Our philosophy of learning

• Students create and sign a Studio Contract describing how each individual will act and the consequences for violating community norms.

• Mentor teams encourage younger and older students to listen, affirm, set goals and hold each other accountable.

• “Learn to Be” badges celebrate character and completing leadership challenges.

• The latest in educational tools and technology for self-paced mastery of reading, writing and math skills.

• Deep Socratic discussions about heroes, history and self-governance to hone critical thinking skills and the ability to powerfully think, write and speak.

• Hands-on project based Quests to master the tools and skills needed to solve problems in the real world.

• Written promises and covenants that form a tightly bound community of individuals learning to form authentic friendships and honestly resolve interpersonal problems.

 Young heroes celebrate the mastery of tools, skills and character by earning badges, assembling portfolios and taking part in public exhibitions.

• Parents use badges to track academic progress in Core Skills like reading, writing, math and spelling and character development in “Learn to Be” Badges.
• Portfolios and the Journey Tracker (our internal goal-setting and tracking software) captures rough drafts, photos, and other creative work. 
• Public exhibitions at the end of most Quests allow young heroes to present work to experts, customers or the public for a real-world test.

 At Acton Academy Folsom we utilize the latest in educational tools and technology for self-paced mastery of Core Skills (like reading, writing and math, etc.)