aveson global leadership academy
(agla) Grades 6 - 12

New School Hours:

Regular school day STARTS at 7:45 am and ENDS at 2:50 pm

Monday school day STARTS at 7:45 am and ENDS at 12:45 pm

Update on Location:

Dear AGLA Families,

We are very happy to be temporarily located at the Boys and Girls Club at 2020 N. Fair Oaks Avenue, in northwest Pasadena.  The Boys and Girls Club offers many amenities for our students during the temporary placement.  The site has a full gymnasium, a 25 meter pool, classroom space and open independent/project work space, and vans for off-site experiential learning.  Our Director and Advisors are committed to making the experience meaningful while delivering the Aveson curriculum and instruction.  Flexibility of time, space and resources is a 21st Century Skill needed by all, only learned through real world experiences. 

As you know we have increased enrollment and have a few open spots remaining.  We know Aveson is Aveson regardless of where we are located.  We are confident you feel the same and will continue to work with us in  our temporary home.  Vision means seeing what could be and what will be and living the difference. Thank you to all of you who have expressed your commitment to be part of our vision and its reality.

Regards,

The Aveson Team

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aveson global leadership academy
Program details:

Aveson Global Leadership Academy provides middle and high school students with the academic and leadership skills necessary to be leaders in the global community. Students will graduate from AGLA having built a resume of 1) academic success 2) social entrepreneurial experiences and 3) healthy living practices. These achievements are accomplished through a personalized learning plan (PLP) complemented by a highly supportive advisory system within a democratic learning community.

No Child Left Unknown

At Aveson, every student is treated as an individual, supporting the school mantra – No Child Left Unknown. Each student has a personal and group workspace within their advisory. Teachers credentialed in each of the content areas take on the role of (and are referred to as) Academic Advisors.  Academic Advisors are responsible for working with students to develop their PLPs and work with no more than thirty students using a teaching/coaching style to support students in accomplishing their goals. Students are further supported by Project Managers who are highly-qualified paraprofessionals working under the direct supervision of credentialed Academic Advisors. Community mentors and parents further enhance academic success by offering a real-world application to learning. This learning environment has proven highly successful in addressing the three essential new "R’s” of education: Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships.

Global Leaders

Aveson Global Leadership Academy’s educational philosophy is that students will succeed with personalized learning supported by the flexibility of space, time and resources they demand and deserve to become global leaders in the 21st century.

To build on the success of other research based models, AGLA has adopted the EdVisions Schools model as the educational foundation for the school. The Seven Attributes of Highly Effective Schools used by EdVisions Schools, as defined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have been evaluated in three or more EdVisions schools (and other Gates grantees) by the American Institute of Research and the Stanford Research Institute. The attributes of Common Focus, High Expectations, Personalized Environment, Respect & Responsibility, Time to Collaborate, Technology Used as a Tool, and Performance Based, provide the framework for developing the necessary systems, structure, learning experiences, and tools for the school. Utilizing these seven attributes as a foundation for the educational program ensures that AGLA students help move beyond dependency in learning to become successful independent learners and leave the twelfth grade prepared for the world.

Learning Environment / Personalized Learning

Personalized Environment - A personalized environment needs a well-defined and designed process to be effective. Therefore, the structure of AGLA promotes and sustains student relationships with adults and a personal plan for success. An individual student's identity is respected. The school is organized into advisories where there is a significant amount of staff interaction with students.

Time to Collaborate - Sufficient time and a systematic process is needed for effective collaboration in a personalized learning environment. Therefore, Academic Advisors schedule time to collaborate and develop skills and plans to meet every student's needs. Parents are recognized as partners in education.. AGLA has formed strategic partnerships with community organizations, business, and local schools which support personalized learning by connecting students with mentors, internships, and experts who can advise them in their project work. Community partnerships allow students to present their work to audiences made up of members from the community.

Common Focus - All students at the Aveson Global Leadership Academy share the common focus of developing global leadership skills. Academic Advisors and students focus on a few important goals obtained by a research-based, student-centered program of learning. The program highlights a student-directed, project-based, social entrepreneurial focused approach that emphasizes: autonomy for students and staff and life skill attainment and performance assessment. This focus on students making connections and applying the content and skills they are learning to their community is evident in the internships and project work that students choose.

High Expectations - All students can and will succeed given the right instruction, setting, and support. One distinguishing feature of AGLA is the role of students in setting and pursuing personal goals and receiving a personalized educational experience. Rather than the staff alone having high expectations of students, families actively participate in setting those high expectations. All students: achieve mastery of the state standards with a focus on essential literacy skills; develop necessary life skills to progress to post secondary education; establish foundational experiences leading to an effective life of citizenship; and foster a high degree of passion and ability for inquiry.

Respect & Responsibility - The common focus on a personalized learning experience for students establishes a culture of mutual respect. Students learn from their first day as a student that they, like all people, have both strengths and challenges. In both academic and social behaviors, students learn to identify and pursue responsible, respectful, exemplary behaviors. Academic Advisors and Project Managers teach, model, and expect responsible behavior. All relationships are based on mutual respect.

Performance Based - A performance-based educational program promotes high academic achievement by placing learners in active roles in their assessment and by drawing on higher order thinking skills as they apply skills in demonstrations of learning. AGLA promotes students based on demonstration (performance) of their competencies in California state standards and life skills. Through the use of project management software, AGLA utilizes rubrics and checklists pertaining to life skill development; project processes; California state content standards met; and level of students’ ability to become self-directed learners. Students have performance portfolios of their work. Performance-based assessment prepares students for post-secondary education and job opportunities in an increasingly competitive global market because it resembles real world contexts much more than traditional tests.

Technology Used as a Tool - Research indicates technology alone does not produce increases in student achievement. Students require clear models for application, opportunities for exploration, and tasks focusing on quantifiable products, all of which will be incorporated in project-based learning. Technology is a tool that can be used to create an efficient and effective educational program. Technology, including a project management software system will be used by staff to meet the needs of students; to access best practices; to create unique learning experiences that align with the California content standards; to analyze student assessment results; and to report to parents and the charter authorizer. Students will use project management software on a daily basis to plan and organize their learning, to record and monitor their progress, to document their instructional minutes and to evaluate their work, as well as the work of others. Students will have access to computer programs and other technologies to learn skills they can utilize in real-world contexts. Computer to student ratios and student workspaces will be similar to real-world work areas. Students will have access to other modern technologies, such as printers, cameras, fax machines, video and music production equipment, media graphics, and various software programs.

What it Means to be an Educated Person in the 21st Century

Success in the 21st Century requires a mastery of skills outlined in state and national standards balanced with the capacity to learn and adapt. The ever-increasing amount of human knowledge requires an educated person to have a solid foundation in the sciences, mathematics, social sciences, written communication, oral communication, and digital literacy, combined with the tools for lifelong learning. Educated people the 21st Century must be able to ask insightful questions, research existing relevant information, prioritize that information, set up processes for finding answers, and be able to express their findings and points of view in a variety of mediums. The ability to navigate the Internet, communicate ideas through print, oral persuasion, and digital mediums will be necessary. Additionally, an educated person in the 21st Century will need a global perspective, understanding of basic market conditions, entrepreneurial ability, and the capacity to synthesize cultural and historical differences to understand complex relationships, in local and global issues.