Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning

2510 North Chestnut Street

School District

Colorado Springs 11
Grade

K-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:13
Type

charter

School Map for Colorado Springs 11 School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on October 30, 2023

We moved our son from our local school to Academy ACL for first grade due to our neighborhood school not being able to meet his needs as a gifted child. He entered kindergarten early in D20 and his ALP wasn't enough for him. At Academy ACL he is grade accelerated and is able to accelerate even further for World of Math and Art of Language and is learning about machines, the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece which has been amazing for him and so interesting for me as a parent as well.His teachers have also been very invested in helping him learn how to self regulate and function well in the classroom as a younger student. They truly care about him and are invested in his ability to advocate for himself and have a positive educational path long term. It's amazing seeing him grow and we are so happy with our decision.
Submitted by parent on September 26, 2023

My daughter is currently in second grade at AcademyACL. We moved from out of state for her to attend and could not be happier with our decision. Although we are still new here, the environment and support we have experienced has been above and beyond what we could have hoped for, especially when compared to her previous school.
Submitted by parent on September 12, 2023

My son attended AcademyACL from kindergarten through 8th grade, and our daughter has attended from kindergarten through 6th grade (she is a current student). The school provided a safe and stimulating environment for both of them through the elementary years. Our son's middle school experience was during the pandemic. This school seemed to be set back more than the public schools because of their limited resources, so his middle school years were somewhat lacking in stimulation and connection. The school has made a big effort this year to start offering more enrichment activities, and we are hoping that leads to a more stimulating middle school experience for our daughter. We love the teachers and staff, and we highly recommend the school for advanced children who need to accelerate at their own pace.
Submitted by parent on August 25, 2023

Academy ACL is a phenomenal school. I have two kids in this school and they both love it and are excited to go. The staff is supportive of my ADHD daughter's needs and my son's sensory issues. I can't imagine my kids anywhere else. The front desk staff is friendly and responsive. The teachers are friendly and the school works hard to find the right teacher to fit your kid. I love that they do before school year conferences that are student-led so that the teachers can learn more about your child and their interests.
Submitted by principal on August 15, 2023

This school is unique in the Pikes Peak Region for providing an all day, every day gifted education program to all enrolled students. In contrast to the Denver/Metro area where there are eight+ schools that provide private, public, public magnet, and public charter options specializing in gifted education, AcademyACL is currently the only one in the Pikes Peak area that provides kindergarteners through eighth graders the support from gifted education that they need as highly complex learners, all day, every day, in every class. Additionally, because this is a public school of choice, there are no entrance requirements and families are free to choose the advanced, gifted education model without having a test-score cut-off for entrance. Teachers come to work at this school because they care about the unique needs of these learners, and they get additional ongoing training onsite; they are highly collaborative teammates who learn and team together. Students take the level of reading and writing, and math, in the mornings for their assessed level of need, not their grade level. For example, a kindergarten student might take third grade reading, and second grade math or kindergarten math; they do not have to be the same level of readiness in all subjects or in those two subjects. Students are enrolled in multi-age homerooms, where the other subject areas are taught with high complexity and the Integrated Curriculum Model, designed for gifted learners, that uses Big Ideas to connect across disciplines.
Submitted by student on April 29, 2023

I love this school, but it has it's pros and cons. Some good things about this school is that the teachers are welcoming and it is organized in a way that for example, if a fifth grader knew seventh grade math, they would have a seventh grade math class. Some bad things I have experienced, though, is the fact that in multiple of my classes we voted on no group punishments, but the teachers have never kept their word about that. One teacher even thought up an excuse that there are 'no group rewards, either', but what she was doing was still a group punishment. Also, there were multiple assistant teachers, or just a teacher in general, that were very unfair and tricked the nice teachers into thinking the kids were being, for example, 'WAY too loud'. Another teacher was nice to the point where she was unfair, and she treated her staff kid and the staff kid's friend with so much respect that they got to skip classes, be on their phones, and do the heck whatever they wanted. Don't take this personally, I just think that there is room to improve.
Submitted by parent on April 18, 2023

My son attended this school for two years, they do not have supportive systems, the personal is very rude, if your kid don't behave in their rules system, is gonna be a big problem, and immediately they bring adhd issues, when actually could be some totally different circumstances, they neglected in my son difficulties to read.
Submitted by student on September 12, 2022

I hate a lot of teachers and students but I’m in my last year here and I’ve had a good time and made a lot of memories, friends, and even learned some things.
Submitted by parent on August 03, 2022

My child had a really positive experience overall at this school from 2nd grade all the way through 8th grade. Not every day was fantastic, of course, but overall he felt seen, challenged, and made excellent friends. The teachers really care about kids and work hard to build a community where kids are expected to be kind, encouraged to advocate for their own needs, including the freedom to go beyond the regular curriculum, and allowed to develop individually and at their pace. My student needed extra support in writing, but was recognized for his ability to read at a high school level and also accomplished some high school math curriculum before graduating. The recent renovation of the school was an incredible upgrade, with a brand new gym, theater space, and Engineering lab.
Submitted by student on August 01, 2022

Dont go here if you love your children
Submitted by parent on May 18, 2022

This school is NOT recommended if you want to send your kid to school don't send them here the teachers are completely and utterly unreasonable your kids will get in trouble for the dumbest things take this for example my kid is in 7th grade and said the word pedofile and nearly got suspended if i could i would rate this school zero stars thumbs down.
Submitted by parent on August 03, 2021

This school misses the mark and doesn't deliver a challenging enough environment in all subjects for its truly gifted and advanced students. We ended our time at AACL with multiple subscriptions to online programs so that our child would have an appropriate education.Our child's language arts teacher stopped teaching handwriting in October of last year, didn't grade any papers, didn't teach spelling words, and basically sat in her chair and sipped iced coffee - occasionally reading aloud from a chapter book and asking the kids to fill out arbitrary vocab words and book summaries. That was it - the entire year. We bought our own grade appropriate LA curriculum and did it at home, and our own spelling/handwriting. Science and social studies were abysmal. My child was memorizing the periodic table in second grade, while the teacher was talking to the kids about...the names of oceans. In the meantime, we went through appropriate curriculum at home and with a subscription to Time4Learning.com. Math was okay, with one teacher being excellent, although we struggled to get correct placement going, and then our child was getting through the curriculum in about 1/2 the time the class took, and then was mostly left alone to do math online with Aleks - which anyone can buy. We took matters into our own hands and purchased a math curriculum online and a live instructor-led class with The Art of Problem Solving that is a much better fit for our child who learns quickly. Other than that, we experienced a lack of communication, teachers who were no shows to virtual classes, and general disorganization during our child's three years at the school. I didn't see a reason to drive across town to go to the, "gifted," school when we were supplementing so much at home. We were just very disappointed as there are no K-8 gifted options in the Springs. and wanted a cohesive and stable K-8 experience for our children. But, our child was coming home every day in tears, was constantly sick, and just wasn't happy. Most of the students at the school are not gifted, which means the classes are geared more towards the middle, and not the >95%. It just wasn't a huge improvement over our neighborhood schools which have similar test scores....but serve a much more diverse and presumably average population. Parents of gifted students - enter with caution and be prepared to advocate for your child's need, regular communication, to see test scores, get an ALP made, etc.
Submitted by student on January 29, 2021

I would first like to say that, for younger students (4th grade and below) the school is amazing, they have great teachers, a great water fountain, and a healthy learning environment, and plenty of challenges they can partake in academically. However, parents of older students, keep your kids away! The teachers find it perfectly acceptable to just quit or we have had some get fired for gross negligence of student's well being, once sending a student into the hallway during a lockdown drill for talking. My last year at that school they couldn't find a teacher after one had a near-deadly medical emergency (unrelated to the school) so we had a long-term sub that entire year (shout out to Linda Peterson, you were the best teacher I ever had). The facilities were appalling, a close friend of mine found earwigs and I found a quarter-sized spider in the bathrooms. There was a cobweb in one of the corners for the entire two years that I went there. The floors were nasty, similar to that of a gas station bathroom, and when a parent complained about the horrendous conditions, they forced all parents to use the better-maintained staff toilets. Several of the female students would (myself included) leave sanitary products out for other girls, which the staff would toss promptly into the trash. We would be forced to go out into below-freezing conditions for recess and outdoor lunch. During lunch, thumb-sized wasps/hornets would settle upon our lunch leaving students scared to shoo them off in fear of getting stung and leaving them hungry. The wasp/hornets were really lazy and slow-moving and, to my knowledge, they haven't stung anyone. Please send your students elsewhere! Older students were forced to sit through assemblies with younger kids and treated like the younger kids, which wasn't optional. A student in the sixth grade was forced to read disturbing stories such as The Lottery where a random town's person gets stoned to death just for the fun of it and The Veldt in which, two kids kill their parents, and later their counselor with the high-tech powers of their house. The school also invests their money in pointless stuff like MacBooks instead of the things they promise, like a water fountain for the older kids, better (non-optional) electives. This was a horable school, I woudn't recamend this place to my worst enamy.
Submitted by other on November 19, 2020

This school is good for a place to send your kid for elementary school, but I definetely would not recommend for and kid higher than 6th grade. The middle school students are treated less favorably than the elementary school students. Definetely would not send your kid there for middle school. This school does not deal with bullying well. I was bullied for 2 years non-stop there, and the prinicipal, Nikki Meyers, did nothing about it, despite other teachers and my mom knowing about it and bringing it up to her multiple times over time. This school does not effectively deal with bullying at all. I knew other kids there that were also bullied and nothing was done to help them either. The punishment system there is also very unjust. Kids there get in trouble for things that they normally wouldn't get in trouble for at other schools.
Submitted by parent on November 19, 2019

This school is nothing but phenomenal! They have done wonders for my children in regards to keeping them engaged in learning, discovering their individual passions. The staff is very passionate about each students success and this school allows the staff to operate in this passion which makes for a beautiful learning experience for the students and families. The school has far exceeded our high expectations!
Submitted by parent on August 09, 2019

This school is poorly managed, poorly-educating dump, with no discipline for students. Avoid at all costs!
Submitted by parent on August 02, 2019

We adore this school! They have an active Facebook page. If you'd like to get a sense of a small part of what they're about, you can see what they post. You can get a sense of what they value by the information they post and share. They do warn that the school may not be suitable for all learners and why. Please don't take the statement lightly.
Submitted by parent on March 18, 2019

Other than a few good teachers and the grade level acceleration to meet students at their level, this school is just rough. The principal is tyrannical, micromanaging, unsupportive, and dictatorial towards her staff. We attended for 3 + years, we should know. Look at the teacher attrition rates before you enroll. Also, if you expect to see any grades, any of the work they've completed, test scores (even when tests are happening), or other normal things like spelling, etc, you are not going to get it here. Just ask about the grades - look at an example report card. You are going to be left COMPLETELY in the dark. The Spanish program is horrendous. My kid was "learning" the same things in 2nd grade that she learned in K and was bored out of her mind. Art and PE are pretty good. The principal makes life so miserable for the parent organization that on one wants to deal with her ever. It took her 2 years and all of our fundraising money for those years to get a playground for the school and by playground I mean a hill of dirt that she says is special. Take a look at it and decide if your kid would like a grassy hill with lots of rules for a playground. There was a child in my daughter's class that was so repeatedly violent the teacher couldn't handle it and 7 students ended up leaving the school from just her class. The principal covered it up and said the violent kid "just had a bad day". There was plenty of bullying. Most of the kids that go here are not actually gifted by the way. Like 90%. There is almost nothing for you to see on the "parent portal" about your kids progress or what they are actually studying, etc. Good things are Jr Battle of the Books at younger ages, brain breaks, and robotics, art, and accelerated academics for those who need it. No sports or musical instruments, and a very small variety of clubs. This could probably fixed with more support from the principal for the parent staff, but if you know her well, you will know that's never going to happen.
Submitted by parent on October 25, 2018

Academy ACL has been a life saving school for my gifted child. From the first day he set foot in the school, he felt welcomed, challenged, and safe.I highly recommend this school for kids with gifted learning needs.
Submitted by parent on August 12, 2018

We had to move to another state, and no longer have children at AcademyACL, which we very much regret. We moved to Fairfax County, Virginia, which has highly rated schools but has NO Gifted Education program whatsoever. We really miss Academy ACL, and our appreciation has only deepened. If my job permitted, I would move back to Colorado Springs in a heartbeat and put my daughter back into this school. My son is now in high school and couldn’t attend, but I cannot recommend this school highly enough based on our experience in other highly-rated districts and schools that cannot hold a candle to this fantastic school.