Learning Design

At Acton Academy, young people learn in a collaborative studio of multi-age learners.

Our flexible approach challenges each child with their own differentiated learning plan and inspires them through real-world projects and experiences.

Acton’s Learner Driven Community puts children at the center of their learning.

This allows them to create and maintain personal goals and relational covenants, as they Learn to Learn, Learn to Do, and Learn to Be.

Core Skills

Learn to learn

Learners master the foundations of reading, writing, and math during their daily Core Skills time. We replace mundane test preparation, rote memorization, and unsatisfying motivators like grades with self-paced mastery through a blend of hands-on and online learning tools. They develop executive functioning skills and showcase their mastery by setting and meeting their goals, managing their time, earning badges, and assembling portfolios.

Reading: Heroes learn to love reading by being given the freedom to read anything they enjoy – even comic books. Over time, we trust they will tackle increasingly challenging books out of the extrinsic motivation to progress and earn badges and the intrinsic motivation to challenge themselves and grow.

Writing: Our primary communication focus is on writing, but learners experiment with film, photography, speech-making, apprenticeship sales pitches, and many other forms of communication.

Math: Math skills are delivered by game-based adaptive programs like Khan Academy, and through collaborative games that bridge the gap so they apply what they’re learning in the real-world.

Hands-On Challenges

Learn to do

Learning to do means making practical decisions in the real world to accomplish great tasks as a way to change the world.

Quests: A four to six-week series of learning challenges and role plays, bound by individual and team-based gamification and a compelling narrative, ending with a public Exhibition where learners show the world their development of 21st-century skills.

Whether it’s launching a startup business through the Entrepreneurship Quest, planting and managing a garden in the Gardening Quest, competing for medals in a Greek Olympics in the Athens Quest, or programming a robot in the Coding & Robotics Quest, learners build real-life skills through hands-on projects and real-world challenges. They investigate, participate, and contribute to the world around them.

Civilization: Twice a week, learners dive into history, politics, and economics by putting themselves in the shoes of historical figures at critical turning points in history and debating real-life decisions.

Art: Learners explore art of all kinds from the classics to modern niches, applying the visions and style to their own art projects.

Character Development

Learn to be

Traditional education asks the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” At Acton, learners ask the question, “Who do I want to be?”

Launches/Socratic Discussions: Each morning and mid-day, learners circle up for mini-Socratic discussions focused on character development, the needs of the studio, new processes or tools to solve their problems, and more.

Physical Development: Learners dive into athletics and fitness in PD, followed by a Socratic discussion and peer reviews on sportsmanship, endurance, leadership, etc.

Studio Maintenance: The learners own their space. With that freedom comes the responsibility of making sure it stays clean. Learners spend time organizing systems and processes to hold each other accountable to cleaning up their studio, doing everything from vacuuming and sweeping to cleaning the bathrooms.

Character Callouts: Learners close each day calling others out for the heroic things they’ve done. “I saw James struggle with his math but he didn’t give up, and I call that persistence!”

Learner-Driven: Our adults aren’t teachers, they’re Guides, and the role of the Guide is to be as small as possible in the studio. They foster an environment whereby our heroes learn to rely on each other and their own capabilities to solve their problems.

How we're different

Hover or click the cards below to see how we're different from traditional schools and education.

No Teachers or Tutors

We have Guides

Guides play a different role than teachers and tutors. Guides empower learners to take charge of their learning journeys, fostering independence and curiosity. Unlike traditional teachers, the guide's job is to get "smaller" in the studio, handing over the tools and processes to the learners so they can act as mentors. They Coach and Challenge learners in order to encourage critical thinking and problem-solving. There's no lectures or "teaching" up at a board.

No Grading

We have Self-Reflection and Excellence Committees

Learners hold each other accountable to whether or not their work is their best or truly excellent. In lieu of arbitrary letter grades, we have badges with clear standards and incentives like Fun Friday or Freedom Levels to motivate children to set their own goals and master the subjects.

No Classrooms

We have Studios

No rows and columns of desks pointing towards the teacher. Instead, we have creative open spaces with movable furniture that allows the learners to customize their studio to best suit their learning needs.

No Lectures

We have Launches

Our Guides don't "teach." They design and deliver Launches, which are Socratic Discussions and games that inspire, equip, and connect our learners so they look after their tribe and become independent, lifelong learners.

No Grades

We have Mixed-Age Studios

Besides school, when else in life are you in a group where everyone is the same age? Having studios where learners of multiple ages interact with each other daily provides meaningful socialization, opportunities for older learners to learn leadership and mentorship, and role modeling and inspiration for younger learners.

No Tests

We have Exhibitions

Exhibitions are an opportunity for learners to show their work to the world. Unlike traditional tests, these Exhibitions allow learners to demonstrate their skills and knowledge through interactive projects and presentations. Exhibitions serve as a culmination of their hard work, emphasizing real-world application and mastery.

No Homework

We leave it up to the Learners

Some of our learners choose to keep working on their projects at home. We don't require any homework, because we believe they need that valuable time to be with family and play.

No "Sitting at Desks"

We have Freedom

Our learners stand while they work on their computers, lie down on the floor to read, and come up with all kinds of creative and new ways to best help them focus and accomplish their work. They can even stand and walk around when they eat lunch — and they typically vote to eat outside.

No Top-Down Authority

We are Learner-Driven

Learners devise their own contracts and rules to regulate the studio. Rather than a teacher who doles out punishments, our learners hold each other equally accountable to rules that they've voted on in their weekly Town Halls.

No Dragging Children to the Finish Line

We are Self-Paced

We can have learners who are "kindergarteners" who are doing 2nd grade level reading and 3rd graders who are doing 1st grade level math. Every child is different, and we don't believe in treating them like products in a factory line that have to be pushed along to make room for the next one, or that must be at a certain academic point by some arbitrarily determined standard.

Sound like the right choice for your child?

Schedule a tour at one of our Open houses with us to see if Acton Academy Port St. Lucie is the right fit for you.