acton academy
Schools Worth Visiting
7 Ways Microschools Help Communities Innovate
What if you could start a school in six weeks instead of six years? What if you could launch a school for $50,000 rather than $50 million? What if you could test an innovation with 20 kids rather than 2,000? Microschools are popping up around the country. It may not…
Future of Learning
How $5 Billion Could Provide a Great Education for Every Kid on Earth
From developing more early college high schools to supporting the development and expansion of innovative platform networks, learn more as Tom outlines a plan using 15 investment and strategy opportunities, totaling $5 billion, to provide a great education for every child.
EdTech
70 Elementary & Middle Schools Worth Visiting
We believe school visits are the best form of professional learning. Based on a couple thousand school visits, and with help from colleagues and readers, we’ve compiled this list of elementary and middle schools that can give educators a better sense of what’s possible.
EdTech
32 Ways AI is Improving Education
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been quietly infiltrating society in every way. Tom shares how AI is being used to improve education.
Network Effect
101 Top School and Charter Networks
School networks are one of the most important innovations in the modern era of U.S. K-12 education. This list recognizes 101 great school networks that have achieved scaled impact to improve education for millions of children.
Future of Learning
Learner-Driven Communities
A look at learner-driven communities, a new category of personalized learning that teaches and creates environments that encourage, “extreme agency”.
Equity & Access
Better Together: Why Networks Are the Future of Learning
The new thing in education is working in networks. And there’s good reason because the demands of the work have outstripped the toolset. Creating powerful learning is hard work and there’s no reason for teacher teams to work alone. Networks make powerful learning possible at scale.
Personalized Learning
Demystifying Nuance: Designing for Learning Outcomes
Dr. Tyler S. Thigpen. Today, more and more educators are committing themselves to designing learning environments that cultivate a broader, more holistic set of student outcomes. But identifying learning outcomes isn't enough. A students goals and challenges will impact each outcome in different ways.
Competency-Based Education
Curating a Portfolio of Student Pathways: Workspace Education
By: Robin Lake. I’ve been thinking about Workspace since I left and wondering what to make of it. It’s definitely different and meeting a need. Some families drive an hour to be there, and I can understand why.
Place Based Education
A Place-Based Micro-School in the Heart of D.C.
Whether at the early childhood or the high school level, we see that leaders are listening to their students and developing responsive microschool models. Have a good learning idea? Try it with six kids tomorrow.