The Academy of Alameda

Our firstborn went to ACLC for 6th-8th grades, and our younger kid is now at Academy of Alameda (started in 6th, now in 8th). Both schools did a good job of welcoming new students. ACLC's project-based learning worked well our for our daughter, from competing in annual science fair to working on projects in and out of class. They encourage & support student ("learner") initiatives. She really connected with several of her teachers ("facilitators"). In hindsight she says she didn't like her middle school, but at the time I think she did.

At AoA it has been a challenge because of the pandemic and the school's/community's ability to adapt last year (we're back in person now - and it's going much better). The academics have not been as strong as we had hoped, but that was greatly impacted by the pandemic/distance learning. As a bigger school, AoA has a wide range of backgrounds and baseline knowledge of incoming 6th graders, so I think it's harder to reach all students at their current academic level (e.g., kids who pick up concepts quickly or already knew the concept are bored). Our AoA/second kid also is less interested in school than our ACLC/first kid was at the same age, so this is exasperated by lack of motivation/interest. Happy to chat more if you have specific questions.