User:Aschlotfeldt/sandbox

= Acton Academy = Acton Academy was founded by Laura Sandefer and her husband Jeff Sandefer, the founder of the Acton School of Business, as a school deeply rooted in an overarching theme of a Hero’s Journey. The school focuses students around a search for their life’s “calling, teaching content through online game-based tools, Socratic discussion and face-to-face projects the school calls “quests.”

At the Acton Academy, kids teach themselves and each other, as they respond to a series of challenges offered by adult “guides.” The challenges are tough, which leaves no one a stranger to life’s best teacher—failure.

The kids are responsible for many things, right down to the janitorial work. Students run their own governance and currency systems, immersing themselves in negotiation and conflict resolution. They work part time as apprentices at local architecture firms, bakeries, and dance studios, exploring their personal interest and talents. Additionally, they learn reading, writing, and arithmetic using state-of-the-art, game-based teaching tools that have helped them progress at three times the rate of their public school peers.

History
Opening its doors in 2009 with 12 students, Acton offered families a tech-enriched alternative to Montessori education. Acton Academy has since grown to offer 36 spots in its Elementary School and 36 spots in its Middle School. The school launched a mixed grade High School with 36 students in 2015.

Tuition & Enrollment
The main Austin campus charges $850 a month or $9,350 a year. Once the school is at full capacity in its Elementary, Middle and High School, the administration expects costs (including cost of facilities) to be $2,000 per student.

Locations
Acton Academy is offering “owner kits” to entrepreneurs and parents in other cities interested in opening their own schools with a similar model. In the fall of 2014 three Acton Academies launched in Austin and additionally in Chicago; Houston; Wausau, Wisconsin; Venice Beach, California, Toronto and Guatemala City. By the fall of 2015 twenty five Acton Academies opened, including additional schools in Austin; Atlanta; Washington D.C., and London.