought into reality."—Latricia M. Brown-Coates

     Latricia’s approach and method of teaching is adaptive of the theory of "Constructivism," which is derived from both Jean Piaget’s, and Lev Vygotsky’s theory of learning. "Constructivism" in summation, places emphasis on learners using their prior knowledge (schema) and social interaction with each other, (cooperative learning) to construct their own learning, thereby resulting in new and meaningful learning. (schema) Advantage Academy for Alternative Learning is constructed upon this same proven theory. For example, while completing a unit on Earth Science, students are placed in cooperative learning groups to build a volcano. Everyone in each group is assigned a specific task, and are able to enlist support and assistance from their own group members as well as from other groups in the class. As their teacher, students understand that I serve as their guide, not their judge, or drill sergeant. There is no right or wrong answers, however conclusions should be supported.

     Day after day, and year after year, Latricia’s students have continued to prove successful in meeting and exceeding classroom objectives, standards and benchmarks, and further taking standardized tests successfully, including MEAP. Walking into Latricia’s class would make a traditional teacher uncomfortable, as her class is usually noisy. However, as ongoing data analysis of grade level administrator created tests, and results of standardized tests indicate, students are always actively engaged and meaningful learning is always taking place. Latricia has and always will, with refinement, incorporate Jean Piaget’s and Lev Vygotsky’s theory of "Constructivism" into her learning environment for the benefit and success of her students.