Acera School

The Acera School (formerly the Anova School) is an independent, nonprofit, co-educational day school in Winchester, Massachusetts, United States, serving gifted students across Greater Boston in grades K–8 with the option for a bonus Grade 9. Acera's approach to gifted education is centered around engaging students in meaningful learning given each students’ unique capacities, needs, and passions. Its teachers emphasize the development of core capacities such as systems thinking, critical thinking and problem solving, creativity, ethical decision making, perspective taking, collaboration, emotional intelligence, and leadership.

History
Acera School (formerly Anova School) was founded in 2010 by Courtney Dickinson, who identified a need for expanded educational opportunities for gifted students. In September 2010, Anova opened in Melrose, leasing a portion of the vacant former Decius Beebe Elementary School building from Melrose Public Schools.

In 2011, Anova School was renamed Acera School, and when its lease expired, moved to the First Methodist Church's annex building.

In fall 2013, Acera re-opened for its fourth year in Winchester, in its own building at 5 Lowell Avenue.

In 2023, Acera expanded its campus with the purchase of the adjacent building at 1 Lowell Avenue.

Student body
The school serves academically gifted students, creative students, highly gifted/profoundly accelerated students, and twice-exceptional students who present both giftedness and disabilities. Acera requires that children take the WISC-IV assessment as part of the admissions process, as a precursor to a parent interview/visit.

In its first year, the Acera School offered three multi-age classrooms serving grades K–6. For the 2023–2024 school year, the school included a Lower Elementary class, 2 Intermediate Elementary classes, 2 Upper Elementary classes, and 4 Middle and High School classes.

By January 2020, Acera had enrolled 130 K–9 students. Acera initiated high school classes for grades nine and ten in the 2021–2022 school year. For the 2022–2023 school year, tuition at Acera was $31,900 for grades K–5, and $33,800 for grades 6–11, with limited financial aid available.

Curriculum
The Acera School curriculum is individualized for each student based on readiness and interests. Each student has an Individual Learning Plan that is updated each school year. Subjects such as math are taught in flexible cross-age groupings, with over a dozen math classes, allowing students to be placed in math classes that suit their abilities rather than their age. Students are given the opportunity to choose electives in Art/Tech/Engineering, Humanities & Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences & Math. In addition, Upper School students take on Inquiry, Maker & Passion Projects (IMPp), which are long-term, mentor-supported projects that reflect each student's individual passion/interest.

Acera's teaching philosophy is centered around eight guiding principles: Learning based on ability, individualized learning, integrated learning, early and deep exposure to STEM topics, building social emotional intelligence, creative problem-solving and complex thinking, safeguarding the spirit and curiosity of every student, and catalyzing student initiative.

Co-curricular activities
The school started offering an after-school program in its second year, and its after school enrichment programs and summer camps are open to students not enrolled at Acera during the school day. Boston Magazine named Acera "Best of Boston 2022" for its after-school catalog of activities open to the public. Learning is interdisciplinary and project-based, with themes inspired by the Museum of Science Engineering's Elementary (EiE) program. Model United Nations, Theater, and LARP are some of the optional after-school activities as of 2022.

Acera hosts the American Mathematics Competition AMC8 Exam each year along with the Noetic National Math Competition.

According to The Boston Globe, "Students at Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership in Winchester won first in the state and 15th internationally in the Purple Comet Math Meet. Approximately 2,800 teams from 55 countries participated. Purple Comet is a free, online, international math competition for high school and middle school students which has been conducted since 2003."