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| Background
and History of Accelerated Schools |
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The Accelerated Schools
Project was launched at Stanford University
by Dr. Henry Levin as a comprehensive approach
to school change, designed to improve schooling
for children in at-risk communities. During
his research Dr. Levin was perplexed by
the practice of "remediating" certain students,
despite the fact that it rarely helped
them make it into the educational mainstream.
Struck by the inequity of this system,
he proposed a new kind of school, where
staff, parents, students, district office
representatives, and local community members
would work together to accelerate learning
by providing all students with the challenging
activities that have traditionally been
reserved for students identified as gifted
and talented. His viewpoint was that children
caught in at-risk situations have exactly
the same characteristics and potential
of all children, including curiosity, desire
to learn, imagination, and need for love,
support, and affirmation. Consequently,
accelerated schools are designed to bring
all students into the educational mainstream
by building on their natural strengths,
and by having consistently high expectations
for them, regardless of their background.
In 1986,
Dr. Levin first tested his idea that all
students will thrive in an atmosphere of
high expectations and engaging curriculum
by working with two pilot elementary schools
located in the Bay Area. These two schools
both had high populations of at-risk students,
with large numbers of minority children
who qualified for free or reduced lunches.
While the accelerated schools model was
essentially only a concept and philosophy
at this time, through the coaching provided
by Dr. Levin's doctoral students from Stanford,
both schools began to thrive. By the third
year of working with accelerated schools,
they began to show increases in test scores,
as well as improved student and staff morale
and greater parent involvement.
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Accelerated
Schools Process Expands Nationwide |
In
order to provide quality support to the
growing network of schools, the Accelerated
Schools Project developed a systematic
plan for expansion. This strategy included
extension of the project to secondary
schools, planning and initiation of satellite
centers, and the development of the training
model that would enable trained coaches
to work with schools across the country.
The training workshops were designed
to incorporate the complete philosophical
approach and principles of accelerated
schools with a comprehensive transformation
process including governance, inquiry,
and powerful learning.
The Southwest
Center for Accelerated Schools located
at The University of Texas at Austin,
College of Education, launched its first
fourteen elementary and middle schools
in 1996 and the first high schools in
the nation in 1998. During the past ten
years, the SWCAS has worked with over
200 campuses providing technical assistance
that builds capacity at the school level.
Ninety per cent of these schools are
Title 1 schools with most students identified
as at-risk.
The Accelerated
Schools Project network has now expanded
to more than 1000 elementary, middle
and high schools in 41 states across
the country. In 2002 TIME magazine named
the Accelerated Charter School in Los
Angeles as their School of the Year.
The Accelerated Schools model is one
of ten school reform models supported
by the New American Schools Corporation. |
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The
Southwest Center for Accelerated Schools
ELITE |
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The Southwest
Center provides training to coaches and
leadership teams, follows up with schools,
hosts regional networking meetings and
conferences, conducts research designed
to further our knowledge about effective
change, develops evaluation and assessment
instruments, and disseminates information
through traditional and technology-based
methods.
The accelerated
schools model is not a set "package," but
a philosophy about children and learning
accompanied by a process for change. As
each school is different, so are the results
of each school's journey towards acceleration.
However, all accelerated schools embrace
the same high expectations for their students,
and belief that their community can help
those students achieve greatness. And,
since the majority of accelerated schools
serve high populations of students traditionally
labeled "at-risk," coming from minority
households and living in some degree of
poverty, these idealistic views are often
greatly tested in their implementation.
Despite these obstacles, accelerated schools
across the country have consistently found
increases in test scores, levels of staff
and student satisfaction and parent involvement.
These results come from school communities
that buy into a philosophy that all children
can benefit from a rich instructional experience
and put these beliefs into actual practice.
Accelerated schools work to transform their
cultures internally because each member
of the community is involved in the process,
and becomes personally invested in making
it a success.
A major component
of this project is the garnering of feedback
and data from the schools, which are part
of the accelerated schools network. This
sharing and communication furthers the
knowledge of the Southwest Center as well
as the collective knowledge of the accelerated
schools community. As we continue our journey,
we look forward to building our understanding
of how to best work with accelerated schools
so that all members of the Accelerated
Schools Project are able to help children
realize their highest hopes and greatest
educational goals. |
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