RISE operates year-round and offers extended hours, flexible scheduling, and both face-to-face instruction and an online curriculum that teachers customize to each student, so students can complete their academic work when and where they are able. There are no rigid course sequences or grade levels. Instead, educators and students customize Personalized Learning Plans (PLP’s), based on where students need to catch up and what they need to graduate with a diploma that counts for their individual post-high school goals. Students progress at their own pace and according to their unique goals and needs. RISE provides qualifying students with transportation through a rideshare program to make sure students don’t miss school, work, or appointments.

Caring relationships, rebuilding trust, and valuing each student are essential underpinnings to the structures and practices in the RISE community. Student voice and empowerment are reflected in multiple ways in the school’s culture, systems, and routines, and teachers integrate social-emotional support and academics. For example, students share their perspectives on school policies and culture with the staff through one-on-one conversations and in surveys. Rather than traditional punitive disciplinary practices, RISE uses restorative practices designed to solve problems and help students who broke norms reflect on their actions. Community building circles occur at least twice weekly, where students have an opportunity to raise issues and resolve differences through authentic, respectful conversations. Smaller advisory circles focus on personal reflection and feedback, while larger circles focus on school-wide or community based issues and concerns.

RISE intentionally recruits staff members who want to work closely in a small, tight-knit team and to build a strong, nurturing community from the ground up. Staff members receive professional development to help them adapt to the school's unique teaching and learning norms and processes, and they also receive special training in trauma-informed care, nonviolent crisis intervention, restorative justice, and the workings of the legal and foster-care systems. RISE staff members are also deeply involved in case management for many of their students and provide additional support through home visits, online availability, and connecting students with services.

RISE partners with social services agencies and operates from three locations: the newest at Richstone Family Center, one of the most progressive centers for trauma-focused treatment and prevention in Los Angeles county in Hawthorne; one at A Place Called Home, a “safe haven” multi-service agency for Los Angeles youth that provides a nurturing environment with proven programs in arts, education and wellness; and one at New Earth, a non-profit that provides mentor-based arts, educational, and vocational programs that empower juvenile justice and system-involved youth ages 13-25. Each serves as a familiar home base for students, where they can develop deep relationships grounded in trust and consistency. This model allows students to access critical services and resources without taking them too far from their academic experience. The atmosphere of equity, care, and community ensures students can step out of class, as needed, to take advantage of available services without judgment, stigma, or discipline.