The past decades of often frantic “school reform” has yielded few turnaround models that have shown positive effects for students. Often, in addition to lackluster results, they’ve left a lot of detritus in their wake: overpaid consultants, demoralized teachers, and a fragmented community.
With millions of students possibly in need of extra support to make up for last spring’s disrupted schooling, stakes are too high for approaches that won’t pay dividends for student learning.
A strategy being used in Springfield, Mass., and several other Massachusetts districts as part of their school improvement efforts seems to be breaking the mold. It offers a powerful example of a student intervention that can work, and a proof point for extended learning time.
It’s called an “acceleration academy.”
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