Back-Ground                

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  • We are a Massachusetts non-profit corporation dedicated to supporting middle & high school age students and drop outs to learn skills that will help them succeed in a career or additional schooling (college and career readiness (CCR )).
  • Project Academy has been designated a non-profit charitable organization under the Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3).  Donors can deduct contributions they make under IRC Section 170. The organization is classified as a public charity.

  • A holistic approach will be used where students' strengths and needs are assessed; a learning environment using project based learning is established for learning college and career readiness skills (CCR ) and finally a community structure that is available  for on-going learning and support.

 

  • We focus on teaching life-skills while solving a problem in working as a team. Life-skills provide the necessary foundation of a productive individual in an organization

 

Who we are:  Starting Team

Claudia Bernal Vallejo Bill Wolfson

Over 30 years of diversified experience with significant achievements in Manufacturing, Education, Engineering and Customer Service as follows:

  • Involved in two venture funded start-ups (one went public)
  • Fostered a results oriented and adaptable work approach. Built organizations that delivered.
  • Created innovations in management programs (self-directed work teams, learning organization), increasing productivity and strong quality leadership.
  • Built relationships within the corporate and local communities by founding VP of Manufacturing group and with the AEA (American Electronic Association) started a Business / School Partnership program in Framingham, MA.

·       Implemented 3 ERP & service systems and 2 Quality systems (ISO 9000)

 

 

Pass  Success

Program History   … Engineering Lens

         Created Syllabus for 3 credit course (FSU)

         One-credit on-line course FSU using Blackboard software

         First major implementation in Millis Public Schools (9/2009 to 1/2010), completed second & third group,  June, August, 2010 .

         Created on-line learning site in Moodle learning software( The Learning Curve )

         Tufts CEEO has received an NSF  research grant(DRK-12) based on this concept.

         Fits into the 21st Century learning objectives

         Have done a program with North Atleboro teachers

         Have done PD with MITS organization and scheduled to do one with TEC Collaborative

Our Uniqueness:

         Not another Silo.; Interdisciplinary

         Uses design to support learning.

         Students make decisions versus learning through highly scripted program.

         Integrates the learning of thinking skills, system thinking and self assessment.

 

 

Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach; Acknowledgements from the book "Novel Engineering, K-8"

Novel Engineering started as an idea and grew into an approach to learning engineering that has been more powerful than anyone could have imagined when we first started. We are very grateful for everyone who has helped advance the project to the state where it could become a book. We’d like to thank the following people:

Bill Wolfson for the initial inspiration for the project and Karen DeRusha for sharing her experiences