We felt like Actons approach to academics was too extreme. The Acton where we moved to is in a TINY building that is absolutely PACKED with kids. The Acton model relies heavily on self-directed learning with a lot of peer feedbackolder students help younger students set and monitor goals. 2 - Launch in your home or a rented space. It made a significant difference in our kids lives. Acton Academy is an innovative one-room schoolhouse built for the 21st century. We join teams in Wisconsin, Chicago, Toronto, Houston and London who won the right to open a new wave of Acton Academies to build on the success of the original Acton Academy in Austin, Texas. national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, A 21st century school with locations in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Learning how to know others and give feedback or constructive criticism is an incredible skill. Acton learners earn Servant Leader Badges that celebrate the development of heroic character and signify earned freedom and responsibility. Acton Academy | One-room schoolhouses for the 21st century. Its precisely this decentralization of power and emphasis on self-directed learning and goal-setting that led Heidi Ross to enroll her 11-year-old son in an Acton Academy in San Diego. . If they succeed, they will earn a badge and will get paid bucks. Similarly, classes can sometimes vote another student out of the school if they are taking away from the experience (obviously, within limits). The student is aimless in her work because the system is complicated and not explained well. As a parent, I couldnt ask for anything more. Its given our learner the ability to not only learn at her own pace but, holds them accountable for their learning. We believe students learn by doing. WHY WE ARE STARTING AN ACTON ACADEMY. Like other networks, there are requirements to be a member such as satisfaction surveys. Adaptive game based programs for core skills, Socratic discussions to strengthen critical thinking. Discover the schools, companies, and neighborhoods that are right for you. Acton Academy Champions Campus Our campus is located in 4820 Strack Road, Houston, TX 77069. This means just going to online forums to obtain the answers and complete the work. The Forest School has been a dream come true for our family! It is merely to share my observations of what Acton is really like. Acton Academy is in the lower right corner, and you can click here to explore the whole interactive map. . Acton Academy Columbus is a secular, private, project-based learner-driven elementary school. Soon after, I started to learn about the agenda for 21st century education, and I saw overlaps with what I was experiencing at our Acton school. They receive feedback from peers and guides on their contribution to the studio. and activities generally accorded or made available to students via online school presence. These contracts include language about not rescuing the kids, and instead allowing the kids to either succeed or fail based on their own motivation. As a family they love to cook together, create art, wander the woods, and swim in the river near their home in Auburn, California. Studios replace traditional classrooms and create a space for students of varying ages to learn together. The goals for students are simple and bold: find a calling and change the world. The small innovative school with a big promise is catching on. through deep socratic discussions about history, heroes, and self governance. A one time $15,000 license and orientation fee, plus network dues of 3% of annual campus revenues. At Acton, the goal is to free our young heroes to discover excellent teachers all around them. We want this for our kids and their peers! They use a bucks system where students are paid essentially Monopoly money for doing good things. Acton Academy uses the latest technology in a self-paced learning environment designed to foster responsibility, goal-setting, and teamwork. Instead, this letter is to share what I have noticed at our Acton school, and describe the responses I have received from the founders of Acton and owners of our school, as I have asked about their intention, methodology, and safeguards. We saw it in our own kids after just a few weeks. Like so many other families across the country, when the pandemic brought public schooling onto my kitchen table, I was floored, she told me. I like that a lot. This includes teaching themselves math and English through books and online resources at school, but it also means self-learning to overcome obstacles, to deal kindly with others, and to develop motivation. If your passion is to fuel the love of learning in others while advancing your own personal and professional growth, this is your opportunity to help reimagine education for the 21st century. TFS taps into the heroic and leader in all their learners so they live boldly and passionately and in turn make the world better. Open Your Own Acton Academy within a year from today. He sees his progress which really excites him, and has good friendships developing, she added. A guides role is to model behavior that leads to self-directed learning. Their "quests" are their projects and the students are encouraged to take on quests in which they try to change the world in their own ways. My open letter to Acton describes exactly how schools, institutions, and those set on 21st Century education reforms benefit from harvested data. No adult intervention. Acton learners practice critical thinking and powerful writing and speaking through deep Socratic discussions about heroes, history, and self-governance. Instead, they focus on progress that is demonstrable through learning new skills. promise is shockingly bold and full of agency. The Forest School is a great alternative to traditional schools. The four- to six-week projects are bounded by a compelling narrative and designed to deliver 21st century skills. They are small, private institutions where students are empowered to personalize their own educations and are held accountable for their own progress. Instead of a test about video editing, they have the kids make a video and show it to the parents at an exhibition. They even did fun things like renting out a local movie theater for showing off the videos. For Gregorys two children, ages seven and nine, who are the initial students in The Wilder School, math goals involve completing several units each week using Khan Academy, the free, online learning platform that is used in many schools and homeschools across the country. The Sandefers have received over 18,000 applications to join the network. They matured, learned to overcome obstacles, and they made friends. A limited liability company headquartered in St. George, Utah, an A++ location in Boise, Idaho (Heroes Academy), We have written about the average tuition cost at Acton, Acton is not a Christian school or a denominational school, My three kids attended an Acton Academy at different ages, We came to know two different Acton Academies in two different states, A family member went through the training to become an Acton owner and told us what things are like from the owner side, We have extensively studied Acton Academys teaching model and, of course, read the book. Her optimism is well-placed, as Acton Academy programs across the country have seen extraordinary growth in recent years, a trend that has only accelerated during the pandemic response. Hands-on Quests for Science, Entrepreneurship and the Arts prepare children for Apprenticeships and real world challenges. Acton students learn to think independently, take responsibility and embrace challenge. On the lowest level a student has to sit in an assigned seat, cannot snack, and must get a minimum amount of work done. Now, if a student runs out of bucks they must go to an isolated room and work on core skills all day, for as many days as it takes to earn another hero buck by completing a badge. There is a website, called Journey Tracker, where the kids have their progress reported to parents. You can email the founders, Jeff or Laura Sandefer, questions I reference below and see if they will disclose to you what they are doing with the data harvested from the use of the Acton Tracker, and why their framework is based on behavior theories designed to reward compliance through constant incentives. Students at Acton Academy prepare for the challenges, opportunities, and adventures of the real [+] world through an individual Hero's Journey. In a surprising turn of events, the youngest team took first place, giving us all a few lessons on competition, profitability, creativity and great sportsmanship! This rewards those who learn well online. Acton Academy is dedicated to inspiring each child to see life as a Hero's Journey, where someone with curiosity and character can find a 'calling', using his or her most precious gifts, in a way that brings great joy, to solve a deep burning need in the world. Thank you. Acton Academy Fort Lauderdale is a non-traditional K-12 private/alternative school based in Fort Lauderdale and with a sister school in Prague. It is completely a liberal school, where Acton academies are not to have political affiliation. Free market economics and global competition among human avatars and AI will ensure the lowest possible wages are paid for gigs, generating robust profits for investors in human capital and owners of automated factories and robot-rental firms. Through this, they have begun to question why school remains so similar to their own experience and how this format will prepare their children for jobs that have yet to be created, spurring droves of families to depart the public school system in search of more effective, flexible alternatives, she said. Acton can be far superior to public school, but there are (significant) drawbacks as well that you should weigh. 6 - Criticism. We had regular parents nights, but we expected to be able to influence what was happening at the school and have an input, but instead it was the school training US on what WE should do as parents. Acton is not a Christian school or a denominational school, but it does allow kids space to develop their spiritual foundation and moral footings as they are confronted with challenges. I have one more addition before we get to the heart of the matter. While Dallas, Austin, and Houston are leaders in digital empire building, the playbook is the same wherever you go. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational . After a morning of self-paced, learner-directed academic work, the children take a long lunch break and spend ample time outside before reconvening for collaborative, project-based work in the afternoon. Home > United States > Milford, PA . Acton Academy is student led. 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