August 19, 2025 • 11 mins
What happens when passionate educators break free from traditional systems to create the schools they've always envisioned? Terra Gallagher's journey from frustrated parent and teacher to founder of the thriving Field of Vision Academy in Arizona reveals the transformative power of educational innovation.
Website: spotlight4success.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book
Company.
I'm Devin Pintosi, your host.
We are here at the ISTE ASCDConference 2025 in sunny San
Antonio, Texas, and we areexcited to have as our special
guest Terry Gallagher.
Terry Gallagher joins us fromthe Field of Vision Academy in
(00:30):
Arizona.
We're so happy to have you heretoday.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yes, Terry.
Can you tell me a bit aboutwhat brings you here to San
Antonio for ISTE?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We are a micro school operating out of Arizona and we
wanted to make sure that ourstudents had the latest
technologies and that we werejust using the latest and the
best curriculum pieces, and soobviously, some of our hard core
ones that we've used for yearsare still here and they're very,
very good, so we're keepingthem.
(01:00):
But we have found some awesomenew AI pieces here and there's
just lots to offer here, so wewanted to make sure that we were
keeping up with the game.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's wonderful.
I'm curious can you tell us abit more about MicroSchool and
how that works?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, so we're from Arizona.
Arizona is really, I would say,the leader in MicroSchool
education as far asaccessibility goes.
In the US, we are trulyuniversal, which means every
student is able to access ESAfunds, empowerment, scholarship
Account, funds that are stateeducation dollars that are
(01:36):
assigned to each student, and sothe parents are totally in
charge of that and can spendthose dollars however they wish,
and so because of that, we wereable to step out of the
traditional system.
My husband and I both werestate certified teachers in the
traditional systems, and westepped away from that to be
able to better meet the needs ofstudents that weren't being met
(01:57):
by the traditional system.
So we totally catered tostudents who struggled in the
academic traditional format,where they were typically grade
levels behind, maybe had neverhad academic success before Wow,
and we're able to meet themwhere they are, not where their
age says they should begrade-wise, and then bring them
from there.
(02:18):
And now we're operating ourthird year and we have students
that have started behind and nowthey're ahead.
We actually had a student whojust successfully completed a
college-level course and got anA as a freshman student.
So they are.
It's incredible what can happento students when they're met
(02:40):
where they need to be instead ofjust, you know, put somewhere
where they can't be successfuland they just continue to fail.
So we doubled in size afterquarter one and then we had to
find a new venue for year twobecause we just outgrew our
space and partnered with a localcommunity college and they've
just been phenomenal to us andwe just continue to grow.
(03:02):
We're working on on furtherspreading and helping as many
more kids as we can, but we'rejust excited to be doing what
we're doing and we're passionateabout education again, which we
had kind of.
It can be frustrating sometimesin the traditional system with
red tape.
So what?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
what got you involved to decide to start a micro
school?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I had a daughter.
I have a daughter who is now ajunior in high school but she
was just struggling as an earlystudent, like first, second
grade, with reading and she justgot pushed and pushed.
I had held her back and had herrepeat a grade, but it wasn't
until her fourth grade yearwhich should have been her fifth
(03:44):
grade year that we finallyfound out that she was dyslexic
and she had never no teacher hadever said she needs to be
tested for something.
I have finally took it uponmyself.
When over fall break I wassitting down reading with her
and she ended the sentence withthe word Bob and she sounded it
out and the very next word ofthe next sentence was the same
(04:05):
word and she sounded it outagain and I knew I wasn't a
reading specialist yet then butI knew that something wasn't
right and I took her to gettested.
And that's when we got her anIEP.
And then we were living in Utahat the time.
We moved back to Arizona and shewas not allowed to go to the
reading specialist to get helpwith reading and be on an IEP
(04:25):
and get resource help.
That was called double dippingand she couldn't double dip, so
I had to make a hard choice as aparent Do I take her off her
IEP to get her the help and thething I know she needs help in,
or do I keep her on an IEP and,just, you know, try to work
through this?
I ultimately pulled her off herIEP and I started working with
(04:46):
the reading specialist and thenthroughout that, I ended up
getting certified in dyslexiaand then was able to implement
that in my classroom and I justsaw how many kids were being
left behind.
Even though we try not to, theyonly hold kids back in third
grade.
The state does, and they onlyhold the bottom 2% of kids back.
(05:09):
So you can be the third throughthe 69th percentile who are
still failing in reading but getpushed on, and that's what was
happening, and I taught fifthgrade ELA for a long time and
those students would come and Iwould have a majority of them
that could not read even on athird grade level.
So how can you teach them at?
a fifth grade level you can't.
(05:29):
Reading is a part of math, then, because they're word problems.
Science and social studies areinformative reading, really
difficult reading.
And so it was just these kids.
You know they are defeated andthen they get into trouble later
on.
And I was just like if I cancatch these kids before and
rebuild their confidence andfill in their gaps and then help
(05:49):
them not go down that path,we'd be much better off.
And so we opened catering tokids fifth through eighth grade,
because I wanted to catch thosekids who were most likely to
get into that trouble sooner,and so we worked with that age
group and now we work with 4ththrough 12th grade.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That is just wonderful.
What a great story.
That impetus with your familyand then bringing that into
something that can help thelarger community with a micro
school that's awesome.
I hope that school keepsgrowing.
What a wonderful thing?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
We hope so too.
We have been so blessed.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Wonderful thing you're doing there.
Thank you for watchingSpotlight for Success.
I am Devin Pintosi, chiefOperating Officer of American
Book Company.
We are located here in ourheadquarters in Woodstock,
georgia.
All of our materials areprinted in USA.
We have course books, e-booksand online testing in grades K
(06:50):
through 12 in mathematics, ela,science and social studies.
These materials are alldesigned to help students
achieve higher scores on theirstate-specific high-stakes
assessments.
We guarantee score improvement.
You can get free samples of ourmaterials either in print or in
(07:12):
electronic formats atabck12.com.
We look forward to hearing fromyou.
Can you tell me what you'rehoping to get out of ISTE here?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So we were specifically looking for
something to well, two things.
We wanted to find a reallygreat interactive writing
curriculum that utilized AI inbeing able to give constructive
feedback, but not just at thenarrative level, also at the
argumentative and informativelevel of essay writing, and so
we were looking for somethingspecifically for that, which we
(07:48):
think we found some good things.
And then also, we're alwayslooking for something
science-related that makesscience more engaging not
informative reading, becauseit's really defeating when
science is just reading about itand then writing it.
That's really defeating for thestudents who struggle with the
reading and writing concept.
(08:08):
But that's what they love isthe exploratory, you know the
wonderment of science and thecuriosity end of it, and so we
were looking for, um, you knowstem type stuff, and there is a
bunch of that here which isawesome, so yeah, so those were
our two goals of coming here.
I never thought I'd be able tomeet Ron Clark here, but I was
able to meet Ron Clark today,got my picture with him.
(08:30):
I was so excited.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Oh wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And if you don't know who he is, there's a movie
about him Fantastic.
I watched it years ago.
He was actually the person Ithought of most as I started my
own micro school.
I just thought if he could gothrough what he did and then
start his school in Atlanta andbe as successful as he is, I'm
like, okay, I can do this.
(08:52):
So that was kind of fun to meetone of my own idols.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's fantastic, and I didn't know he was going to
be here.
Oh, wow, such a small world,and so do you have a message
you'd like to share with the isto community, something you want
them to know or think about asthey're going through their
sessions um, just to bepassionate about teaching and
that there are micro schools isa way, if you're frustrated with
(09:20):
the traditional system, to beable to still be a part of
education, and they'reeverywhere.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It's a huge community once you get into it, and so
that's.
You know something.
There's ways to work around thered tape in the system too, and
I was able to be successful inthat realm too.
But the freedom and theautonomy that I get as a micro
school leader in being able toreally do education the way that
I envisioned when I went intothe field is so different.
(09:47):
You know we all have thatprinciple that maybe gave us a
little bit more autonomy than wehad under other principles, but
there is nothing quite likebeing able to do everything the
way that you want to do it andknow that you're meeting the
needs of the students that youwant to work with, and that's
really cool.
I get to work with the kids thatneed me the most.
(10:08):
That I'm passionate about, youknow, but it's awesome because
it's a community.
There are people who are theylove theater, and so they they
make their school all about.
You know that there are peoplewho love nature, and so they do
everything related to theoutdoors and there's a bunch of
people in Florida becausethey're they're huge micro
school state too, and so there'sa lot of like surfing schools
(10:28):
and things, and so it's justneat because we get to do the
thing that we love with thestudents who we can impact most,
and I think that's just so coolbecause we all have that
something special to offer andonce you know what it is, it
makes job.
You don't dread it.
I live to go to school.
I am so excited to go back toschool, so I just love teaching.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
That's great.
Where can people find moreinformation out about your
school?
Speaker (10:54):
FieldofVisionAcademycom .
I've got a Facebook page andInstagram page all Field of
Vision Academy.
But yeah, that's our.
We're online and we're there.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Oh that's wonderful.
Well, thank you so much, TerriGallagher with Field of Vision
Academy in Arizona.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Thank you for having me.
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book
Company.
I'm Devin Pintosi, your host.
We are here at the ISTE ASCDConference 2025 in sunny San
Antonio, Texas, and we areexcited to have as our special
guest Terry Gallagher.
Terry Gallagher joins us fromthe Field of Vision Academy in
(00:30):
Arizona.
We're so happy to have you heretoday.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yes, Terry.
Can you tell me a bit aboutwhat brings you here to San
Antonio for ISTE?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We are a micro school operating out of Arizona and we
wanted to make sure that ourstudents had the latest
technologies and that we werejust using the latest and the
best curriculum pieces, and soobviously, some of our hard core
ones that we've used for yearsare still here and they're very,
very good, so we're keepingthem.
(01:00):
But we have found some awesomenew AI pieces here and there's
just lots to offer here, so wewanted to make sure that we were
keeping up with the game.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's wonderful.
I'm curious can you tell us abit more about MicroSchool and
how that works?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, so we're from Arizona.
Arizona is really, I would say,the leader in MicroSchool
education as far asaccessibility goes.
In the US, we are trulyuniversal, which means every
student is able to access ESAfunds, empowerment, scholarship
Account, funds that are stateeducation dollars that are
(01:36):
assigned to each student, and sothe parents are totally in
charge of that and can spendthose dollars however they wish,
and so because of that, we wereable to step out of the
traditional system.
My husband and I both werestate certified teachers in the
traditional systems, and westepped away from that to be
able to better meet the needs ofstudents that weren't being met
(01:57):
by the traditional system.
So we totally catered tostudents who struggled in the
academic traditional format,where they were typically grade
levels behind, maybe had neverhad academic success before Wow,
and we're able to meet themwhere they are, not where their
age says they should begrade-wise, and then bring them
from there.
(02:18):
And now we're operating ourthird year and we have students
that have started behind and nowthey're ahead.
We actually had a student whojust successfully completed a
college-level course and got anA as a freshman student.
So they are.
It's incredible what can happento students when they're met
(02:40):
where they need to be instead ofjust, you know, put somewhere
where they can't be successfuland they just continue to fail.
So we doubled in size afterquarter one and then we had to
find a new venue for year twobecause we just outgrew our
space and partnered with a localcommunity college and they've
just been phenomenal to us andwe just continue to grow.
(03:02):
We're working on on furtherspreading and helping as many
more kids as we can, but we'rejust excited to be doing what
we're doing and we're passionateabout education again, which we
had kind of.
It can be frustrating sometimesin the traditional system with
red tape.
So what?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
what got you involved to decide to start a micro
school?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I had a daughter.
I have a daughter who is now ajunior in high school but she
was just struggling as an earlystudent, like first, second
grade, with reading and she justgot pushed and pushed.
I had held her back and had herrepeat a grade, but it wasn't
until her fourth grade yearwhich should have been her fifth
(03:44):
grade year that we finallyfound out that she was dyslexic
and she had never no teacher hadever said she needs to be
tested for something.
I have finally took it uponmyself.
When over fall break I wassitting down reading with her
and she ended the sentence withthe word Bob and she sounded it
out and the very next word ofthe next sentence was the same
(04:05):
word and she sounded it outagain and I knew I wasn't a
reading specialist yet then butI knew that something wasn't
right and I took her to gettested.
And that's when we got her anIEP.
And then we were living in Utahat the time.
We moved back to Arizona and shewas not allowed to go to the
reading specialist to get helpwith reading and be on an IEP
(04:25):
and get resource help.
That was called double dippingand she couldn't double dip, so
I had to make a hard choice as aparent Do I take her off her
IEP to get her the help and thething I know she needs help in,
or do I keep her on an IEP and,just, you know, try to work
through this?
I ultimately pulled her off herIEP and I started working with
(04:46):
the reading specialist and thenthroughout that, I ended up
getting certified in dyslexiaand then was able to implement
that in my classroom and I justsaw how many kids were being
left behind.
Even though we try not to, theyonly hold kids back in third
grade.
The state does, and they onlyhold the bottom 2% of kids back.
(05:09):
So you can be the third throughthe 69th percentile who are
still failing in reading but getpushed on, and that's what was
happening, and I taught fifthgrade ELA for a long time and
those students would come and Iwould have a majority of them
that could not read even on athird grade level.
So how can you teach them at?
a fifth grade level you can't.
(05:29):
Reading is a part of math, then, because they're word problems.
Science and social studies areinformative reading, really
difficult reading.
And so it was just these kids.
You know they are defeated andthen they get into trouble later
on.
And I was just like if I cancatch these kids before and
rebuild their confidence andfill in their gaps and then help
(05:49):
them not go down that path,we'd be much better off.
And so we opened catering tokids fifth through eighth grade,
because I wanted to catch thosekids who were most likely to
get into that trouble sooner,and so we worked with that age
group and now we work with 4ththrough 12th grade.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That is just wonderful.
What a great story.
That impetus with your familyand then bringing that into
something that can help thelarger community with a micro
school that's awesome.
I hope that school keepsgrowing.
What a wonderful thing?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
We hope so too.
We have been so blessed.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Wonderful thing you're doing there.
Thank you for watchingSpotlight for Success.
I am Devin Pintosi, chiefOperating Officer of American
Book Company.
We are located here in ourheadquarters in Woodstock,
georgia.
All of our materials areprinted in USA.
We have course books, e-booksand online testing in grades K
(06:50):
through 12 in mathematics, ela,science and social studies.
These materials are alldesigned to help students
achieve higher scores on theirstate-specific high-stakes
assessments.
We guarantee score improvement.
You can get free samples of ourmaterials either in print or in
(07:12):
electronic formats atabck12.com.
We look forward to hearing fromyou.
Can you tell me what you'rehoping to get out of ISTE here?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So we were specifically looking for
something to well, two things.
We wanted to find a reallygreat interactive writing
curriculum that utilized AI inbeing able to give constructive
feedback, but not just at thenarrative level, also at the
argumentative and informativelevel of essay writing, and so
we were looking for somethingspecifically for that, which we
(07:48):
think we found some good things.
And then also, we're alwayslooking for something
science-related that makesscience more engaging not
informative reading, becauseit's really defeating when
science is just reading about itand then writing it.
That's really defeating for thestudents who struggle with the
reading and writing concept.
(08:08):
But that's what they love isthe exploratory, you know the
wonderment of science and thecuriosity end of it, and so we
were looking for, um, you knowstem type stuff, and there is a
bunch of that here which isawesome, so yeah, so those were
our two goals of coming here.
I never thought I'd be able tomeet Ron Clark here, but I was
able to meet Ron Clark today,got my picture with him.
(08:30):
I was so excited.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Oh wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And if you don't know who he is, there's a movie
about him Fantastic.
I watched it years ago.
He was actually the person Ithought of most as I started my
own micro school.
I just thought if he could gothrough what he did and then
start his school in Atlanta andbe as successful as he is, I'm
like, okay, I can do this.
(08:52):
So that was kind of fun to meetone of my own idols.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's fantastic, and I didn't know he was going to
be here.
Oh, wow, such a small world,and so do you have a message
you'd like to share with the isto community, something you want
them to know or think about asthey're going through their
sessions um, just to bepassionate about teaching and
that there are micro schools isa way, if you're frustrated with
(09:20):
the traditional system, to beable to still be a part of
education, and they'reeverywhere.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It's a huge community once you get into it, and so
that's.
You know something.
There's ways to work around thered tape in the system too, and
I was able to be successful inthat realm too.
But the freedom and theautonomy that I get as a micro
school leader in being able toreally do education the way that
I envisioned when I went intothe field is so different.
(09:47):
You know we all have thatprinciple that maybe gave us a
little bit more autonomy than wehad under other principles, but
there is nothing quite likebeing able to do everything the
way that you want to do it andknow that you're meeting the
needs of the students that youwant to work with, and that's
really cool.
I get to work with the kids thatneed me the most.
(10:08):
That I'm passionate about, youknow, but it's awesome because
it's a community.
There are people who are theylove theater, and so they they
make their school all about.
You know that there are peoplewho love nature, and so they do
everything related to theoutdoors and there's a bunch of
people in Florida becausethey're they're huge micro
school state too, and so there'sa lot of like surfing schools
(10:28):
and things, and so it's justneat because we get to do the
thing that we love with thestudents who we can impact most,
and I think that's just so coolbecause we all have that
something special to offer andonce you know what it is, it
makes job.
You don't dread it.
I live to go to school.
I am so excited to go back toschool, so I just love teaching.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
That's great.
Where can people find moreinformation out about your
school?
Speaker (10:54):
FieldofVisionAcademycom .
I've got a Facebook page andInstagram page all Field of
Vision Academy.
But yeah, that's our.
We're online and we're there.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Oh that's wonderful.
Well, thank you so much, TerriGallagher with Field of Vision
Academy in Arizona.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Thank you for having me.
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