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© National Center on Time & Learning
24 School Street, 3rd
Floor, Boston, MA 02108
www.timeandlearning.org
Page 1
919 Different Students in
18 Acceleration Academies at 9 Schools
Boston Public Schools’ Acceleration Academies
Traditionally, a week off from school means
sleeping in, watching TV, and hanging out with
friends. But at Boston Public Schools (BPS),
some students and teachers dedicate their
week-long February and April vacations to more
time for learning. The district’s Acceleration
Academies—a week long academic ‘camp’—
have given students a boost in academics and
teachers an opportunity to improve their craft.
So far, the academies are yielding promising
results. Last year, Acceleration Academies
served 919 students in nine Boston public
schools. On 2010 Massachusetts’ standardized
test, the Massachusetts Comprehensive
Assessment System (MCAS), 51% and 39% of
these students jumped at least one proficiency
level in ELA and Math, respectively.
These results underscore the value additional
time can have when it is tailored to individual
student needs and coupled with quality
instruction. In Acceleration Academies,
teachers use data to diagnose student
weaknesses and develop curricula that
specifically addresses skill and knowledge gaps.
The academies are a good example of how an
extra layer of tiered instruction can make all the
difference for struggling students, and why
more time used properly is such a powerful tool
for boosting student achievement.
Acceleration Academies at Clarence Edwards
Middle School: 2008
First called ‘boot camps,’ Acceleration
Academies originated at the Edwards Middle
School in 2008 under former principal Jeff Riley.
Two years earlier, in 2006, the Edwards had
added two additional hours to its school day
through the Massachusetts Expanded Learning
Time Initiative, which provides $1300 per
student to select schools to expand the school
year by 300 hours each year. With the added
time, the school was able to provide students
with an extra dose of math or ELA—depending
on individual needs—as well as an array of
enrichment programs in the arts, sports or
community service. While most students were
thriving with the extra time, Riley and his staff
realized that many students could benefit from
even more time, structured to meet specific
academic deficits. Riley found this additional
time by developing the Acceleration Academies
during both the February and April vacations.
These breaks seemed well timed to prepare
Time for Learning
Spotlight
© National Center on Time & Learning
24 School Street, 3rd
Floor, Boston, MA 02108
www.timeandlearning.org
Page 2
students for the ELA MCAS exam in March and
the Math MCAS exam in May.
Riley wanted to target students with the
capacity to work hard in small groups and the
drive to attend regularly. To identify these
students, he sought the input of his teachers
and analyzed attendance and assessment
data—which also informed decisions regarding
lesson design and student placement.
Participation was voluntary, but the school
provided an incentive for students to enroll and
attend each day: the opportunity to win a $50
gift card by exhibiting strong effort.
Convinced that the one week academies would
only make a difference if taught by highly
effective teachers, Riley led a rigorous effort to
recruit the strongest teachers he could find. In
addition to selecting the best teachers on his
own staff, Riley searched for teachers outside
the school, and even the district, posting on the
district job site and other sites for ‘Edwards
Fellows,’ to teach the Acceleration Academies.
In the first year of the program he hired as
many as 15% of the teachers from outside the
school, allowing his teachers to collaborate with
and learn from strong teachers from other
schools.
Acceleration Academies from the Edwards to
Nine Boston Public Schools: 2010
In 2009, Riley was tapped to become the
district’s Academic Superintendent for Middle
and K – 8 Schools. Based on the success of
Acceleration Academies at the Edwards, he
decided to replicate the program at nine
turnaround schools as an intervention for
students in need of additional academic
February April
7:30 – 8:00 Breakfast Breakfast
8:00 – 9 :10 ELA (e.g.
Context
Clues)
Math (e.g.
Patterns in
Algebra)
9:10 – 10:15 Enrichment Enrichment
10:15 – 11:30 ELA (e.g.
Main Idea)
Math (e.g.
Statistics and
Data)
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch Lunch
12:00 – 1:30 ELA (e.g.
Open
response
writing)
Math (e.g.
Number
Sense)
● ● ●
While most students were thriving with the extra time,
Riley and his staff realized that many students could
benefit from even more time – particularly if that time
was structured to meet specific academic deficits.
● ● ●
Acceleration Academy
Typical Daily Schedule
© National Center on Time & Learning
24 School Street, 3rd
Floor, Boston, MA 02108
www.timeandlearning.org
Page 3
support. To scale the program from one school
serving 100 students to nine schools serving
900, he raised $125,000 from private sources,
and secured $900,000 of the district’s AARA
funds. This money covered costs such as
personnel, including staff and professional
development, as well as transportation, food,
and prizes for participants. The total cost per
student was approximately $750, though Riley
emphasizes that the academies can be run for
less if funds are not available for key extras like
events and prizes.
Next, Riley met with principals from each of the
nine schools to discuss implementation. This
included addressing instructional issues (i.e.
teachers and content) as well as non
instructional ones (i.e. food and transportation).
Additionally, Riley helped principals and other
staff anticipate the issues they could encounter
during the academy, and assisted in compiling
and analyzing data to identify students for
participation. After students from each school
had been selected, an assembly was held,
during which Riley handed out ‘golden tickets’
to the targeted students and provided an
overview of the week, including daily drawings
for prizes such as Nintendo Wiis and other
game systems.
Most importantly, Riley led an ambitious search
for 100 teachers to staff each of the February
and April academies. “Selecting the right
teachers to work the academies and matching
them with the right students is one of the most
critical tasks involved in planning a successful
academy,” says Riley. Experience at the
Edwards had shown him that he could maximize
the impact of the extra time by finding the
strongest teachers. He sought out teachers
who knew how to look at data and analyze
student skill gaps, plan and execute effective
lesson plans, and keep students engaged and
excited. He also met with principals at the nine
schools to pair teachers and students who
would work well together. Because the hiring
was selective, Riley hoped teachers would
consider it an honor to be invited. In addition to
a $3,000 stipend, tickets to a Boston theatre
production, and professional development
opportunities at the Harvard Business School
and Harvard Graduate School of Education,
each of the 100 selected teachers were also
Acceleration Academy Costs
Incentives for Participation
© National Center on Time & Learning
24 School Street, 3rd
Floor, Boston, MA 02108
www.timeandlearning.org
Page 4
What School People are Saying
about Acceleration Academies
awarded the ‘Sontag Prize in Urban Education,’
at the end of the week.
An Extra Month of Instruction
“When you add up the time during the week,
students are receiving almost an extra month of
instruction with excellent teachers in subjects
where they need support. Of course you are
going to see a difference.” explains Riley. A
typical acceleration academy day runs from
7:30 to 1:30 and includes three academic
classes, an enrichment class, lunch and
breakfast. Transportation to and from the
school is also provided. Student teacher ratios
are kept around 12:1—less than half the typical
student teacher ratio in a BPS classroom—to
allow for small group and individualized
instruction. In addition to academics, students
also receive an additional period of enrichment
activities, such as sports or music. This helps to
break up the intensive studies and also allows
academic teachers time to analyze student
progress and collaborate each day.
Before the start of each academy, every
selected student takes a pre-assessment to
identify skill gaps and determine student
placement. “Data is hugely important,” says
Riley, “We work with the Achievement Network
to analyze the data in order to identify
strengths and weaknesses.” Each teacher
receives detailed information on their students,
including specific strands and skills to target,
including “power standards” – the standards
that are fundamental to achieving proficiency in
the subject. “We tell teachers what to teach,
but not how to teach. We believe that these
particular teachers we’ve chosen know best
about how to teach the skills our students
need,” says Riley.
A Boost in Proficiency
While it is difficult to isolate the impact of
Acceleration Academies, participating students’
performance on the 2010 MCAS suggests
significant benefits. For each student in grades
4 and above, the Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE)
assigns a Student Growth Percentile (SGP) in
math and ELA. SGP measures the growth a
student made in math and ELA during a given
school year relative to other students who had
similar scores in previous years. A student SGP
of 50 in ELA, for instance, indicates that he/she
scored higher than 50% of students with similar
prior ELA test scores. At the nine Acceleration
Academy schools, the SGP of students who
participated in the Acceleration Academies in
2010 were 14 and 13 points higher in ELA and
math, respectively, than the SGPs of non-
participants—ESE considers a difference in SGP
of 10 more points to be meaningful. These gains
were even slightly larger for Special Education
students and English Language Learners.
© National Center on Time & Learning
24 School Street, 3rd
Floor, Boston, MA 02108
www.timeandlearning.org
Page 5
5750
57 58
43
33
42 42
All Students (n = 460)
SPED Students (n = 93)
ELL Students (n = 256)
FARM Students (n = 436)
ELA Median SGP: 2010
Participants Non Participants
65
53
7366
52
40
5952
All Students (n = 354)
SPED Students (n = 75)
ELL Students (n = 182)
FARM Students (n = 335)
Math Median SGP: 2010
Participants Non Participants
Looking Ahead: Acceleration Academies 2011
For the 2010-2011 school year, the district plans
to double the number of schools that will host
Acceleration Academies as well as the number
of students. To do so, Riley will need to raise
more than twice as much in private funds—
from $125,000 to $300,000—coordinate with
more schools, speak at more assemblies, and
recruit more teachers. But based on the
success of prior academies, the payoff could be
a dramatic improvement in student gains.
“Ultimately, we want our kids to be doing
better than the average suburban kids,” says
Riley, “and at the end of the day, Acceleration
Academies are about what good teachers can
do with additional instruction, and the only way
to close the achievement gap is more time with
good teachers.”