Accelerated Learning Laboratory
| Accelerated Learning Laboratory | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
 | |
5245 North Camino De Oeste, Pima County, AZ 85745 United States | |
| Coordinates | 32°18′11″N 111°03′54″W / 32.303153°N 111.065059°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Charter school |
| Established | 1998[1]; 19 years ago |
| School district | Accelerated Elementary and Secondary Schools |
| CEEB code | 030551 |
| Principal | David Jones |
| Faculty | 19 |
| Grades | K–12 |
| Enrollment | 220 (as of 2014–2015)[2] |
| Campus size | 21.5 acres with buildings occupying 64,000 sq ft |
| Campus type | rural–urban fringe |
| Color(s) | Black and red |
| Mascot | Lab rat |
| Newspaper | The Cheese |
| Website | www |
Accelerated Learning Laboratory is a tuition-free publicly funded kindergarten to grade 12 charter school in Pima County, Arizona.
Accelerated Learning Laboratory has one campus, located near the base of Wasson Peak in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains.
In 2017, The Washington Post ranked the school the twenty sixth most challenging high school in the United States.[3]
School philosophy and characteristics
The school’s belief is that all students can perform at gifted levels if exposed to the right educational practices and curriculum, regardless of ethnicity, income or gender. The A.L.L. community embraces the belief that all children will exhibit genius, in abundance, when allowed to cultivate innate talents in a challenging, supportive, and civil environment. Students are grouped by social and academic characteristics, instead of by grade, because the school does not believe students mature at a homogeneous pace. Students also address teachers by their first names which is intended to make learning and interacting with teachers a more friendly and open environment. Students are taught to treat each other and faculty with respect and almost no cases of bullying have been reported. According to it's website,[4] the school expects on-time behavior, zero profanity, near-perfect attendance, and homework five nights a week. Although all students are expected to show up to all classes, but according to the administration at A.L.L. there is a level of unprecedented trust and freedom given to students at A.L.L., Students may leave classes with a teacher’s permission to work on extracurricular and a student’s reason for being of being out of class will often go unquestioned so long as that student has maintained the trust of the faculty and other students.
Curriculum
All students that enroll will be accepted as A.L.L. is a charter school, but students will take a placement test, which places them in correct classes based upon their knowledge of each subject. Students at Accelerated Learning Laboratory focus intensely on the Advanced Placement, SAT, and American College Testing so they can be accepted into their selected college/university. Students can for example, enroll in any math subject, from multiplication and division to AP Statistics, and if they then pass the Advanced Placement test of each math subject they can continue in classes about vector calculus, ordinary differential equations, and mathematical analysis. Most students start in pre-algebra in as early as the first grade, and continue to advance in any subject, not just math, throughout their whole stay at Accelerated Learning Laboratory. The school offers AP Calculus, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP English, AP US History, AP World History, AP Econ, AP US Government, and offers language classes in Mandarin-Chinese.[5] These subjects and curriculum are designed to give every student the ability to attend any university or college in their sights. The school's graduation rate is 100 percent, and 100 percent of its students attend a 4-year college.[3] In 2008, an eighth-grade student at the school was the only in the state recognized as an Advanced Placement Scholar. [5]
Extra-curricular activities
While there are no organized competitive athletic programs,[5] students have access to all of the facilities and are able to engage in whatever sports they wish, most notably ultimate frisbee and soccer. Accelerated Learning has two large fields for recreational purposes, a basketball court, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Students are also allotted time at the end of the school day for physical activities. Students are also able to participate in clubs such as: Debate club, Chess club, Photography club, and Yearbook club which can all be used for college credit. The school also participates actively in an event called Science Olympiad[6][7] in which students practice and prepare to compete yearly and often place highly in both its high school and middle school divisions.
Fieldwork
At the end of each school year, faculty and administration at A.L.L. plans a large trip for any student that wishes to go. This trip often involves leaving the state and spending 5-7 days exploring culture, geography, man-made and natural structures, history and other interesting subjects. Due to the scale of this trip it replaces smaller day trips that most schools may have throughout the school year. These trips are a learning experience but also very culturally enriching and are intended to be fun and have long-lasting effects on students of all ages. The past trips have been to China, Washington D.C., Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Meteor Crater/Sunset Crater, San Diego and the planned trip to San Francisco in 2018.
References
- ^ "Accelerated Learning Laboratory". Arizona Department of Education. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
- ^ "Accelerated Learning Laboratory". U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
- ^ a b "Accelerated Elementary and Secondary". The Washington Post. 2013.
- ^ "Accelerated Elementary and Secondary". David Jones. 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
- ^ a b c "Accelerated Elementary and Secondary". Rhonda Bodfield. 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
- ^ https://www.soinc.org/
- ^ https://scioly.org/
External links
School philosophy and characteristics
A.L.L. belief is that all students can perform at gifted levels if exposed to the right educational practices and curriculum, regardless of ethnicity, income or gender.
Curriculum
Students at Accelerated Learning Laboratory focus intensely on the Advanced Placement, SAT, and American College Testing so they can be accepted into their selected college/university. Students for example can enroll in any math subject, from multiplication and division to AP Statistics, and if they then pass the Advanced Placement test of each math subject they can continue in classes about vector calculus, ordinary differential equations, and mathematical analysis. Most students start in pre-algebra in as early as the first grade, and continue to advance in any subject, not just math, throughout their whole stay at Accelerated Learning Laboratory. The school offers AP Calculus, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP English, AP US History, AP World History, AP Econ, AP US Government, and offers language classes in Mandarin-Chinese.[1] These subjects and curriculum are designed to give every student the ability to attend any university or college in their sights. The school's graduation rate is 100 percent, and 100 percent of its students attend a 4-year college.[2] In 2008, an eighth-grade student at the school was the only in the state recognized as an Advanced Placement Scholar. [1]
Extra-curricular activities
While there are no organized competitive athletic programs,[1] students have access to all of the facilities and are able to engage in whatever sports they wish. there are two large fields for recreational purposes, a basketball court, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Students are also allotted time at the end of the school day for physical activities. Students are also able to participate in clubs such as: Debate club, Chess club, Photography club, and Yearbook club which can all be used for college credit. The school also participates actively in an event called Science Olympiad[3][4] in which students practice and prepare to compete yearly and often place highly in both its high school and middle school divisions.
Fieldwork
At the end of each school year, a trip that often involves leaving the state and spending 5-7 days exploring culture, geography, man-made and natural structures, history and other interesting subjects is arranged.
References
- ^ a b c "Accelerated Elementary and Secondary". Rhonda Bodfield. 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
WPwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ https://www.soinc.org/
- ^ https://scioly.org/