Accelerated Learning Academies™
Accelerated Learning Academies™ are designed to accelerate student learning through high expectations, research-based instructional strategies and community collaboration. Accelerated Learning Academies™ take what is usually reserved for gifted and talented children and share it with all students. History of Success
Founded as a pilot program in two schools in 1986, Accelerated Schools plus has partnered with more than 1,800 public schools in 42 states. Currently, there are 162 Accelerated Learning Academies™ (K-8) and Accelerated High Schools™ in the United States. The goal of Accelerated Schools plus is to create powerful learning opportunities for all students. By building on the strengths of each student, the school uses the best of what we know about instruction to accelerate the learning of all students. The guiding principle is to accelerate, not remediate.
Partnerships That Transform Schools
An Accelerated Learning Academy™ is established through a five-year partnership agreement between the school, the school district, and Accelerated Schools plus. The partnership is a collaboration to transform the school through three principles: unity of purpose, empowerment coupled with responsibility and building on strengths.
How It Works
. Buy-In: The transformation begins when the school community takes a deep look at its current situation through a process called “taking stock.” The entire school community — teachers, staff, students, parents and district personnel — must agree to work together to transform the school. The school community forges a shared vision of what it wants the school to be and identifies priorities. The school then sets about to address those priorities by working through an Accelerated Schools plus governance structure and analyzing its challenge areas.
. Curricula & Instructional Services: Accelerated Schools plus tailors services and training to each school’s unique needs. Services include pre-assessment of school needs, curricula and instructional
support services.
. School Training: Accelerated Schools plus coaches spend 50 percent of their time on a weekly basis supporting their schools. The coaches guide and motivate the school
as it transforms itself.
. Continuous Professional Development: Accelerated Schools plus provides research and practical applications for classroom-level instruction. Its National Faculty provides trainers with support from the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut.
. Networking: Accelerated Schools plus creates many opportunities for partner schools to interact on substantive issues and share strategies. It also hosts regional and national conferences, publishes newsletters and supports a web site.
. Continuous Assessment: Accelerated Schools plus facilitates self-assessment activities to measure student academic achievement and school performance. Diagnostic assessments are used to gauge a school’s progress and to provide data for sustained classroom improvement.
Result and Accomplishments
Accelerated Schools plus has been extensively studied and evaluated. It has been found to be one of the most successful school improvement models in the nation. Research and evaluations have shown that the Accelerated model leads to increases in student achievement and school improvement. An extensive summary of results can be found at the research link on this web site.
Additional Accelerated Capacities
In addition to school improvement partnerships, Accelerated Schools plus is one of the nation's pre-eminent providers of professional development for teachers and principals, and strategic management services for "turn-around" schools and charter schools.
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