Acera School Inc
Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Enrichment Programs
Acera offers dynamic after school, vacation weeks and summer camp programs for children ages 6-14.
Acera K-9 School
Acera is a STEM-rich, progressive independent school serving students in K-9 across Massachusetts.
AceraEI (Education Innovations)
AceraEI (Education Innovations) exists to support public school teachers to grow their practice, to engage teachers as change agents and to catalyze education innovation within public school districts. AceraEI is the nonprofit public school outreach program of Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership.
AceraEI hosts Life Science Change Agent Teacher Professional Development Workshops for public school teachers. These curricular units feature relevant, cutting-edge technology and research aligned to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): The Microbiome: Your Body Is an Ecosystem; Cell Biology: CRISPR, RNAi, and Genetic Engineering; and The Secret Life of Plants.
AceraEI promotes inquiry-based learning and giving teachers the tools to become facilitators of learning.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our learning philosophy at Acera:
1. Learn based upon ability: We believe that all students should have a chance to learn at a pace and in a way congruent with their individual ability. We aim to keep students engaged and challenged by meeting them where they really are—not where they should be based on their age. Acera’s flexible ability groupings in math and reading allow students to work at their own pace, and engage in learning and discussion with like-ability peers.
2. Individualize learning: Acera employs assessment, Individual Learning Plans, differentiated instruction, independent projects, and flexible groupings to enable a customized learning experience for each student.
3. Integrate learning: Topics and ideas are explored within a larger context, as teachers customize curricula built around essential questions and define projects and culminating events in which all facets of learning can be developed concurrently and connected to broader topics of inquiry.
4.Build social and emotional intelligence: Acera seeks out future leaders, scientists, artists, mathematicians, musicians, writers and explorers alike. We believe intelligence comes in many forms, and we focus on each. We focus on developing the whole child, with emphasis on each child’s social and emotional well-being.
5.Enable creative problem-solving and complex thinking:We believe that the role of school is to develop students’ capacities to engage effectively within teams, solve problems, and to persist through challenges, all while keeping their innate curiosity alive.
6.Safeguard the spirit and curiosity of each student: Core to Acera’s mission is to offer each individual the freedom to pursue interest, nourish curiosity and foster exploration. In addition to Individualized Learning Plans, each student has a chance to further pursue an area of particular interest by engaging deeply in particular parts of a theme in a way that honors their unique interests. In Middle School, all students bring alive their own “Inquiry, Maker, Passion” project, but from a unique personal interest and aligned with a mentor whose background is well suited to offer them support through the IMP Project Process.
Acera’s core values of community, openness, integrity, curiosity and innovation play a key role in our approach to behavior management. We believe in giving students space to experiment, observe themselves, improve, grow and learn.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Core Capacities we foster at Acera:
1. Systems Thinking: See the whole picture and its parts across social, cultural, societal, scientific, and historical perspectives. Understand the interconnectedness of forces and actions.
2. Perspective Taking: Awareness that the place and experiences of the viewer fundamentally affects what and how they see. Develop capacity to see through the eyes of others.
3. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving: Inquire deeply, analyze and relate different aspects to each other, break things down and recombine them to assess a situation and address a need
4. Collaboration: Work with others to create something and to achieve a result that supersedes the contributions of any one individual.
5. Creativity: Free thought and inquiry resulting in original work or novel approaches to express an idea. Divergent thinking and creative problem solver.
6. Emotional Intelligence: Self awareness to know your gifts and challenges, self regulation to control impulses and focus your potential, awareness of the impact of self on others, and capacity to read the group and take the role that is needed.
7. Ethical Decision Making: Make decisions and choices according to values, morals, and a sense of what is right.
8. Leadership: Empower to see needs and step forward to make a difference. Rally others in relevant ways with original ideas (and/or against real world needs). Realize a vision for change and combine the contributions of others to bring it to life.
+Key Skills & Knowledge Base
Skills to be developed appropriately, over time:
-- Deep reading and literature proficiency
-- Writing and ability to express ideas in many formats
-- Applied mathematics as the language of science and tool for life
-- Ability to apply scientific thinking and discovery approaches across disciplines
-- Develop perspective-taking skills and a lens that appreciates history and varying cultural reference points
-- Technology fluency and ability to use technology as an integrated tool for work and expression
-- Conceptual skills
-- Understanding of how things work
-- Capacity to think across disciplines with agility
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Acera School Inc
Board of directorsas of 08/21/2023
David Grayzel
Atlas Venture
Courtney Dickinson
Acera School