Impact Academy program is designed for learning to be personalized, embedded in real life inquiry and impacts communities. Impact is a personalized learning environment where all students are taught at their instructional level of learning in the areas literacy and math. Students and teachers together design an integrated pathway of learning to utilize individual interests and talents. Integration of content areas will connect all learning to real world problems, so students discover ways to impact each other and the larger community.

Personalized Learning

Personalized Learning meets student’s needs because:

• Each student has defined, clear and rigorous learning expectation
• Students are working in their instructional level (Zone of Proximal Development)
• Students are engaged because they experience challenge and success
• Less time is spent on behavior management because there is more time spent on doable tasks.

Future Ready Skills

• Education must prepare our students for the future workforce.
• Education pedagogy will make shifts to create opportunities for students to apply the following skills:
  • Core subjects – reading, writing, math·
  • Creativity – Critical Thinking – Problem Solving – Communication – Collaboration
  • Information, media and technology literacy
  • Civil responsibility and global awareness

Service Learning

Service Learning is a multifaceted teaching and learning process uniquely tailored to meet specific learning goals and community needs

Service Learning will meet student’s needs because:

• Students will engage in learning that is meaningful and relevant
• Service learning goals are clear and aligned with curriculum
• Learning is experiential and applied; deepening understanding
• Learning is internalized through reflection activities before, during and after service learning
• Service learning promotes understanding of multiple perspectives fostering respect and developing interpersonal skills by group decision–making and conflict resolution
• Students are active partners in identifying community needs and planning
• Service Learning would happen within the integrated studies and elective learning structures

Integrated Studies

• Science, Social Studies, Health and Technology standards are connected to a theme, essential questions and service learning project for all students.
• Students will be studying their standards connected to the same theme and related service learning projects.  Advantages:
  • Studies meets the needs of different types of learners
  • All content learning is connected
  • A deeper understanding of content is developed by the student

• Impact Academy teachers are responsible for the students’ learning of the same state standards.
• All state and district-wide assessments (MCA, MAP, Fastbridge, DRA2) will be given to Impact Academy students according to their grade level placement.
• Students of Impact will receive supplemental support to accelerate their learning, if they are not at grade-level.
• Families will be provided a document marking a student’s progress to match the literacy and math pathways or personalized plan.
• Students will be benchmarked in the areas of literacy and math to determine their instructional level by strand using the pathways of learning.
• When students have mastered a group of learning targets (a module), then they will move on to the next module and possibly a different target teacher.

• Anchor Teachers serve as primary contact for families and report student progress.  Responsible for teaching grade level science, social studies, technology, and health standards. Student setting is with grade level peers.
• Target Teachers are responsible for teaching literacy and math standards across K-5. Student setting is multi-age
• Support teachers provide services for special education students and English Language Learners.
• Specialists Teachers provide Physical Education, Music, Art and STEM.
• Pathways are a continuum of learning targets based on the Minnesota state standards grades K-6.
• Modules are a group of learning targets.
• Integrated Studies connects all science, social studies, health, and technology standards to a theme and service learning projects.

• Our students will have the same start and end time to their school day and follow the same district elementary school calendar.
• Our students will experience lunch and recess. They will have 40 min. for lunch and recess.
• Students will receive math and reading instruction at the same time in order to support personalization.
• Literacy block will be 100 min. and math block will be 70 min.