Today we begin our 9^th year.

To celebrate, I would like to share what our customers – the Acton Academy families – say about their journey with us.  In adherence to our promise of transparency and accountability, we give regular surveys to our families. We believe so strongly in this promise that surveys are one of the compliance requirements of any new Acton owner to use our name, curriculum or accreditation.

The most recent survey asked: What is the most important way your child has grown at Acton Academy?

Here are our parents’ responses (unedited except to take out children’s names):

• Critical thinking and articulating ideas
• Independent learning and motivation, and the joy of collaboration
• Confidence and the ability to contribute their ideas and opinions in any discussion.
• The importance of leadership.
• The extra freedom continues teaching him the loop of “it feels good to be good at something, you do it by practice/work”.
• Having ambitious older kids has been wonderful from a role model perspective.
• He has become even more responsible for his own learning, consistently setting and achieving his own goals as well as learning from missteps and setbacks.
• Ability to handle himself within a group setting, with others who are of different ages and abilities, and with projects that require creative thinking and grit. In our opinion these skills are developed more often within the Acton model.
• Love of science and building.
• Leadership skills and growing self motivation.
• Intense curiosity, especially with respect to economics, politics and history, thoughtfulness and understanding of how to be in community with others.
• Learning how to be a cooperative and productive member of a community of peers.
• Her true self is shining through again!
• Learning to manage his own time and accept consequences of not meeting deadlines or abiding by the contract
• Confidence and uncovering their own motivation/ability to take on projects/tasks small and large.
• Independence, self-confidence.
• How to be self-motivated and how to set/achieve goals
• Learning he is responsible for delivery of assignments
• My child has grown in -taking more personal responsibility for his education, -having a longer-term vision for his life, -his enjoyment of school, -proficiency with writing emails and creating spreadsheets, -feeling comfortable in a leadership role.
• My child has grown in self-possession.
• We feel that he has learned the valuable lesson that hard work and focus will help you achieve your goals. He has also learned how to be a confident, respectful and kind human being. We love how he will talk to anyone of all ages and how he is not afraid to do new things or join new groups.
• Ability to think critically, to think through a process.
• He is able to communicate so clearly and is independent in his work, goal setting. He strives to find a calling. He loves math.
• Our child has developed the ability to engage in discussion and speak well and listen well. The “classroom” is not lecture – it’s a place to dig in and discuss.
• He has built his confidence to be able to solve any problem with asking minimal questions.

I have great hope for the future of the world with these young heroes continuing on with their Acton journeys. They will do amazing things that will take us all by surprise.

Here’s to another year! Happy Birthday, Acton!