Acera’s Pop Up School returns for 2020-21 school year
For parents looking for a substantive and engaging virtual learning option during the continued need for social distancing, Acera’s Pop Up School is a fully remote program open to all students in grades 4-10. Families may register for one… Read More
Category: Acera News, Blog, Innovation in Education | July 27, 2020 | kerry
One response to the Covid crisis? A Pop Up School
By Courtney Dickinson “It is Lord of the Flies, over here. I have a job, and I am not an educator.” “The assignments being sent by school do not engage my child. They don’t fit him, and they… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, AceraBlogPost, Blog, Innovation in Education | July 27, 2020 | kerry
Scenes from Acera Summer Camp
Happy summer! Though we wish we could see all of our wonderful campers in person, we couldn’t be prouder of our instructors and students, who have shown true creativity, flexibility, and resilience in designing and actively participating in… Read More
Category: AceraBlogPost, Blog, Enrichment at Home | July 8, 2020 | kerry
What to look for in a remote summer camp
By Courtney Dickinson Covid has dramatically changed the summer of 2020. Programs that parents painstakingly identified are cancelled outright or transitioning to remote summer camp models. How can we, as parents, ensure that our kids have an engaging… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Blog, Enrichment at Home | May 20, 2020 | kerry
10 netiquette & remote schooling norms families need to know
By Courtney Dickinson @CourtneyofAcera In this era of remote schooling, there are new tech platform norms and social coaching advice that we, as parents and educators, need to expressly spell out for our children. Framing “netiquette norms” and… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Blog | April 15, 2020 | kerry
Enrichment at Home: Snail Mail
We’re all finding new ways to stay in touch with loved ones these days: Zoom and other video conferencing tools are now home to our family game nights, birthday parties, pizza parties, scavenger hunts (i.e. “Find something in your… Read More
Category: Blog, Enrichment at Home | April 13, 2020 | Faith Blake
Remote learning is the new normal, now what?
By Courtney Dickinson Seemingly overnight, schools everywhere have transitioned to a remote educational model for the foreseeable future as we enter a period of extended social distancing. For school leaders and families who are trying to adapt to… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Acera News, Blog | April 6, 2020 | kerry
Enrichment at Home: In the Kitchen!
The kitchen is full of possibilities for connecting as a family. While we continue to stay at home together, we’ve made all kinds of things – only some of them edible! – in the kitchen: The Marchesano family,… Read More
Category: Blog, Enrichment at Home | April 5, 2020 | Faith Blake
Enrichment at Home: Make, Move, Connect
In this uncharted territory of extended time at home, families all over are finding creative ways to nurture an “enriching” experience for their children. The stories of kitchen counter science experiments, living room dance parties, and virtual game… Read More
Category: Blog, Enrichment at Home | March 30, 2020 | Faith Blake
How to stay connected during extended social distancing
Kids (and adults!) need to feel connected during this time of extended social distancing. Many of us are mourning the loss of gatherings, concerts, on-site classes, and other events that we love. These feelings are real and valid…. Read More
Category: AceraBlogPost, Blog, Innovation in Education | March 27, 2020 | kerry
At Acera, we believe a school’s success can be measured far beyond its standardized test scores. How happy are its students? Do they feel a sense of purpose at school? Are they developing a capacity for perspective taking and problem solving? Are teachers using evidence-based approaches to pedagogy? Acera’s Education Innovation team is working to change how we measure education to include students’ core capacities, faculty’s use of evidence-based practices, a positive school culture, and standards and achievement.
Tech Hub enables students to emerge as community-minded technologists able to solve problems to benefit the whole school. More a philosophy than a place, Tech Hub can start as simply a cart in a cafeteria with one student fired up to be a knowledgable, technically skillful community member. Concurrently developing emotional intelligence skills and a wide array of technological abilities, Tech Hub members model and spread an attitude of fearlessness at using STEM tools to solve real problems.
Small children can understand big ideas, and computer science is no exception. Acera’s hands-on “Computers and Me” curriculum introduces early elementary students to computer science concepts, and is one example of many creative ways computational thinking and technical fluency can be developed throughout K-12 education, starting at age 5. Pilot-tested and ready to translate for adoption by public schools, these computer science learning approaches help students become facile and fearless.
What if math classes are organized based on what each student is ready to learn, rather than by age? This f
How can educators unleash the initiative and creativity inherent in all children? 