Family Update July 14 2015
Hello Acera Parents,
Happy Summer!
Updates below include:
• Community Forum Purpose & New Meeting Time on Friday
• Parent Volunteer Roles
• New Hires
• Foreign Language Add-On before school (8-8:45am) for grades 5-8 - Sign Up Now
• MS2 Program Shifts Outline
• After School Sign-Ups encouraged ASAP
• Summer Program course offerings for rest of summer
Community Forum Purpose: Dialogue together, share updates, hear questions and ideas, talk through issues and challenges, and plan parent help and contribution to our school.
Malcolm and I look forward to an open table dialogue and community forum on Thursday morning 9am -
10:30am this week.
Please RSVP to kara@aceraschool.org
if you plan/hope to come.
We will have another in August, and will continue Community Forum Dialogues on a monthly basis all through the school year.
Parent Volunteer Roles:
Below you will find a document that outlines many parent volunteer roles. Please sign up for a role in the front office or reply via email to the questions on page 1 of the attachment. Let us know how you'd like to help at Acera!
Summer Program:
Whether it is construction of chessboards or creation of amazing self portraits, feedback from students is phenomenal! There are still spaces available in most of our programs if you want to enroll your child in any week upcoming! Scroll down to see Programs for July 20 - August 21.
New Hires:
We have hired new teachers for next year. (Parents of students in the relevant classrooms were updated in May and June.)
Lower Elementary - Hannah Pelton M.Ed. who graduated from MIT, and most recently taught Grade 1 in
Boston.
Intermediate Elementary - Anastasia Leyden M.Ed. who graduated from Williams College and worked as a medical writer for 10 years before doing a career change to education. She taught grade 3 at another private school last year. (We sought a new hire due to Amy's maternity leave and addition of a new classroom),
Cross Classroom Teacher - Eric Fishman M.Ed. who graduated from Yale and taught for Teach for America last year while getting his masters from University of Pennsylvania (since Kim is becoming a Core Upper
Elementary Teacher next year.)
More Information about these hires is posted in the front office area. We also have other positions posted and interviews are in process for a new Head of Admissions, Director of Programs & Outreach,
Project Manager and Assistant to the Director,
Our hiring process includes an interview with me, attending an Info Session, a Group Interview with Acera teachers, planning and leading a learning session, reference checks, and finalists for core classroom teacher roles also lead an additional learning session and create a curriculum write up.
Foreign Language Before School for Grades 5 - 8:

As an additional, optional, add-on program, we will again offer a combined Spanish 1 & Spanish 2 class in the mornings before school starts, from 8am - 8:45am. The class will start on November 2 (unless we are able to find a maternity leave substitute, enabling a Sept start for this program.) We have also posted a position for a before school (8 - 8:45am) Mandarin Teacher. If we find someone who is a great candidate for this offering, and we have enough enrollment, we will offer both programs. The cost of a full year program is approximately $2500. Classes meet 4 or 5 mornings / week. Please let kara@aceraschool.org
know if you'd like to enroll your grade 5,6,7, or 8 student in either program.
MS2 Program Shifts for 2015/2016 School Year:
Below is a brief email and attachment which went out last month. I share it to the broader Acera
Community for those of you who are interested.
Space Use:
We delayed the elevator construction project, and are turning the former front office area into Ms. Kim's new Upper Elementary classroom. Administrative offices and conference areas are being re-established on Floor 2. If you can spare some time this summer to come in and flex your organizational gene / talents, let kara@aceraschool.org
know, and we can make a plan for how you can help out!
After School Programs Next Year:
Enrollment is now being accepted for next year's after school programs. Many new programs are opening.
Enrollment will be first come, first serve and will be open to students not enrolled in our school day program. New programs will include multiple engineering and construction offerings, all new Science Lab offerings for grades 5+ in chemistry, biology, and biochemistry, a new service learning program, Band
Jam, and more. Sign up ASAP to assure that your child(ren) get space in the enrichment programs of their choice! Kara will send out the after school flyer and enrollment form later this week.
An incredible year lies ahead!
Attachments Which Follow:
Parent Volunteer Roles
MS2 Program Shifts Outline – published June 14, 2015 to MS parents

Acera Parent Volunteer Roles Openings for 2015/2016 School Year
Hello! We invite you to volunteer at Acera. We rely on parent volunteerism and expect all families to help the school in a substantive way that aligns with the school’s needs and with parental talents. We have an impressive track record of parent and grandparent participation! We attempt to tap volunteer talents before adding administrative overhead costs. We whole-heartedly believe that an engaged parent group and access to our incredible parental talent pool results in a better school experience.
Please consider which volunteer role(s) you might be willing to take on next year. Please send your reply to kara@aceraschool.org
and Malcolm@aceraschool.org
and Courtney@aceraschool.org
.
 Which volunteer role(s) can you take on for the upcoming school year?

What is your professional background / training / talent?

What are your schedule preferences / constraints? (e.g. I can help during school day, I need to help in evening after work, weekends, bursts once or twice in the year, weekly for x hours, etc.)

Do you have any new ideas for volunteer projects you’d like to initiate or spearhead?
Categories: (more detail follows)

Site Management

Furniture Assembly & Handyman Construction

Classroom Parents

Front Desk Coverage, Mailings, and/or Admin Help

Marketing / Public Relations / Development Team

Inter School Communications Team
 Community Builder / Organize Social Gatherings

Playground Labor / Help

Tech Help & Laptop Start of Year Check In

Love to Learn Yearly Fundraising Event Committee

FIRST Lego League Coach or Destination Imagination Manager (teams will be home based)

Curriculum Collaborators (bring knowledge, passion and projects into classrooms)

Middle School Student Mentors
 Field Trip Drivers / Chaperones
 Sewing Coach / Creativity Mornings (Wednesdays 9am – 12pm)
Site Management Team / Handy Person: In lieu of hiring a person to manage our physical plant, we’d like to formally identify people who can look out for and oversee building related maintenance. Replace burned out light bulbs, evaluate a roof leak, create and/or mount bulletin boards, shelves, hooks etc. when needed. Grandparents, aunts and uncles are also of course invited to help. 
Classroom Parents:

Support teacher needs in the classroom, periodic gathering of supplies, soliciting their requests and organizing parent help as needed.

Advocate for parent participation in annual fund campaign.

Consider organizing group gift for teachers at December break and/or year end if desired.

Take a lead on school beautification projects with other parents from their classroom

Furniture Assembly & Handyman Construction: Assemble Ikea purchases and lockers, build mobile furniture or shelves, help us optimize project storage and mobility of engineering stations within our
Innovation Lab. Help teachers make countertops and mount shelves in their classrooms.
Front Desk Coverage/ Bookkeeping / Accounting and/or Office Help: Able to help with office needs -- front desk / phone coverage (e.g. “I can sit at the front desk on Tuesdays from 9am – 11am”), mailings, etc. Let us know if you can help with a project to do at home on your own time vs. being able to help during the school day on site, if this is an area of potential contribution).
Marketing / Public Relations / Development Team: Help with Annual Fund campaign, spread social media campaigns, invite people to events, help with programs which raise our profile. We would like to increase awareness about our program – for prospective students, partners, and donors. Help post and spread flyers about outreach events and after school/summer programs, share information on list serv groups, create awareness about our community and outreach events (like our STEM Symposium featuring
Innovators. We go into the school year each year with a fundraising target to meet our operational budget for the school year. Our low tuition and small class sizes results in a planned operating deficit. We rely on parent contributions above and beyond tuition to meet our budget requirements. Grant Writing:
Help fund public school teacher training and outreach events or help to launch a future student scholarship program.
Inter School Communications Team: Help assure regular newsletters and effective updates and communication within Acera. Help us launch use of Constant Contact within the parent community.
Participate in and share out information from Open Table Dialogue / Community Forum sessions.
Community and Class Group Gatherings: Arrange social gatherings for students to get together over the summer and during the school year. Focus on just your child’s classroom or the whole school. Envision and organize gatherings for parent community.
Playground Labor / Help Periodic help with playground clean up, re-organization, and creation of new zones, implements, benches, or tree planting.
Tech Help & Laptop Start of Year Check In: Help with laptop set up during the first few mornings at the start of year. Be on point to troubleshoot, periodic “help desk” at school, or tech related or website advice and upgrades.
Acera Love to Learn Event Team: We will hold our annual fundraising event next year (in April or May).
Each year a group of parent volunteers brings this to life to raise funds for our school. We rely on fundraising each year to fill a planned operating deficit.
Destination Imagination or FIRST Lego League Coaches: These optional home based teams occur only via the leadership of parent volunteers. Are you interested to lead or assist as a coach for a team? This commitment is once weekly through March then twice per week in April for Destination Imagination and once weekly through December for First Lego (robotics) League. Additionally, there is time commitment for training, planning, and at the tournament(s). Teams will be based out of your home. Starting
2014/2015 school year, fees and coordination will be managed by parent volunteers, not by Acera.
Curriculum Collaborators: Partner with teachers to bring new discussions or projects to life in classrooms.
Bring knowledge, passion and projects into classrooms. Serve as a “resident scientist” or STEM advisor to a particular classroom or across the school. Help us activate a new engineering or arts station. Previous examples: James Cleary’s partnership throughout a school year with Ms. Christine to bring alive topics of biology and medicine in her classroom. Eric Alm’s collaborations with elementary teachers to bring concrete experiences to multiple classrooms during oil spill / clean up topic engineering unit. Ned Hall’s idea and initiative to lead a weekly logic puzzle station as part of Creativity Morning. Angie Belcher’s engagement with Ms. Katie to bring alive hands-on and kinetic experiences related to energy. Sevan

Ficici’s guidance and support to bring basic robotics learning tools into elementary classrooms. Tim
Triplett’s participation in philosophy dialogues within his son’s classrooms. Will Detmold’s presentations on gravitational pull and space as part of astronomy unit. David Grayzel’s cardiology presentation and leadership of cow heart dissection in middle school as part of a student-led inquiry project.
Middle School Student Mentors: Sean and Gus plan to match up MS2 students with mentor in an area of interest, who will take a special interest in a particular students’ growth and development, perhaps serving as a coach on a student-led passion project. Please let us know projects, topics or disciplines you could mentor.
Field Trip Drivers / Chaperones: Available to help drive to / from or escort students onto the subway when trips happen. Let us know if you’d like to be called first when outings are scheduled, and when you could help.
Sewing Station at Creativity Morning: This very popular station is led and staffed by an amazing and engaged group of parent volunteers. You do not need to be good at sewing or knitting to help. Other stations rely on hired artists and paid teachers; this station is all volunteer. Get to know Acera students!

HIGHLIGHTS FOR UPGRADES TO ACERA MS PROGRAM June 14, 2015
Outlined below are updates we will implement as part of our middle school program (Sean & Gus’ Grade
6/7/8 class group) next year. A MS Program Updates Deliverable will be created over the coming 4-6 weeks and shared out as components of it are written up and confirmed with all Acera teachers. Below is an outline and brief summary of some key MS Program upgrades which will be further illuminated within our to-be-published deliverable.
VISIBILITY
Purpose: Visibility into student learning and achievements

Learning Dashboard: A system to track learning goals and achievements. A tool for students, parents and teachers to keep track of progress in student development. Learning Dashboard will track academic, social and emotional, and overall learning. It will enable parents/teacher/student partnership. It will link to each student’s portfolio of their work.
COMMUNICATION
Purpose: Effective Two-Way Communication between Acera families and staff
 A New Monthly Meeting Forum for Parent / School Dialogue and Engagement has been launched by MS parents, and will become a monthly evening meeting option for all families whose students are in Sean & Gus’ Middle School Program. Discussion will include questions, parent input and requests, new possible ideas and approaches for middle school, etc.
 Malcolm Campbell, Acera’s Assistant Director (as of July 2015), will become the new administrative owner for MS parent communication, issue escalation and resolution

Clarity of communication framework and tools for information sharing

Clarity of protocol for issue escalation and resolution.
MATH
Purpose: Enable more individualization of math learning. Enable more application of mathematics - within interdisciplinary projects – for students to practice and gain skill in using math as a tool for problem solving. Reinvigorate a positive math culture.

Individualized Math Map for each student. Combines input of student, their math mentor/specialist teacher and hopes of parents. Enables student ownership and motivation for their mathematical learning. Includes explicit instruction to occur in flexible groups, one-on-one, and within in-context learning. Regular check-ins between students and their math mentor to assure progress on their math learning plan. More transparency to alignment with customary
MS and HS math learning goals and courses.
 Integrated Math Approach enables student application of mathematics as a problem solving skillset within context of larger, meaningful, inter-disciplinary projects and electives. Math discussions and learning will no longer be unwittingly limited to 4 hours of math per week.

Evaluation of Math Program Shift’s Effectiveness. Evaluative discussions about our upgraded math program will be a regular part of weekly MS Team meetings. Organizational checkpoints

about program effectiveness will occur at the 1,2, and 3 month marks in the fall to assure that the program shifts are effectively supporting student progress and learning while also achieving the goals of this shift - to broaden student’s application of math skills and to re-invigorate a positive math culture. Parent questions, concerns and input will be collected as part of these checkpoints. Results of evaluation will be communicated to parents. If our shifted math program is not on track to achieve these goals of individualized student progress, application of math skills more broadly, and re-invigoration of a positive math culture, a math block approach will be reinstated.
WRITING & LITERATURE
Purpose: Assure MS students have coaching to improve their writing skills. Enable achievement as writers in ways which align with student interests and potential. Increase parent visibility into the coaching students receive as part of their MS experience. Enable a love of literature.

New Writing Mentors will be available to the MS Community. An ELA teacher position will be advertised and filled once the right hire is found; this is an investment into the MS Program beyond the planned budget, and is intended to help address MS program needs and opportunities. Until a new MS English language arts teacher can be hired, new resource availability of writing coaches will be made available to the middle school population and new curriculum collaborations for literature learning will be planned and implemented.

Shared Literature Experience: There will be two or three shared literature books that are part of the whole MS program next year; these books will be read by all, and become a shared reference for dialogue and learning across disciplines. Additionally, a whole class suggested book list will be published.

Transparency: Articulate a writing learning philosophy that is supported by all MS
Teachers/mentors and published to MS parents.
CULTURE
Purpose: Assure that MS has a climate of care and fosters a responsible community of citizens.

Share classroom norms and philosophies with parents as part of MS Parent Orientation Meeting in September.
 Weekly MS team meeting will include a group check-in on building climate of accountability, care of others, EQ development, and citizenship.

Any parent concerns / issues can be first addressed directly with MS teachers, then escalated via one-on-one meetings with Malcolm as needed.
 Renew parent / school contract re: generosity of spirit within communication norms between all. We will leverage counselor support to implement this as a core part of launching the school year within the classroom and within parental orientation.

Re-infuse a culture of partnership between Acera families and staff.
INQUIRY TIME
Purpose: Assure student engagement, joy in learning, and development of unique student talent and passions while also enabling students’ development of skills in initiation, organization, self advocacy, and accountability.


Student Questions Define Learning Focus Areas. Leverage an inquiry model that gives freedom for students and teachers to define quests and projects that build from student interests.
 Multiple Options, Projects, Quests, Electives are Available. Enable a structure and many choices for students to define their own plan and approach to learning, while also getting the benefit of positive coaching, re-direction, support and input from teachers and mentors. Removal of many previously existing rigid scheduling timeblocks can support more effective inquiry time.
 Coaching Support and Re-direction. Mentors / teachers support students via stepping in to redirect student focus and work as needed. Clarify and make transparent to parents what teacher philosophies, norms, expectations and coaching / re- direction approaches are for inquiry time.
Share insight into teacher expectations for appropriate use of laptops and engagement. Clarify how teachers support students’ organizational planning and use of time, and schedules of availability and access to teachers / mentors. Help students know how to leverage their teachers and mentors so that they “own” their own learning. In summary, teachers coach students to learn how to plan, engage in projects which embrace their passions while enabling learning progress and achievement, positive impact on community, and leadership development.
HS APPLICATION PROCESS
Purpose: Support outplacement of Acera students by running an efficient and effective parent expectation setting and student recommendation process.

Clarify Acera’s Role and Recommendation Process for HS Outplacement: Build upon prior HS application process and norms to assure clarity and alignment between teachers and parents re:
HS application process. Clarify what families can expect from Acera as part of this process.
Develop and share a resource list of how families can get additional help that is beyond what
Acera can offer (including test prep and educational consultants). Acera will offer insight into a parents’ list of possible HS choices, and suggest additional H.S. programs to investigate. Clarify the role of parents to research, attend open houses, assure testing and applications are completed, etc. Acera will offer F.A.Q.’s and tips gathered from experiences to date.
PARENT EDUCATION, ENGAGEMENT AND DIALOGUE
Purpose: Orient, re-orient and engage in dialogue with parents as a way to support successful family engagement in and understanding of Acera’s learning programs and approach. Leverage these forums to support parents to know how to make effective requests and suggestions for our programs, and as a way to re-invigorate a culture of partnership.

Launch an orientation and workshop series about our philosophy, approach and programs, which can include a focus in particular meetings in response to parent needs, questions and concerns. For example, topics could include: evidence and literature of best practices in education, math learning as not necessarily sequential, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, writing learning process norms, pluses and minuses of traditional practices, learning styles, developmental ages and stages in the life of a child / adolescent, etc.

Engage Parents as Mentors & Collaborators: Continually expand Acera’s knowledge of parental talents. Continue to define ways parents can offer themselves for the betterment of our program and our students’ learning.