Growth Model
At Acera, we believe that all students, regardless of income or socioeconomic background, should have access to an education that is adequately matched to their ability and potential. Though our current private, high parent involvement model offers lower-cost tuition, our long-term goal is to collaborate with public schools to offer a publicly funded option for high-ability learners. Through Acera Education Ventures, Acera is working with local school districts to explore avenues to make this goal a reality. One avenue that appears promising is Innovation School legislation.
Acera Education Ventures
Acera’s vision is to become a catalyst for change in the educational landscape. We seek to build on our innovative curriculum model, now in place at our Melrose location, to create Innovation Schools that address the needs of high-ability students throughout Massachusetts. To this end, in 2010 we incorporated Acera Education Ventures, a nonprofit corporation focused on developing state-of-the-art learning opportunities for Massachusetts’ highest ability learners, while also training teachers throughout the region in cutting-edge pedagogy.
Our schools will also become a laboratory of forward-looking teaching techniques. Acera programs will allow teachers to learn methods that will better serve all children in Massachusetts public schools. Acera Education Ventures will be specifically focused on addressing the need for improvement and innovation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in our public schools.
For more information about Acera Education Ventures, contact Courtney Dickinson.
Partnerships
Partnership is at the cornerstone of the Acera vision. We seek to embrace the brilliance, creativity, and cutting-edge advances of local universities, educators, businesses and organizations that place Massachusetts at the forefront of innovation. In turn, we offer an open learning environment led by progressive teachers and fueled by the curiosity and immense potential of some of our state’s brightest learners. We welcome the possibility of becoming an “innovative educational laboratory,” a testing ground for novel teaching methods and applied technologies.
We seek and maintain mutually beneficial partnerships with universities, a center for creativity and innovation, museums, public school districts, corporations in STEM areas. We envision partnership evolving over time, as Acera continues to grow to scale and refines its model for replication. Partnership avenues may include, but are not limited to:
- Field trips to partner sites
- Equipment/materials sharing
- School and community forums
- Demonstrations of ideas/technology
- Knowledge/research sharing
- Mentorships
- Service learning
- Collaborative research
- Applied learning in school settings
- Learning laboratory environment
- Professional development site
- Scholarships
For more information about partnership avenues, contact David Grayzel.