Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning (AACL)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
AACL will educate students in kindergarten through eighth grade. AACL proposes to open in Fall 2010 within the boundaries of Colorado Springs School District 11.
VISION STATEMENT
We will create an academic home for advanced and creative learning, cultivate personal and standards-based excellence and leadership ability, and serve as a resource center for the gifted community of the Pikes Peak Region.
MISSION STATEMENT ~ INVESTIGATE, REFLECT, EXPLORE AND LEAD
Our students and staff will investigate ideas and master advanced content, reflect upon their own progress, explore connections between disciplines, and lead others in positive ways to new heights in achievement and service to the community.
To accomplish our mission and establish our vision, we will meet and exceed Colorado’s content standards and gifted education guidelines, provide supportive and challenging personal learning plans, implement best practices using the Integrated Curriculum Model, encourage the whole child with AACL LifeSkills™ curriculum and family partnerships, support a highly trained professional staff, and serve the Pikes Peak community as a resource center for unique learning needs.
VALUES AND PHILOSOPHY
We have six core value statements upon which our vision and mission is based. These statements focus on the overall belief that six components- our children, teachers, families, classrooms, curriculum, and community- each have a critical role to fill in this school. A complete description of these components is listed in our charter application.
TARGET POPULATION
As an open-enrollment, K-8 school, AACL welcomes all students who enroll. AACL specializes in advanced learners and will provide a highly differentiated, rigorous model of gifted education without any entrance requirements. In particular, AACL seeks to supplement other local programs by filling a gap in regional services for advanced, creative, twice-exceptional and gifted learners, and offering a challenging, supportive and hands-on model to a broader range of K-8 students. Some students may have prior documentation of their needs, and some may simply have parents who recognize some unusually advanced or twice-exceptional learning patterns. AACL invites families to ask questions about the program, respects their ability to decide whether or not AACL is a suitable fit for their family’s needs, and will not collect any prior documentation until after students are enrolled. In the process, AACL seeks to provide an additional option for parents who seek to prevent underachievement in students with advanced early learning trends. AACL curriculum is designed to adjust to the needs of students, and with an open enrollment policy, the student population in the school may turn out to have fewer students with advanced learning needs than anticipated. AACL staff will adjust curriculum based on pre-assessments and will identify individual goals on personal learning plans accordingly.
THE REGIONAL NICHE THAT AACL WILL FILL
From information collected from surveys, local district coordinators, school and family psychologists, and district websites demonstrates a gap in services in the Pikes Peak Region that AACL is designed to fill. At this time, there is no known K-8 school, private or public, in the Pikes Peak Region that specializes in gifted educational pedagogy; there is no known local K-8 school with daily personal learning plans for every single student; there is no known central location where information for unique and advanced learning resources is disseminated; there is no K-8 gifted educational training model school for preservice teachers; and there is no known local program that offers gifted educational techniques to a wider range of abilities without using cut-off scores for admittance. AACL has collected 61 Letters of Support and 62 Letters of Intent to Enroll (as of September 1, 2009), with 52 entering in the 2010-2011 school year. Currently, AACL’s pre-enrollment list indicates more than half of the students live outside District 11’s boundaries, and less than 40% of those who do live inside District 11 are actually currently attending a District 11 school. Only a quarter of all pre-enrolled students attend a district school in their home district.
HISTORY
In September 2008, a small private school specializing in gifted education closed abruptly. Parents and teachers from the former Renaissance Academy recognized a continued need for this type of program and began strategic planning, community meetings, and survey analysis. With feedback that included families, local community members, principals, gifted education specialists, university instructors, District 11 and other district personnel, a steering committee began the charter application process for the 2010-2011 year.
GOALS ~ GRADUATES OF THIS SCHOOL
Students who graduate from this school will not only have a large and relevant body of knowledge, but will also have the ability to analyze and organize large amounts of information, posit creative questions and solutions to problems, develop self-awareness, use effective time management and other AACL LifeSkills™ to meet short and long term goals, self-advocate positively for their individual needs, and use their skills to lead others in positive and productive ways as local, national, and global citizens.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
AACL will use the three-fold Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM) of advanced academic content based on the use of diagnostic, Colorado standards-based pre-assessments to set individual learning goals; differentiated process and product with authentic student research; and universal themes such as systems, patterns, and change to connect ideas throughout school-wide core and encore (‘specials’) disciplines. AACL will combine this model with research-based curricula including materials from the College of William and Mary and elements from high performing schools that serve a high percentage of gifted students in addition to typical learners. Students will be enrolled in multi-age Divisions one (I) through five (V), and CSAP testing levels will be determined by the typical grade placement of each student if he/she were to transfer to a grade level school. Additional program elements include personal learning plans for every student; five parent conferences each year; AACL LifeSkills™ curriculum; critical, logical, and creative thinking skills in every discipline; class sizes from 16-22 students; a small school environment; interdisciplinary units; flexibly grouped, ninety-minute blocks for math and language arts; a longer school day from 8:00-3:10; 175 student contact days; consistent daily physical activity; expert-led workshops for students; partnerships with families; leadership and community service opportunities for all students; frequent team-teaching; and extensive staff development.
SIZE OF SCHOOL AND BUILD-OUT
AACL will begin with 112 students in Divisions I (one) through V (five), which includes traditional kindergarten through eighth grade students, and eight partially-enrolled homeschool students. The opening of Division V in the first year will depend on a minimum of 14 students enrolled. Kindergarten will open with two classes of sixteen students, one for half-day and one for full-day enrollment.
ABLE AND EAGER LEADERSHIP
The Steering Committee for AACL is a diverse group of parents and educators passionately committed to the idea that all children should have the opportunity to learn at an appropriate pace and depth with flexibility for their individual learning needs. These members have expertise in a wide variety of areas that include gifted education, charter school experience, human resources, accounting, staff development, software engineering, marketing, strategic planning, board development, and fundraising. These members are committed to using their expertise to support and direct the AACL program and recruit additional expertise. Several members will transition to formal board members upon charter approval, while the rest will join sub-committees. The initial composition of the Board will be seven members elected by members of the AACL Steering Committee. When hired, the Academy Director will become a non-voting member of the Governing Board.
CHARTER REQUEST
The Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning respectfully requests a five-year charter from Colorado Springs School District Eleven beginning July 1, 2010.