As a child, I sought independence, found adult rules to be arbitrary and subjectively applied, and had lots of interests that weren’t represented within the worksheets and tests I was asked to complete.
My private, college preparatory school had a great track record for creating National Merit scholars, but failed to nurture my curiosity or fierce desire for autonomy. My teachers were used to me asking, “Why does it have to be done this way? What if we tried…?” It wasn’t until college, that I felt rewarded for asking questions and challenging the status quo.
As a parent, I wanted a different experience for my children. Most schools offer one or two pieces of what I was looking, but never the complete puzzle…until I discovered Acton Academy.
In the winter of 2020, as a content creator for a growth mindset company, I was tasked with interviewing educators world-wide who had been identified as offering the best global examples of growth mindset education. On my list of interviewees was Michal Leshem, founder of Acton Academy of Bergen County in New Jersey, and her son (a learner at her Acton).
That interview with Acton Academy changed my world – I had finally found the school I wanted my children to attend.
Acton Academy offers the best of all schools combined.
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PRIVATE SCHOOLS: Offer strong curriculum and the promise of academic excellence
vs.
ACTON ACADEMY: Offers…
- Carefully chosen Core Skill programs (math, reading, writing), Quests, Writer’s Workshops, and Civilization experiences that require learns to fully immerse themselves in a subject through engaging online programs, hands-on challenges, and real-world applications.
- Outstanding academic achievement, within a self-paced environment – Acton elementary students often advance 1.0 to 1.7 grade levels each year; Acton middle school and high school students often perform at 3.0 to 5.0 grade levels above the national average (as seen by standardized testing at main campus Acton).
- Excellence-focused challenges to help learners define what an excellent product looks like, discover examples of excellence in the real-world, and provide feedback to each other to encourage continual improvement.
- Acton Academy Graduates prove excellence after graduation – whether it is by starting their own Venture Capital companies, interning at Space X, winning a Golden Globe award, or turning down offers of Harvard and Oxford college admissions.
- Excellence as explored, critiqued, and improved through feedback from learners and parents, in the form of regular surveys throughout the academic year. Acton requires that learners hold guides and owners accountable to Acton promises of excellence (see this example from Acton Academy Miami South)
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RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS: Offer character building, moral and ethical discussions, guiding principles to live by.
vs.
ACTON ACADEMY: Offers…
- Socratic discussions that allow learners to debate, explore, and consider perspectives and personal values. [Check out this video demonstrating a socratic discussion led by Acton Academy founder Jeff Sandefer]
- Social contracts that require learners to create a studio code, which they are responsible for holding themselves and others accountable too. Parents and guides are also asked to sign contracts, so that their roles and guiding values are known, allowing learners to hold them accountable too.
- Growth mindset principles that are regularly introduced in morning and afternoon launches, experienced in games offered, and witnessed through real-world examples and expert interviews.
- Family value building through Parent Meetings, Journey Meetings, and family badge plans (see this example from Acton Academy Northwest Austin).
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HOMESCHOOLING/ GAMESCHOOLING/ UNSCHOOLING: Offer self-paced learning; unusual methods of learning; freedom from the restriction of a desk, homework, or a teacher; and inspiring real-world experiences like field trips or project-based learning.
vs.
ACTON ACADEMY: Offers…
- Self paced learning in our Core Skill online programs (which may include Dreambox Math, Lexia Core5, Khan Academy Math, and IXL Reading), which offer the learner different pathways of advancement based not only on getting the correct answer but by also showing advanced ways of solving the problems.
- Gamification of everything to help learners build academic skills, practice social contract skills, and make each day more enjoyable than the last (see this video “Guides Are Gamemakers”)
- Quests, which are concentrated challenges lasting 5-7 weeks long, which offer learners a chance to explore science, communications, art, music, and history. Each Quest culminates in an Exhibition, hosted by the learners, to prove their knowledge and display their creativity.
- Hands-on and real-world learning opportunities every chance we can get! Learners are free to express themselves and offer an alternate studio proposal to projects (for example, in a Writer’s Workshop, learners proposed creating and hosting their own podcast over a writing task; their podcast ended up being a far more challenging and skill intensive result than they would have with experienced with the original task).
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Offer lower cost education than a traditional private school, lots of activities and clubs to cater to individual likes, and diverse course options.
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ACTON ACADEMY: Offers…
- Lower cost tuition than many private school options. Our ultimate goal at Acton Academy Port Saint Lucie is to make our program accessible to everyone. Hopefully, the new Florida bill filed in Tallahassee will help make this dream a reality.
- Activities – as they are proposed and desired by our learners. Are they interested in chess? Cooking? Sculpture? Drumming? Debate? Animal rights? Insects? Florida marine life? At Acton, we are committed to supporting their interests, that can be pursued during free time or after hours as agreed upon by parents and owners.
- Diverse courses in the form of Quests, which can be created for any area of interest that the learners suggest. Quest topics that have been done at Acton Academies include: coding/robotics, gardening, entrepreneurship, forensic science, movie creating, rockets, and Imagineering-in-a-Box theme parks.
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Acton Academies often advertise themselves as an alternative to traditional or existing school models (religious, private, public, homeschool).
While Acton is indeed different than its’ world-class educational peers, it has boldly taken the BEST from other school models and fused these choice elements into an innovative model of education that excites and inspires children.
Curious to learn more? Contact us!
