Acera: Spanish, sidewalk, pathway.
EI: Education Innovation.
Our story
Acera’s Education Innovation initiative grew out of our K-10 STEAM lab school, Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership.
Our mission
We believe every child deserves to experience joy, agency, and authentic engagement in their learning.
We collaborate with educators in public schools to provide free/low-cost innovative programs, including hands-on STEAM modules, mentorship, and resources for professional development.
We support and train school leaders to catalyze change in their own educational communities.
Our lab school
At Acera, our approach is built around evidence-based pedagogical practices and school cultures that result in student growth, well-being, and authentic engagement. We believe:
- early and deep exposure to STEAM topics is essential in preparing students to tackle the challenges of our time;
- student growth in core capacities such as systems thinking, problem solving, and creativity is as important as academic achievement;
- it is the responsibility of schools to safeguard each student’s spirit, curiosity and innate love of learning, enabling them to be the best version of themselves.
From the very beginning, Acera founder Courtney Dickinson’s intent was to create a model that could happen anywhere. After years of developing and pilot-testing innovative curricula, pedagogy, and school norming approaches, Courtney and her team launched AceraEI to bring Acera’s transformative tools to public education.
