Academy In Manayunk (AIM): Changing Learning Differences from Deficits to Assets

Abstract

Summary

Research indicates that six to seven percent of children have learning differences (International Dyslexia Association 2008). Yet many either go undiagnosed or, if diagnosed, are not offered targeted educational strategies that address their learning differences. Approximately one-third of children identified with learning disabilities drop out of high school—twice the rate of their non-disabled peers.

Academy In Manayunk (AIM), a research-to-practice private, nonprofit school developed in conjunction with The Lab School of Washington®, provides lessons for the mainstream education system and educators to ensure that no children are limited by learning differences. AIM incorporates learning through the arts with rigorous academics to meet the individual learning styles of its students. AIM also invests significantly in teacher training and professional development.

The School District of Philadelphia, including charter school students, has close to 200,000 students. The 44 percent of those students who drop out before completing high school create substantial financial and social burdens for the region. The AIM school, with its focus on improving literacy skills in children beginning as early as first grade, returns significant resources to the community by helping to ensure high school graduation and increasing rates of college attendance, as also demonstrated by The Lab School of Washington upon which it is modeled.

For $10,000 more than the School District of Philadelphia allocates for special education students, AIM returns $260,000 to society by enabling each student to graduate from high school with the academic skills necessary to compete in the workforce, and $1,000,000 by setting those students on the path to college graduation.