Managing election interest – and angst – at school
By Kim Machnik Any election year is a major event in the life of a school. At its best, an election is electrifying. It is an opportunity to witness the democratic process in real time, critically engage with… Read More
Category: Acera News, Blog, from the classroom, Innovation in Education | October 26, 2020 | kerry
Acera’s Michael Hirsch named educator fellow for National Public Radio’s Science Friday
Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership is proud to announce that Lab Sciences Specialist Michael Hirsch has been named an Educator Fellow for Science Friday, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the public’s access to… Read More
Category: Acera News, AceraBlogPost, from the classroom, Innovation in Education | October 19, 2020 | kerry
Acera: an actively anti-racist school
Our commitment to being an actively anti-racist school Acera recognizes that systemic racism affects all levels of society, including our school. We take a proactive role in making a more equitable and just world. We welcome the national… Read More
Category: Acera News, Blog | September 1, 2020 | kerry
Acera School launches diversity scholarship program
August 21, 2020 (WINCHESTER, Massachusetts) – Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership has established a new scholarship program to increase student diversity. According to the National Science Foundation, underrepresented minority students received 22% of all… Read More
Category: Acera News, Blog | August 20, 2020 | kerry
Virtual After School Enrichment begins September 8!
Is your child passionate about programming, theater, science, or role-playing games? Are they curious about culinary arts, robotics, or photoshop? Acera’s suite of substantive, hands-on virtual after school enrichment programs starts September 8. Classes include perennial favorites like… Read More
Category: Acera News, Blog, Enrichment at Home | August 20, 2020 | kerry
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
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
AceraEI offers free STEAM content during distance learning
For schools, teachers, and parents looking for free educational content during this period of distance learning, AceraEI is offering downloadable lessons for students in grades K-8. The content includes activities in life sciences, art, math, engineering, architecture, and… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Acera News, AceraBlogPost, Innovation in Education | March 20, 2020 | kerry
Five steps to successful remote learning
By Courtney Dickinson As schools nation-wide quickly transition to remote learning in response to COVID-19, many administrators, teachers, students and parents are experiencing distance learning for the first time. In addition to curriculum and content, schools must also… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Acera News, AceraBlogPost, Innovation in Education | March 17, 2020 | kerry
Parents as coaches: Tactics to support your child during remote schooling
By Courtney Dickinson @CourtneyofAcera What are best-in-class teaching tactics you can adopt – as the in-person adult – now that so many schools are converting to remote schooling? It will be tempting for all of us to replicate… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Acera News, AceraBlogPost, from the classroom, Innovation in Education | March 14, 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? 