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Have you heard about the Acton Academy? They’re doing great things right here in Austin. In fact, their students just did an outstanding job on the Stanford Achievement Test.

So what makes this downtown Austin school so great?

“Acton Academy fulfills the need to unleash the infinite possibilities of our children and get them off an assembly-line approach to education,” says Head of School Laura Sandefer.

It’s only natural, with a Masters in Education, years of teaching experience, and the revolutionary Acton School of Business under their belts, that Laura and Jeff Sandefer would find rows of desks, teaching to the test, and rote memorization unappealing. By starting the Acton Academy, they really are unleashing the possibilities. (Listen to Jeff Sandefer’s speech on education reform).

The school’s mission is “to inspire each child and parent who enters our doors to find a calling that will change the world.” The school incorporates Montessori and Socratic teaching methods to encourage critical thinking, uses educational gaming and e-learning, and has apprenticeship assignments to teach real world skills. “We want to create the closest thing we can for internships early, so that students can figure out what they enjoy doing, what they are good at doing, and practice that,” said Jeff Sandefer.

At most schools, students just focus on passive learning to know (memorizing and analyzing). With the help of great teachers, active parents, and interesting guests, Acton Academy students also learn to do (apply, discover, and innovate) and learn to be (find your own direction and solve your own problems). They learn about assembly lines and pricing by making sandwiches for Caritas. They work with actors from Austin Theater Alliance to create and experience a hero’s journey; every week they face new obstacles in the way of their goal to “find the evil sphinx,” learning acting, public speaking, creative-problem solving, decision-making, and self-reflection skills in the process. They also use the latest learning technology, including products like DreamBox for math skills, and Acton sim games (yes, the same ones the MBA students use). They round out their days with Great Books, yoga, art projects, chess, and outdoor activities.

Sounds like fun, but what about the basics, like math and reading?

They’re definitely still learning them, just in their own ways. At the beginning of the year, the students took the Stanford Achievement Test, one of the leading standardized achievement tests. They just took it again, and in 10 months, they advanced an average of 2.5 grade levels (they were ahead by an average of 1 grade level at the beginning and now are ahead by 3.5).

While excellent, these scores only focus on one, small part of the children’s capabilities. “We believe these tests are simply the tip of the iceberg of what our students have achieved in their real world learning and character development,” says Laura Sandefer.

Congratulations to the Acton Eagles for all of your achievements! Keep up the good work!

To learn more about the Academy, watch this video on their homepage or visit the students’ website to get a feel for what they do on a day-to-day basis. Stay tuned for more news from the Academy, especially as the Children’s Business Fair approaches in October.